Rice and grain bowls: a new kind of lunch

LIKE AN OPEN CANVAS:  A rice bowl can be as simple or as complex as one wants to make it.By Russ ParsonsWhen Jessica Koslow put together her first rice bowl a couple of years ago, she wasn’t looking to start a trend. She just wanted to be able to offer something a little different to her customers at her East Hollywood restaurant, Sqirl.Now, of course, rice bowls, their near-cousins grain bowls and even the distantly related porridge bowls are just about the most happening menu items in Southern California.“What is a sandwich?” Koslow pondered recently while preparing a rice bowl in her Silver Lake neighbourhood home. “It is really just protein between two buns. I think people want more lunch options than that these days. The grain bowl is a lot more flexible. It’s a new kind of lunch.”Just as the basic framework of the sandwich can be adapted almost endlessly to fit any number of ingredients and tastes, so it is with the grain bowl. That’s particularly true in a district like Silver Lake, where customers often have very specific tastes and demand a certain culinary flexibility even from their favourite restaurants.“People modify them all the time, and chefs have to be responsive and we have to accommodate what our customers want,” Koslow said.That accommodating, business-like attitude is one of the reasons Sqirl, located on what was once a quiet stretch of Virgil Avenue, has become so popular that customers looking for parking places can create traffic jams that back up for several blocks.The inspiration for the rice bowl came from a happy conjunction of the traditional Japanese donburi dish (“some kind of rice, some fish, some nori, all really clean flavours,” as Koslow describes it) and a decidedly LA twist of a constantly evolving, complex mix of tastes and textures.One standard at Sqirl is the sorrel pesto rice bowl, made with brown rice, sorrel pesto, preserved Meyer lemon and lacto-fermented hot sauce (all are made in-house), as well as radishes, feta and a poached egg.“The funny thing is, doing everything yourself actually winds up being more expensive, but the taste makes it worth it,” she said, as she ground her own sunflower tahini.The Long Beach-born Koslow — a competitive figure skater in her teens, then a graduate student in communications, then a pastry chef — started cooking in Los Angeles while she was still working as a producer at American Idol.“I’d work the midnight to 8am shift at Village Bakery in Atwater Village, then go home and sleep for a couple of hours and show up at work at Fox by 10:30am,” she remembered. “I’d just sit there at my desk and go, ‘What am I doing?’”Koslow opened Sqirl in 2011, making just jams. Today she sells about 35,000 jars of them a year, in 25 varieties. The big leap in business, she says, came a year later when she started selling toast and a few other prepared foods.“That was a major step,” she said. “I knew I couldn’t survive doing just jam. That’s a cottage business, money-wise. I remember the first day we started selling food and we made $600. I felt like shouting, ‘We did it! We did it!” Sqirl is thriving today, despite serving only breakfast and lunch. And rice bowls are served at both meals.“It was just something that seemed like a good idea. I had no idea that it was going to become the year of the grain bowl.”  Rice Bowl With Cauliflower, Zucchini And Eggplant1 hour, 10 minutes. Serves 4 to 62 cups brown rice4.5 cups water1 bunch green onionsOlive oil2 Asian eggplants (about half a pound total)Salt and freshly ground black pepperLemon juice2 cups cauliflower florets1/2 teaspoon sumac, or as desired2 zucchini1 tablespoon yuzu juice2 tablespoon butter1 tablespoon toasted black sesame seeds3 tablespoons minced pickled banana peppers and their juice1/2 cup tahini1/2 cup finely sliced purple basil, plus 2 tablespoons for garnish1/2 cup finely sliced mint, plus 2 tablespoons for garnish1 cup small spinach leaves1/2 cup sliced cherry tomatoes (preferably different colours)Maldon salt, for garnishMethod:Heat the oven to 450 degrees. Meanwhile, in a large saucepan fitted with a lid, combine the rice and water and bring to a boil over high heat; reduce the heat and gently simmer until the rice is tender and the water is absorbed, 40 to 45 minutes.Meanwhile, brush the green onions lightly with olive oil and place directly on a stove-top burner. Cook, turning occasionally, until charred black on the outside and tender inside, 3 to 5 minutes. Chop the white parts of the green onions (save the greens for another use). You should have about 1/2 cup.Line two baking sheets with aluminium foil. Slice the eggplants crosswise as thin as you can (use a mandoline if you have one). Toss with just enough olive oil to coat lightly, and sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper, or as desired. Arrange in a single layer on the baking sheet and roast, without turning, until browned and crisp, 7 to 10 minutes. Sprinkle lightly with lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste, cool on the pan, then remove to a bowl.Toss the cauliflower florets with more olive oil, sumac, salt and pepper to lightly coat. Arrange in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with aluminium foil and roast until lightly browned, about 15 minutes. Sprinkle lightly with lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste and transfer to another bowl.Slice the zucchini very thin lengthwise (use a mandoline if you have one). Heat 1.5 tablespoons olive oil in a skillet over high heat. When the oil is very hot, add the zucchini (it should sizzle immediately). Season with 1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste, and saute just until tender, about 3 minutes, tossing frequently to evenly cook the slices. Squeeze a little lemon juice over it and set aside.When the rice is cooked, add the green onions, yuzu juice, butter, sesame seeds, chopped peppers and 1/2 teaspoon salt, or as desired for vibrant flavour, to the rice and keep warm until ready to serve.When ready to assemble, add 2 tablespoons olive oil, 2 tablespoons lemon juice and the sliced fresh herbs to the rice and toss gently. Taste and correct seasoning with more lemon, salt and pepper.8. To serve, divide the tahini among the serving bowls, spreading it at the bottom of each bowl. Divide the rice, spooning it over the tahini in each bowl. Arrange some of the zucchini atop a third of the rice surface in each bowl. Arrange the roasted cauliflower in a second third and the crispy eggplant on top in the remaining third. Top with spinach and sliced tomatoes, along with a sprinkling of Maldon salt, pepper and lemon juice. Serve immediately.NOTE:Adapted from a recipe by Jessica Koslow. She serves the dish in larger bowls so the contents can easily be mixed together while eating. She prepares her own sunflower tahini; if using jarred tahini, taste and adjust the flavours with lemon juice and salt.   —Los Angeles Times/TNS