Although my meat post brought all the boys to the yard, this week I’m taking a break from the carnage. Testing and tasting 250 recipes destined for the grill in not much more than a weeks time can wreak havoc on your palate, not to mention your belly. Rubs and marinades contain a lot of salt, spice and big flavor, so by the time I was back on home turf all I was looking for in the way of taste was subtlety.
Thoughts turned to a dish I had tried in a food court while spending a day in the pretty old harbor town of Melaka, Malaysia this past February. A friend had ordered a bowl of rice which appeared with an assortment of toppings – circlets of steamed green beans, little red beans, chopped steamed dark green leafy vegetable, salted peanuts, scallion and beansprouts, and served with a bowl of fragrant, brightly colored green tea to pour over and eat – at least I think that’s what we were supposed to do with it. The dish was delicate restraint – a little shake of salt and some shreds of ginger was all it took to convince me this bowl of nourishing beauty would become a steady-regular in my kitchens repertoire.
I am currently experiencing a love affair with the medium grain brown rice from Massa Organics - sweet, grassy, chewy and nutty – these family farm-grown grains work perfectly in this composition. Merely a suggestion and less a recipe, I use whatever I have on hand. Todays bowl of warm rice contains slices of steamed spring asparagus, shredded thin-cooked omelet, scallions, Melaka-red adzuki beans, toasted nori, salty umeboshi plum and crunchy tamari almonds. Over this streamed a freshly brewed cup of Jade Cloud green tea, followed by a light trickle of nama shoyu to lift the flavors. Consider fresh or pickled ginger, a dash of wasabi, toasted sesame seeds, a favored miso, or some lean cooked protein as other additions or substitutions. This isn’t a dish that jumps out and assaults the taste buds, but rather coaxes them slowly in to submission, urging them to pay attention to gentler nuances of taste and texture, and brings them back home.
I have since learned the dish has a name - OCHAZUKE .
A fantastic new book by now, self-admittedly, food writer Michael Ruhlman has hit the bookshelves. Titled, Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind The Craft Of Everyday Cooking, the book provides an in depth exploration of food ratios destined to liberate those of us who are chronically recipe-bound. I used the meat/fat to salt ratio while we worked on the charcuterie portion of Symon’s Live To Cook – it worked like a dream nailing the proportions and flavor with precision. Thank you, Michael!
8 Comments
Steve and I discovered that rice on a past trip to San Fran. We bought it at the Ferry Building Market. That rice is out of this world.
i am hoarding my bag…
beautiful photo. can’t you just move here, move in and cook for me? i’m getting old and lazy. i just wanna eat rice bowls…
Lovely. Similar to Heidi Swanson’s Sushi Bowls, which I make often. But I like the tea idea!
that is the most exquisite bowlful, like a still life really.
This is the kind of nourishing soulful food I don’t eat enough of.
I like the idea of moistening it all with green tea.
Taste buds coaxed in submission – brilliant
I am catching up on the internet after spending the last week in Passover prep mode – and just a little bit ago, read this very interesting article on a favorite blog on this very topic: http://theasiangrandmotherscookbook.wordp
ress.com/2009/04/06/washing-ricepart-deux/
Diane: if you mail order, try the Massa almond butter as well – oh wow.
Claudia:steam, eat, repeat. I’ll bring you a fresh bag.
Michelle: I’m a big fan of brothy meals in a bowl.
Rachel:we also tried a similar dish using noodles and a ginger and wine broth – deliciously unusual.
PWF: thanks so much for the link -weird, I never encountered ochazuke before and now…that looks like a gorgeous cookbook.
Wow, this looks amazing, Heidi. I always learn so much from your blog that I wouldn’t have known about otherwise. And the pictures are spectacular–the one of the pedicabs (bike cabs?) is really striking (and the food pics are always publishing quality). I was reading online about these rice/tea bowls, and one item I read said that at times, the hot tea was used to heat up cold (leftover) rice (nice pre- or anti-microwave solution).
Where does one obtain a salty umeboshi plum? How do you prepare it to include in a dish such as this (ie, is it dehydrated, or ready to use–do you need to rinse it, etc.).
Thanks so much for sharing these beautiful stories and photos about your travels and the recipes/ideas you brought home with you: the very best “souvenirs.”
Tara: Thank you so much – we’re all learning together via the connection of food – I love that.
Locally, you can find umeboshi plum at Whole Foods or Mustard Seed. I think Mustard Seed has them in the macrobiotic section and Whole Foods in the Asian area. They are ready to go – salty, sour, puckery packed in salted shiso leaves. Also can get umeboshi paste which can be used in dressing, sauce, vegetable pates, etc.