Amazing Brown Rice Bowl & Real Food All Year

I took one bite of this salad and shouted to the empty room, “It’s like Café Gratitude but with pork!” I kind of couldn’t believe how good it was. Seriously. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, Café Gratitude serves up some mighty fine cooked grain bowls with various healthy items tossed in. This one owes no particular allegiance to any one cuisine. In fact it’s kind of a mess, but who cares? It’s a tasty mess.

Eat this for lunch, and this healthy, hearty dish will keep you all revved up and working throughout the day. Eat it for dinner with a glass of red wine and you won’t feel at all guilty about packing in a little ice cream or chocolate with your favorite HBO or Showtime series.

Speaking of healthy food that’s amazingly tasty, I want to tell you about a new book by my pal Nishanga Bliss. Real Food all Year was written from both a gastronomic and a Chinese medicine perspective, weaving in Western nutrition information and seasonality. The book does a great job of explaining each season’s connection to our bodies and organs and offers seasonal recipes to help you incorporate traditional, whole, seasonal, and local foods into your diet. Follow the suggestions in this book and you’ve got a tasty, healthy, and joyful way of eating.

Back to the rice bowl.

Here’s what’s in it:

Freshly cooked brown rice

Lemon tahini dressing with green garlic

1/2 bunch of kale, steamed, per portion

Shredded cabbage and carrots

Spring onions

Toasted walnuts

Avocado

Toasted nori

Crispy leftover roasted pork from a leftover boneless sirloin roast, sliced thinly and then fried in a cast iron pan until crispy

Here’s how I made it:

1. Cook brown rice however you do. I used a rice cooker

2. Meanwhile chop one green garlic (green and white parts) super finely and whisk together with a big dollop of tahini, freshly squeezed lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, and enough water to make it a nice consistency (all to taste).

3. Steam the kale and squeeze out excess water. Chop

4. Shred the cabbage and carrots

5. Put the warm rice in a bowl and drizzle some dressing on top

6. Toss the steamed kale and the cabbage and carrots in the dressing

7. Fry the pork until crispy

8. Top the rice with the dressed kale, cabbage, and carrots

9. Add the onions, walnuts, avocado, nori, and pork

10. Eat