Miso rice with edamame and green vegetables

When I eat a meal like this Miso Rice with Edamame and Greens I think I could just live the rest of my live eating rice, a pile of vegetables and a well-flavoured sauce.  It makes me think of Nigella's term, "temple food", or restorative food.  It is just the sort of thing I need when faced with all the indulgences of the festive season.

I made this meal on the busy day of meeting a friend at our local cafe, driving out to Highpoint shopping centre to take my old Macbook 11 for recycling at the Apple store, and going with Sylvia to a school end of year music show where her friend was performing.  I had the We had Starbucks for lunch.  They missed Sylvia's order for a toastie and so it took a while but as it was meant to be cheaper with her gingerbread latte, we got it for free.  Sylvia loves trying the festive drinks at Christmas and recommended me a hot chocolate with gingerbread syrup.  It was good but intense.  We didn't have any of the food available at the school, but some of it was tempting.

It was a wet cold day.  The rain just held off until the end of the school music show and then it rained cats and dogs.  I had originally planned to make the miso rice for a hot day because it seemed fresh and close to a salad.  It was just as good on a cold day because the rice and the vegies are warm.  

I made twice the rice and half the vegetables.  The leftover rice was kept for the next night.  I had originally planned to go to a carols service but it was rained out.  Poor Santa didn't get his ride on the fire engine.  I was glad to have leftovers and we never had the energy to make any of the fun festive foods we had planned. 

As is so often the case, I made a few changes and have written what I did in the recipe below.  I used a cast iron saucepan because I don't have a BBQ, I microwaved the sauce instead of cooking it on the stovetop, I drizzled sauce instead of tossing it through and I used garlic granules because our garlic was mouldy.  I still included the garlic in the below recipe because this is a rare occurrence and usually I would crush fresh cloves.

It was such a delicious and satisfying dinner.  We kept the extra rice for later.  I loved the sauce but Sylvia preferred soy sauce instead.  And when served in a large bowl, it looked perfect for entertaining or a potluck.  I am sure it will feature in my future.

More green meals on Green Gourmet Giraffe blog:

• Green lasagne with broccoli and rocket pesto
• Greens, rice and yoghurt soup (gf) 
• Healthy greens pizza 
• Nettle and silverbeet soup (gf, v)
• Spinach salad with spiced nuts and cranberries (gf, v) 
  
• Summer minestrone (gf, v)
  
  

Miso rice with edamame and greens
Adapted from The Age
Serves 4

Miso rice:
1 cup basmati rice
2 cups vegetable stock
2 tbsp white miso

Sauce:
5 tbsp sake
1/3 cup mirin
1 tbsp castor sugar
1-2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 and 1/2 tbsp white miso paste
2 tsp finely grated ginger

Greens:
1 tbsp rice bran oil or other neutral oil
2 bunches broccolini, cut stalks into two and then cut lengthways into 2 or 3 stalks
1 cup snow peas, top and tailed
1 cup edamame beans (I used frozen)
1 avocado, hulled and sliced
1 handful of snow pea sprouts (or microgreens)

Cook the miso rice:
Stir miso with stock, adding a little stock at a time until you have a smooth mixture and continue to stir in  the rest of the stock.  Place miso-stock mixture with rice into a medium saucepan.  Cover with a lid, bring to the boil, stir and simmer covered for 15 minutes.  Turn off heat and leave to sit for at least 10 minutes without removing the lid.

Cook the sauce:
Place sake, mirin, sugar and garlic in a jug and heat in the microwave for 3-4 minutes.  Mix the miso and ginger in until the mixture is smooth and microwave another minute.  (Or stir over stovetop for 4 minutes and then 1 minute.)  It will thicken into a sauce.  Set aside.

Cook the greens:
I did this in a cast iron frypan.  Heat oil in a frypan and fry broccolini on a high heat for a few minutes, turning frequently until slightly charred.  Add the snow peas and frozen edamame and stir for a minute until warmed through.

Arrange the rice, greens and dressing:
You can either serve in a big bowl for everyone to serve themselves or serve directly into each dinner bowl.  Place rice on the bottom of the bowl, arrange cooked greens and avocado slices on the rice.  Drizzle the dressing over the vegetables.  Garnish with snow pea sprouts.

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