I love rice bowls, and recently decided it would be great to come up with a summery alternative to our popular Brown Rice & Cauliflower Bowl with Crispy Chickpeas, Avocado, Pine Nuts, and Limey Sauce. In developing this recipe, I kept the short-grain brown rice, because it is so easy to cook using our pasta-style cooking method, and it holds well. Plus, it has great flavor and texture. I kept the crispy chickpeas for texture, too.

I’ll admit, I went a little crazy with the vegetables – I included corn, peppers, beans, beets, and tomatoes, which you certainly don’t have to. You can cook (sauté, roast, grill, whatever) some of the veggies and leave others raw – whatever appeals to you and you have time for. But remember caramelizing veggies will add some umami. I left the cherry tomatoes raw, sautéed the thinly sliced peppers (and whole shishitos) in a cast iron pan, and browned my corn (see note below). I blanched my green beans in the rice-water before cooking the rice. And of course, I roasted the beet slices in the oven. But any streamlining you want to do, go for it.

The secret to yummy rice bowls is a lot of contrasting elements, and each one of those elements can take a bit of time to prepare. So the best strategy is to get in the habit of making some of the components ahead and keeping them in your fridge. The quick-pickled onions and Lemon Tahini Vinaigrette are two excellent make-aheads that you’ll use in other dishes. Crispy chickpeas are hard to make ahead, because they don’t hold well. A good substitute (for both crunch and a little bit of protein) that can be made ahead is chopped, toasted nuts.

If you want to serve the rice bowls for a party (you'll need to increase amounts), you can prep and cook the vegetables earlier in the day, cook the rice, and hold each of these in the fridge. Rewarm each cooked veg and the rice gently in microwave, or simply bring to room temperature.  

Susie Middleton

Have fun with this and make it your own!

Serves 2

 

  • 3 cups cooked short-grain brown rice
  • 1 recipe Lemon-Tahini Vinaigrette for Chopped Salads (use 2 tablespoons tahini when making it); you will not use all of the dressing
  • 1 to 2 tablespoons chopped fresh herbs (any combination chives, Thai basil, basil, cilantro, parsley, mint)
  • Kernels from two medium ears corn, raw or cooked*
  • 4 to 5 (small) Lunchbox peppers (red, yellow and orange), cored and thinly sliced (or 1 medium red or orange bell pepper, cored and thinly sliced), stir-fried or sautéed; add a small handful of shishito peppers to the frying pan, too, if you like.
  • 1 small handful young garden string beans (optional), blanched
  • ½ recipe Quick-Roasted Beets
  • ¾ cup halved small cherry tomatoes
  • ½ to 2/3 cup Crispy Roasted Chickpeas (or 1/3 to ½ cup chopped toasted nuts, any kind)
  • Quick Refrigerator Pickled Red Onions

 

1. Have ready two wide, shallow serving bowls, warmed. Rewarm the rice in the microwave if necessary. Stir 1 tablespoon of the lemon-tahini dressing into the rice. Stir half of the fresh herbs into the rice. Divide the rice evenly between the two bowls, arranging it in a slight mound.

2. In separate bowls, toss each of the vegetables with a small bit of the lemon-tahini dressing. Arrange them and the chickpeas, each in separate mounds, in a circle around the mound of rice. Drizzle with a bit more dressing and garnish with pickled onions and remaining herbs. Serve right away.

 

* I’ve recently tried browning corn in a cast-iron skillet before taking it off the cob. I get the pan pretty hot, coat it with oil, and add the shucked corn (cobs broken into two pieces) and cook, turning every few minutes, until a few sides have browning or blistering on them. I let the corn cool and then cut it off the cob. Alternatively, you can cut the kernels off the cobs first (again, break the cobs in half first, and they will be much easier to cut), and then sauté in a bit of butter or oil.