Some recipes are born from necessity using what you have at hand, others are inspired by something you’ve seen or eaten before, a flavour combination that stopped you in your tracks and stayed with you. This recipe is the latter, a salad I lusted over and knew I needed to make myself at home. There are three key components to this recipe: the Kale Salad with Spring Onions and Cucumber, the Rice laced with sesame seeds and the egg, simply boiled. Whilst very plain sounding on their own, when brought together this dish is multi-dimensional; grounding and earthy whilst having an exotic undertone from the sesame, ginger and sriracha.
The Ingredients
1 cup or 190g of brown/basmati rice
180g of kale
2-4 eggs (depending on whether you want one or two per person)
100g baby cucumbers, chopped
100g spring onions, finely sliced
1/4 cup or 35g of sesame seeds
Dressing:
1/4 cup low sodium tamari (soy sauce)
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp honey
Juice of 1/2 lime
2 cloves crushed garlic
1 tbsp grated fresh ginger
1 teaspoon sriracha sauce (optional)
Method
Start with the rice, as this takes the longest time to cook. Add in your cup of basmati or brown rice to a well-sized saucepan, cover with 2 cups of water and sprinkle in a pinch of salt. Bring the rice to the boil and reduce to a simmer. Stir the rice often as if left for too long particularly as it first starts to cook the rice can stick to the pan and the water floats above. Keep the rice on a simmer until it is light and fluffy. For the rice to cook you may need to add another cup or so of water along the way, adding a little bit and then letting it simmer again until the rice is perfectly cooked.
Next let’s prepare the salad. De-stem the kale and place all the leaves into a big bowl. Slice the spring onions into thin pieces and chop the cucumbers into circular slices. Don’t mix these components together yet, laying them out prepared on your chopping board.
To make the dressing mix together the following ingredients in a bowl or jar: tamari, olive oil, sesame oil, lime, honey, crushed garlic and the optional sriracha sauce. Stir well. Pour 50% of the dressing over the kale and using your hands massage the dressing into the leaves until they start to wilt, this should only take a minute or two. Set the rest of the dressing aside to pour over the remaining components upon serving.
When the rice is nearing perfection, it’s time to cook the boiled eggs. Using a well-sized pan, fill 3/4 with water and bring to the boil. Add in 2-4 eggs and set your timer for 5 1/2 minutes. If you like the yolk runny boil for 5 minutes, if you prefer firm boil for 6 1/2-7. My preference is 5 1/2 minutes for boiling. When the timer goes off run each egg individually under cold water, then tapping the egg on a hard surface pick the egg shell off. Repeat with all eggs, and finish by slicing them in half.
To serve, grab a bowl and dividing it into three sections add the marinated kale salad, rice and egg(s). Scatter the cucumber, spring onions and sesame seeds over the entire bowl, along with the rest of the dressing. Serve hot or cold.