SPICY ASIAN....rice

Clever title, I know.   I'm a huge blogger slacker...so I will now post many in an attempt to cover my slacker ways.

For this dish I used Basmati rice and medium firm tofu and white wine vinegar (so fancy). But I just went with my generic soy sauce and I skipped toasted seasame oil b/c who has that?! And, to toot my own horn, while reading the NY Times I found out cooking oil is basically a gigantic rip off.  Oh yes, I also couldn't find scallions at the market...ahem, Kroger...so I substituted fresh chives. I think next time I will use softer tofu and add some crushed peanuts for a little crunch and overall pizazz but it was quite tasty!


Adapted from The Co-Op Cookbook, by Rosemary Fifield (Chelsea Green, 2000).

INGREDIENTS

1 cup aromatic white rice (jasmine, Texmati, or basmati)
1/4 cup silken tofu
1/3 cup smooth peanut butter
2 tablespoons vinegar (unseasoned) or white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon tamari or good-quality soy sauce
2 teaspoons lime juice
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1 clove garlic
1/4 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
4 scallions, thinly sliced


DIRECTIONS

1. In a medium saucepan, combine the white rice and 2 cups of water; bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes or until all the liquid is absorbed.


2. Remove from heat and let sit for 10 minutes, then fluff with fork. Keep the pan covered until ready to serve.


3. In a blender or food processor, combine the tofu, peanut butter, vinegar, tamari, lime juice, sesame oil, garlic, and red pepper flakes. Puree until smooth. Stir in the cilantro and scallions. Add rice, mix well, and serve.


Serves 6.

Artichoke Rice Salad

Here's an old post from my Facebook "Notes" page that I thought I should also include here because the dish is so tasty :)  I no longer have a photo so here's one I found on Google Images:

June 15, 2010
We celebrated Grace's birthday at our house last night (Mark's mommy)...I tried out a new recipe to compliment Mark's amazing grilled, cedar plank salmon. The cold rice salad was very fresh and summery or as Mark said: "it's a burst of fresh flavors with every bite"

RECIPE (found this on CDKitchen.com):

2 cups cooked rice (I used minute rice)
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
4 medium green onions, chopped
1 small red bell pepper, chopped (I accidentally purchased yellow and it was still delish)
1 can (14 oz size) artichoke hearts, drained, cut into fourths

***Lemon Vinaigrette***
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 clove garlic, finely chopped

Directions:

Cook rice in water as directed on package.

In medium bowl, mix rice and remaining salad ingredients.

In small bowl, mix all vinaigrette ingredients with wire whisk until blended. Add to salad; toss to mix. Cover and refrigerate at least 3 hours until chilled.