6 special recipes with rice

For me, rice is real comfort food. And the great thing is that you can make so many different things with it. You’ve probably not come across these dishes before, though.

Grilled onigiri with fried chicken and mentsuyu sauce

Ingredients:

Onigiri:
– 1 cup of rice
– 1 sheet of nori
– 5 cm white black radish, cut into slices and steamed

Fried chicken:
– 500 g chicken
– 2 cm ginger, grated
– 1 clove garlic, grated
– 1 tbsp soya
– 1 tbsp sweet rice wine
– 5 tbsp cornflour
– 1 egg
– Oil for frying

Mentsuyu sauce:
– 2 tbsp soy sauce
– 200 ml dashi
– 2 tsp sweet rice wine
– 1 tbsp sake

Preparation:

Prepare the rice according to the instructions on the packet. Mix all the ingredients for the chicken together in a bowl. Cut the chicken into large pieces and put them in the marinade. Leave for half an hour. Heat the oil through in a wok. Fry the chicken.

Peel the black radish and cut it into slices. Steam it for 10 minutes. Next, cut the black radish into small pieces. Once the chicken has cooled, cut it into smaller pieces and mix these with the black radish. With wet hands, take some rice and make a hole in the middle. Fill this with the chicken-radish mixture and seal it with rice. Roll into a firm ball and then form a triangle. Fold a sheet of nori in half five times and cut into small strips. Dip the onigiri into the nori strips and smear with some soy sauce. Grill the onigiri under a hot grill for two minutes. Bring all the ingredients for the sauce to the boil in a small saucepan and let it simmer for a while. Serve the onigiri with the mentsuyu sauce and with mayonnaise and pickles if desired.

Chai tea rice pudding ice cream

Ingredients:

– 1 cup basmati rice
– 1 chai tea bag (I used rooibos chai)
– 100 g white sugar
– 1 vanilla pod
– 5 egg yolks
– 3 cups of whole milk
– 1 cup of whipped cream
– Grated coconut

Preparation:

Toast the rice in a dry pan until golden brown. Pound the rice in a mortar until it cracks. Heat the milk, cream and sugar gently in a saucepan. Add the tea bag and vanilla pod and bring to a boil. Add the rice and remove from the heat. Let it steep for fifteen minutes. Beat the egg yolks until creamy. Strain the rice-milk mixture and add it to the egg, before heating it on a low heat for 10 minutes. Place the pudding in a bowl in the fridge.

After a few hours, the pudding will be ready to make ice cream. Put it in the freezer and stir it every half an hour, until it’s nice and creamy. Put some grated coconut in a bowl. Scoop a spoonful of ice cream into a cone and roll the ice cream in the coconut.

Poke with sticky coconut rice and salmon

Ingredients:

– 1 cup of black rice
– 1 can of coconut milk
– 200 g salmon
– 1 carrot
– 1 lemongrass stalk, crushed
– 1 cucumber
– Bunch of coriander
– 1 leek, just the white part
– 2 spring onions, finely sliced
– 5 cm white radish
– 1 cup edamame pods
– 0.5 cup peanuts
– 2 limes
– Sesame oil
– Mayonnaise
– 1 tbsp salt
– Pinch of coconut sugar
– Roasted sesame seeds
– Rice wine vinegar

Preparation:

Place the rice in a pan with the coconut milk. Fill the can with water and add that to the pan. Add lemongrass and bring to a boil. Turn the heat to low and simmer for 45 minutes. Turn off the heat and let it stand for another 10 minutes with the lid on the pan. Cut the salmon into cubes and put them in a bowl with salt, lime juice, coconut sugar, a drop of vinegar and a drop of sesame oil. Stir and let it marinate in the fridge for half an hour. Cut carrot and cucumber into julienne strips. Place in a bowl with 50 ml rice wine vinegar and salt.

Steam the edamame pods. Remove the pods and place the beans in ice water. Cut the radish and leek into small pieces. Roast the peanuts. Sprinkle the salmon with salt and bake in the oven for 5 minutes on the highest setting. Place a spoonful of coconut rice in a bowl. Spoon the vegetables and fish on top. Garnish with spring onions, coriander, peanuts, mayonnaise and lime juice.

Arancini with truff le ketchup

Ingredients:

Arancini:
– 1 cup of risotto rice
– 1 can of tomatoes
– 1 red onion
– 50 g guanciale
– 50 g grated parmesan cheese
– 50 g pecorino cheese
– 250 ml dry white wine
– Salt and pepper
– Thyme
– Mozzarella

Breadcrumb layer:
– 500 g breadcrumbs
– 3 eggs, beaten
– Cornflour

Truffle Ketchup:
– 3 tbsp ketchup
– Splash of lemon juice
– Few drops truffle oil
– Splash of brown vinegar

Preparation:

Finely chop the onion and fry it in olive oil. Cut the guanciale into thin chunks and add to the onions. Add the rice and a sprig of thyme. Pour in the wine and lower the heat. Puree the tomatoes with half a cup of water. Add a few spoonfuls to the rice. Stir well and add a few more spoonfuls one by one. Remove the pan from the heat when the rice is cooked. Stir in the grated cheese and let everything cool. Put the cornflour, eggs and breadcrumbs in 3 bowls. With wet hands, take some risotto. Put a piece of mozzarella in the middle and close the ball with more risotto rice. Roll the ball in the cornflour, then the egg, and finally the breadcrumbs.

Heat oil in a pan and fry the rice balls until golden brown. Let them drain well. Mix all the ingredients for the truffle ketchup together. Serve the arancini with the pecorino, lemon slices and truffle ketchup.

Beef Congee

Ingredients:

Congee:
– 1 cup jasmine rice
– 8-10 cups of water
– 1 stalk of lemongrass, bruised

Beef:
– Very thinly sliced beef
– 1 shallot
– 1 tbsp soy sauce
– 1 tbsp sesame oil
– 2 tbsp canola oil
– 1 tbsp sweet rice wine
– 100 ml dashi
– 1 clove of garlic, squeezed

Garnish:
– Bonito flakes
– 1 spring onion
– Roasted sesame seeds

Preparation:

Place the rice in a bowl with a cup of water. Steam for 10 minutes in a bamboo steamer. Put the rice in a pan with 8 cups of cold water and lemongrass. Bring to a boil and simmer for 1.5 hours with the lid on the pan. Finely chop the shallot and fry in the oil. Add the meat and let it cook until browned. Add the garlic. Turn up the heat to high and add the rice wine, soy sauce and dashi. Let it simmer until it has thickened considerably. Spoon the congee into a bowl, top with beef and onions and garnish with bonito flakes,  spring onion and sesame seeds.

Strawberry mochi and pear with pecan nut mochi

Ingredients:

– 100 g glutinous rice flour
– 60 g icing sugar
– 1 tsp salt
– 150 ml of water
– Potato starch (for dusting)

Filling:
– 1 bowl of fresh strawberries
– 4 pears
– 0.5 cup pecans
– 2 cm ginger
– 1 tbsp palm sugar
– 2 sprigs of lavender
– 4 juniper berries
– 0.5 cup of water

Glaze:
– Roasted soybean powder
– Powdered sugar

Preparation:

Steam the pears with the juniper berries in a bamboo steamer with a cup of water. Take them out of the pan when they are soft. Leave the cooking liquid in the pan and add the nuts, ginger, lavender, half a cup of water and palm sugar. Bring to the boil. Turn the heat to low and let it thicken. Wash the strawberries and remove the stems. Put the pears and juniper berries in the syrup. Let it thicken as much as possible. Spread the syrup over a chopping board and cut into coarse pieces. Place all the ingredients for the mochi into a heatproof bowl. Place it in the microwave on the highest setting for 2 minutes, before stirring with a fork. Microwave for another 45 seconds.

Dust a work surface with potato starch. Divide the dough into 6 pieces and make dough balls for the strawberries and triangles for the pears. Place a strawberry upright, drape the dough over the tip of it and close it underneath. Place a spoonful of the pear-nut mixture in the centre of the triangles and roll up the dough. Fill one bowl with icing sugar and one with soybean powder. Roll the strawberry mochi in the icing sugar and the pear mochi in the soybean powder. Place them in the fridge for half an hour. Serve the mochi with green tea and a slice of lime.