Zucchini and Rice Side Dish

Many years ago, I worked with a girl whose parents were from Yugoslavia. Her mom would call the office occasionally and before I transferred the call we'd have brief conversations that usually revolved around food (as best we could understand each other). One day she sent a container of zucchini in for me to try. It was a side dish that was grated and had a tomato sauce base with lots of paprika. It was amazing! How many times do we hear that about zucchini??? She was a "pinch of this" cook and I'm truly disappointed that I didn't get a recipe. Even though the original didn't have rice, here's my wink-and-nod to that memory.

Add a pork chop and I'd call this dinner:@)

Zucchini and Rice
1/2 C onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/8 C green bell pepper, finely chopped
2 tsp olive oil
1/2 C water-the zucchini will provide the rest of the liquid
3/4 C tomato sauce
1/2 C rice-preferably white long grain, I only had brown so that's what I used
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp salt
Few grinds of black pepper
1 (6") zucchini, grated

1. Saute onion in olive oil until it softens up a bit, 5 minutes.
2. Add garlic and green pepper, cook for 1 minute more.
3. Add water, tomato sauce, rice, paprika, salt and black pepper. Mix, cover and cook for 15 minutes. Note: This is for white rice, you'll need to cook brown rice longer, maybe 25-30 minutes while adding some extra water if necessary.
4. Add zucchini and cook for 7-10 minutes longer, or until rice is done. 

This is moist and creamy, the paprika really gives it a subtle "different" flavor and it's 

a great way to use up some garden zucchini! Easily doubled, etc. 

Oh and, if you're familiar with the "real" all zucchini recipe, I'd love it if you'd share:@)

Eat well and have a happy day!