FENNEL STEAMED RICE

We are big time rice lovers in the VKlok household. Rice with butter or ghee and always with a pinch of salt; sometimes with broccoli and sunflower seeds and dressing; rice with stir-fry, rice in soup, in winter bowls and alongside dahl, risotto [and more risotto], dolma and kitchari . Lots of rice!

What I have yet to reveal here is the dappling I do in combining herbs with rice. Fennel, cumin, cardamom, celery seed, cinnamon, cloves - they all can turn basic rice into something a bit more magical, changing both the depth of flavor and over all energy. Each spice adds it's own, unique dimension and nutritional qualities. 

Take cardamom for example. Outside of it being my favorite flavor, cardamom is warming [hello winter!] and helps dispel damp, phlegm, mucus, and cold from the body among many other things. Add 2 - 3 whole cardamom pods to your rice while cooking, and boom!, magic. 

Here I use fennel which improves digestibility as well as calms an upset stomach [stomach flu anyone?]. It's a warming herb that aides the bladder, kidneys, spleen, stomach and liver. Good for indigestion, gas, and kicking out excessive mucus in the lungs. 

So next time you make rice, try adding a bit of your favorite spice. Use the whole seed rather than ground. No need to remove herbs like fennel, celery seed, and cumin but I would recommend composting cardamom, cinnamon, and cloves prior to serving.

Bon appétit! 

[THE RECIPE]

2 cups uncooked organic basmati rice [or rice of choice]

1 1/2 cups water

1 tablespooon whole fennel seed

1 - 2 tablespoons extra virgin, cold-pressed olive or avocado oil

sea salt

In a small skillet, heat fennel seeds over medium heat to toast. Stir constantly until seeds become fragrant and just begin to brown. Immediately remove from heat and set aside.

Pour rice into a fine mesh strainer. Over sink, run cold water through the rice until water runs clear. Let all of the water drain completely. 

Place rice in a medium size saucepan and add water, a pinch of sea salt, and toasted fennel seeds. Bring water to boil over high heat. Once boiling, reduce temperature to low and cover to steam until rice is tender and water is gone. This may take anywhere from ten to thirty minutes depending on the variety of rice you use. Turn off heat and let sit covered for 10 minutes.

Drizzle oil over rice and use a fork to fluff. Add sea salt to taste. 

HOMEMADE BALSAMIC VINAGRETTE

This is my go-to, "good for any occasion and makes everything taste better" dressing. It's the one I've made so many times, I've given up measuring the ingredients and let my eyes and tastebuds take the lead. The one thing I'm a stickler about in this recipe is the balsamic vinegar. There really is no substitution for Napa Valley's Reserve Balsamic. The consistency is reminiscent of molasses and takes a bit to get out of the bottle but the texture it creates when combined with the other ingredients is that of a thick syrup. And no, I'm not getting paid to say this. I have no connection to the company. In fact, rarely do I advocate for a particular brand unless is absolutely affects the outcome of the recipe or presents a quality issue. This is one of those infrequent times. 

[THE RECIPE]

1 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar [Don't sub another brand, it has to be this one. Trust me.]
1/2 cup pure, raw honey
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 heaping tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon finely ground sea salt [start with less and add more as needed]
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon fresh or 1 teaspoon dried thyme

Place all of the ingredients into a glass quart jar. Secure the lid tightly and shake vigorously for a couple minutes until the mixture is like a thick syrup and ingredients are thoroughly combined. Taste the dressing and add more honey, vinegar, or salt as needed. Store on the counter for up to a week or in the refrigerator for a month or so.

I like this dressing on just about everything: meat, salad, rice - get creative!

CAPTURING CAPTIVATING AND KITARCHI with sweet potatoes, leeks, and pumpkin seeds

A couple of years ago my friend Kim and I were in a cute antique shop browsing the shelves. She picked something up and mentioned how lovely it was. Then she put it back and in almost a whisper said, "I'm so grateful I was able to experience that".

Wait. What?

Now my friend could have easily walked right up to the counter, purchased said object, and walked out with something beautiful to add to her already charming house.

But she didn't.

She put it back and somehow owned it without actually owning it.

Today I was driving my girls home from school and the song "Hello" by Adele came on. Let me say, I love this song. Adele's voice is one of the most powerful and moving I know. That being said, today it made me wonder about our collective desire to own the beauty we see, hear, and experience. This song came out and boom! everyone had to have it, including myself.

Why?

My guess is it made us feel something. Her voice cut through the fluff around us and went straight to our soul. Somehow, through a series of notes and pitch and words, it connected us to each other and awakened the deepest part of us. And we want to capture it and know with certainty we can come back to this place when the need arises.

It made me think of all the other ways we experience something that captivates us and then, in that same instant of enjoyment, we jump to conspiring to get it.

We're at the beach and experience this comforting sense of smallness and we build houses all along the coast.

We taste something exotic and find ways to bypass region and season, shipping it around the world.

We run into Target, see something pretty and without much thought add it to our cart.

We hear a song and play it over and over and over.

But once we own whatever this thing is, does the experience continue? Does it get better? Do we?

Please understand, I don't think these things necessarily wrong. I just wonder what happens when it becomes habit. Something our culture and country is defined by.

I think the beach gets old. The food isn't the same as right off the plant or tree. That thing looked a lot better on the shelf surround by the other pretties. The song suddenly becomes annoying.

But what if like my friend we take in the fullness of  beauty, allowing it to wash over and through us. We breathe in this brief moment in time and experience it as wholly and deeply and largely as we can.

And then we let that be enough.

We walk away with this sense of bittersweet contentment that can only come with loving and letting go. This incredible sense of this being enough and knowing there will be another experience waiting around the bend.

Because here's the thing - if we own, we collect, we fill the bank space with repeat - we leave little space for new and wonder and exciting. Instead of doing what's difficult at first but more meaningful in a lasting sort of way, we collect dust and headaches.

So here's my challenge. Stand there. For a ridiculous amount of time if that's what it takes. Laugh, cry, yell, dance, sing, shake. Do whatever it takes to make the experience fully yours.

And then walk away.

I think you'll find that the only thing you want to repeat is thank you.

This recipe is my cold-weather comfort food. It is dense but not heavy, warm and flavorful, and wonderfully nutritious. If winter is a more difficult season for you, you tend to get cold easily, or are looking for an easy-to-digest meal, this may be a great one to try. The cookbook referenced is one of my favorite and a real treasure-chest of wonderful recipes. 

[THE RECIPE]
Adapted from Eat, Taste, Heal: An Ayurvedic Cookbook for Modern Living

1 c. basmati rice
1/3 c. mung dhal [split hulled mung beans]
3 c. water
2 small sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into small cubes [appx. 2 cups]
1 small celeriac, peeled and cut into small cubes [appx. 1/2 cup]
2 T. ghee
2 leeks, rinsed and cut into thin slices
4 T. shelled pumpkin seeds
1 T. korma powder [see recipe below, make in advance]
1 T. apple cider vinegar
1/2 c. tigernut or coconut milk [or milk of choice]
2 T. lemon juice
1 tsp. maple syrup
sea salt, to taste

Korma Powder Recipe:

1 T. whole coriander seeds
1 T. whole cumin seeds
1 T. whole fennel seeds
1 T. whole mustard seeds
1 T. whole fenugreek seeds
1 T. whole cardamom seeds
1 T. poppy seeds
1 T. whole pepper seeds
1 T. ground cinnamon
1 T. ground ginger
1 T. ground turmeric
1 tsp. ground cloves

Place all ingredients in a spice grinder or Vitamix dry container. Blend on high until a very fine powder is achieved. Transfer to an glass container with tight-fitting lid.

Place the rice and mung dhal in a fine mesh strainer. Place under cold, running water and rinse until the water runs clear. Let all the water drain out and then place in large stainless steel pot. Add water. Bring to boil over medium-high heat. Once water boils, cover and reduce heat to low for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile peel and cut sweet potatoes, celeriac, and leeks. Once the rice and mung have been cooking for 10 minutes, layer the sweet potatoes and celeriac on top of the rice-mung mixture. Reserve the leeks for later. Cover and cook for an additional 20 minutes. Add a little more water if, after 20 minutes, the water has evaporated but the vegetables aren't tender if poked with a fork.

While the rice and vegetables are cooking, warm ghee in medium size cast iron or stainless steel skillet over medium heat. When melted, add the leeks and saute until soft. Add the pumpkin seeds and saute until the seeds are beginning to brown. Stir in the korma powder. Add the vinegar, lemon juice, syrup, milk, and about 1 teaspoon of sea salt. Cook for 3 - 4 minutes. Turn off heat and set aside.

When the vegetables are tender to touch and water has been evaporated, remove from heat and stir in the pumpkin seed mixture. Add additional sea salt and pepper if necessary. Serve immediately.

SPRING RISOTTO: 2 WAYS

Eating seasonally has many advantages [disease prevention, budget-friendly, healthy for body and planet, etc.] but one of the greatest is the anticipation that comes with spring.

My guess is many who take on the frozen tundra [otherwise known as Michigan or any other northern state] anticipate the melt of spring - the receding plow piles, the bit of green here and there, the buds and then blossoms, the daffodils and tulips and trilliums, a green horizon. Spring is all about re-birth, newness, a fresh start that even the concrete-bound cannot ignore.

But there is something even richer about orienting your diet around the change in weather. 

By aligning my diet with the season, I've experienced an anticipation for spring that is somehow deeper, more gut-felt. Everyone can feel spring in their skin but not all experience spring in there soul.

It makes a person slow down.

Way down.

Because we've waited all year for this.

We've come through winter for this.

There is the refusal to rush.

This is why I love risotto. In the same way waiting out winter causes me to pause and enjoy every bite of spring, risotto begs me to stop and feel every bit of cooking. It puts me in front of a warm stove on a chilly spring evening and then tells me to stay and stir. That's it. Stay and stir. Risotto doesn't demand. It isn't fussy. It rarely lets me down. It simply asks that I do two things really well: stay and stir.

May you find yourself at the stove with a counter full of spring and a soul bursting with thanks for the willingness to simply stay and stir.

[FIRST, A THING ABOUT RAMPS*]

Ramps are one of my favorite spring-time foods mainly because they have to be foraged. I feel a touch wild when I eat them, like I'm connecting to my hunter-gatherer side [although right now I depend on other hunters to gather]. They seem pure in the best, deepest sense. Untouched by our human hands. There is beauty in what we create and do and think up as humans [and of course danger] but there is also a lot of splendor in the simple, unchanged.

So it is with ramps. Ramps sit in the onion family. They're kind of like leek meets garlic and goes wild.

They are similar to onions, leeks, and garlic in medicinal benefits - antiviral, antifungal, antibacterial, anticarcinogenic and tonify the body, meaning they kind of work on that "stuck" feeling, the blahs if you will.

Essentially they are the best bang for your buck - tons of health benefits for the whole body. For free.

[THE RECIPE WITH ARBORIO RICE]

1/2 onion, chopped
2 T. extra virgin olive oil
2 - 4 cloves of garlic, minced

2 c. arborio rice

1 c. dry white wine or 1/4 c. white wine vinegar
6 - 8 c. of vegetable broth
1 bunch wild ramps*, chopped and separated white parts and green parts
1/3 c. chopped fresh parsley
4 - 6 c. of fresh spring greens [chard, spinach, arugula, kale]
salt and pepper to taste

Warm the oil over medium-high heat in a large pot. Add onion, ramp whites, and garlic. Stir occasionally until onion becomes translucent. In a separate pot, warm vegetable broth. Add rice to the onion, ramp whites, and garlic and stir continuously for a minute or so. Pour in white wine and stir continuously until the wine has almost evaporated completely. Now, add vegetable broth one cup at a time, waiting until each cup has evaporated before adding the next. Stir continuously. Mixture should bubble gently but not boil. Once you have worked through all of the broth [or reach the texture you desire], turn heat to low and add ramp greens, parsley, and spring greens. Stir until wilted and bright green. Season with salt and pepper to taste.


[THE RECIPE WITH BLACK RICE]

1/2 onion, chopped
2 T. extra virgin olive oil + 1 T.
2 cloves of garlic, minced
6 - 8 dried mushrooms, soaked to soften and then minced

1 1/2 c. black rice, rinsed and drained

1 c. dry white wine or 1/4 c. white wine vinegar

4 c. vegetable broth
2 - 4 c. water
1 - 2 T. dulse flakes [optional]
6 c. mix of chopped spinach, arugula, and kale
3 - 4 c. asparagus, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
sea salt and pepper, to taste


First, saute asparagus in 1 T. olive oil until bright green and tender but not soft. Set aside. Warm the oil over medium-high heat in a large pot. Add onion, mushrooms, and garlic. Stir occasionally until onion becomes translucent. In a separate pot, warm vegetable broth and 2 cups or water. Add rice to the onion, mushrooms, and garlic and stir continuously for a minute or so. Pour in white wine and stir continuously until the wine has almost evaporated completely. Now, add vegetable broth one cup at a time, waiting until each cup has evaporated before adding the next. Stir continuously. Mixture should bubble gently but not boil. Once you have worked through all of the broth [or reach the texture you desire], turn heat to low and add dulse flakes, spring greens, and sauteed asparagus. Stir until wilted and bright green. Season with salt and pepper to taste.