Dudes, did you know there’s black rice? Holy cow.
I grabbed a sushi for lunch the other day, and lo, it had black rice! Well, deep, deep purple if you want to get pedantic about it — that’s apparently anthocyanin, the same stuff that makes blueberries blue, and makes both blueberries and black rice very very good for you. So there we go. But the reason I liked it was that it was novel and cool and, hey, purple food! Right?
I found some in a particularly well-stocked pan-Asian grocer, and made some to go with my New Year’s Day Hoppin’ John. It’s delicious! If you love the nuttiness of brown rice, you’ll probably love black rice: I cooked it in some veggie broth, and it’s probably the loveliest rice I’ve ever had. Nutty, smoky, savoury flavours, and light, separate grains.
Today I girded my loins and whipped up some sushi vinegar using the guidelines from Just Hungry (love that site, and its partner site Just Bento). I heated my black/purple rice, then worked the sushi vinegar into it, spreading and fanning until it became glossy and sticky.
Wrapped up with avocado, lightly steamed carrot sticks (so you don’t pull out a tassel of raw carrot whenever you bit the sushi), and julienne cucumber, it needed no extra sauce, spice or sprinkle. This was a fantastic lunch: I highly recommend!
I gather there’s a bunch of health benefits about black rice — a wholegrain, full of antioxidants and fibre — but you had me at purple.
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