My Rice Bowl – review, recipe and giveaway
November 9, 2017 by Jenny
As soon as I opened My Rice Bowl: Korean Cooking Outside the Lines
by Rachel Yang and Jess Thomson, I was smitten. A two page photo
spread of perfect half-moon dumplings in all their imperfectness
with a few cracks in the dough, a little filling slipping out,
greeted me. It was then that I knew this book was all about having
fun while cooking. This and the author’s instructions to cook the
recipes as written or make them our own were a sure sign of good
things to come.
My Rice Bowl is one of the titles I was
most excited about this Fall and my patience for its arrival was
well rewarded. 75 recipes based on the author’s deeply comforting
Korean fusion cuisine, inspired by cultures from around the world
fill this book. Yang is a co-owner of the popular Seattle
restaurants, Joule, Trove, and Revel, and Portland’s
Revelry.
The recipes Yang shares in this her debut cookbook are the
authentic food of a Korean-immigrant who tried everything she could
to become an American. She came to realize that her culture (and
those of countless others) are what makes America so delicious –
after all we are the melting pot. You will not find typical Korean
food here, but you will find the restaurants’ kimchi recipe and a
wonderful collection of innovative dishes. Recipes include Seaweed
noodles with crab and crème fraîche, Tahini-garlic grilled pork
belly, Fried cauliflower with miso bagna cauda, Chipotle-spiked pad
thai, Korean-taco pickles, and Miso caramel chocolate torte.
Dumplings have an entire chapter to themselves
starting with a recipe for basic dough. The fillings, however, are
anything but basic for example Cauliflower and farro. Homemade
noodles share the same delicious fate with Black sesame noodles
made with black sesame powder as an option. Other surprise dishes
are Geoduck fried rice with seaweed dust and pickled pork rind as
well as Funky, spicy, pork pancakes with pork belly and kimchi. The
price of the book is worth one recipe alone, Mrs. Yang’s spicy
fried chicken with peanut brittle. (Photo courtesy of Marc
Schmerhorn who made this dish for his cookbook club.)
My Rice Bowl is full of surprises as it is not your classic Korean cookbook, nor your typical restaurant cookbook. It is ballsy and refreshing. Recipes may have a long list of ingredients but the dishes are approachable and worth the effort.
Special thanks to Sasquatch for sharing the Korean treasure rice recipe with our members and for supplying three copies of this book in our contest below open to US members.
Korean treasure rice – shiitake,
burdock, walnuts
Add this recipe to your Bookshelf (click the
blue +Bookshelf button).
In Korea, there’s a traditional special-occasion dish whose name translates to “healthy mix rice.” It’s served in a big stone pot, usually posed as a table centerpiece and decorated with, say, a circle of gingko nuts, or something else that makes it pretty. It always has grains, nuts, mushrooms, and dates, but beyond that, like so many traditions around the world, the recipe varies by household. This is my own version, which I make with Medjool dates (rather than Korean jujubes) because they break down and become almost jammy. It’s the ultimate recharging dish in the winter, meant to be deeply satisfying but also nutritious when the juiciest produce isn’t in season. Eat the rice alone as a meal in itself, for breakfast or lunch.
Look for mixed-grain rice in the rice section of a large Asian grocery store. It should have a mix of grain types-different-colored rice, oats, millet, barley, and sometimes beans.
Makes about 6 cups
- 2 cups mixed-grain rice, rinsed and drained three times
- 1 ounce dried shiitake mushrooms (about 1 cup)
- 1 quart water
- 1⁄2 cup Medjool dates, pitted and halved
- 1 (2-inch) piece burdock root, peeled and cut into 1⁄8-inch slices 1⁄2 cup walnuts, chopped
1. SOAK THE RICE. Put the rice in a medium mixing bowl. Add cold water to cover, and soak for 30 minutes.
2. SOAK THE MUSHROOMS. Put the mushrooms in a small bowl. In a small saucepan, bring the 1 quart of water to a boil, then pour the hot water over the mushrooms. Let the mushrooms soak, submerging them with a plate if necessary, for about 30 minutes, or until soft.
3. MAKE THE RICE. Drain the rice and add it to a large saucepan, then drain the mushroom soaking liquid directly into the pot with the rice. Trim off and discard the mushroom stems, then quarter the mushrooms and add them to the pot, along with the dates, burdock, and walnuts. Bring the rice to a simmer, then reduce the heat to the lowest setting, cover, and cook for about 1 hour, or until the water is absorbed and the grains are cooked. Remove the rice from the heat, let sit for 10 minutes, then fluff and serve.
*(c)2017 by Rachel Yang and Jess Thomson. All rights reserved. Excerpted from My Rice Bowl by permission of Sasquatch Books.
The publisher is offering three copies of this book to EYB Members in the US. One of the entry options is to answer the following question in the comments section of this blog post.
Which recipe in the index would you try first?
Please note that you must be logged into the Rafflecopter contest before posting or your entry won’t be counted. For more information on this process, please see our step-by-step help post. Be sure to check your spam filters to receive our email notifications. Prizes can take up to 6 weeks to arrive from the publishers. If you are not already a Member, you can join at no cost. The contest ends at midnight on December 16th, 2017.
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