Greens and rice: super nice.
This week’s recipe from Guardian Feast Issue No.172 is a moreish fab Japanese-ish vegan rice and greens dish from Meera Sodha. This bright, clean, fresh dish packs an umami lip-smacking punch way above the sum of its ingredients. It’s fragrant and crunchy with pings of salt, a tang of sake and green sweetness from the peas.
The Husband and I enjoyed it so much that we pretty much polished off the quantity for four (and, yes, with 350g of rice, there was plenty for four) between the two of us.
As regular readers will know, I’m celebrating my love of the food columns and supplements in The Guardian by trying to cook at least one recipe from each issue of Guardian Feast in 2021. Find out a bit more about that here.
Along with the garlic, spring onions, sake and soy sauce, Meera steams pak choi, mange tout and frozen peas. I couldn’t lay my hands on mange tout so used some French beans instead – they worked just fine.
I don’t think I’ve ever cooked Jasmine rice before (available in Berwick from The Green Shop on Bridge Street) and felt a bit sceptical about infusing it with teabags. Oh me of little faith! Meera gives precise instructions about cooking the rice which deliver perfect fluffy, fragrant results. I appreciate these exact directions. For something so ‘easy’, rice is often the thing that goes wrong.
Just a brief word of caution: don’t do what I did and leave the green teabag strings dangling down the side of the pan. A gas hob will ignite the paper tabs!
Original recipe:
Meera Sodha – green tea rice with sake and vegetables
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