I do not know about you but sometimes my mouth just salivates for a sour-acidic dish. And what better way than to utilize this "taste" with fresh vegetables on rice? The inspiration for dishes comes from what they sell in some restaurants here as "sushi bowls". But this dish, except for the mayonnaise, is vegan (I think).
This recipe is more of a tutorial on how to make your own health bowl. This is basically a blank-slate recipe in which you can change all the ingredients to fit your palate. But if you follow my recipe to the letter, please follow along with the method below!
I will also show you how to make a quick pickle of anything, from onions, to peppers, to cucumbers. It surely changed my cooking. Great on any salad, burger, and now this health bowl. Without further ado, please enjoy!
Recipe/Ingredients
The recipe is basically a prepared dish or a dish in which you chop a bunch of ingredients and just throw them together. However, there are some additional steps such as the quick pickles you can take to up your game. Herewith is the ingredient list:
- Cubed cucumber,
- cubed carrot,
- cubed celery stem,
- pickled cucumber,
- pickled peppers,
- mayonnaise with extra sugar and pickle juice,
- avocado,
- cold rice, and
- toasted sesame seeds.
A first quick tip, all of these photographs on Instagram and the internet use aesthetically cut and placed avo and other ingredients. But these are never nice to eat because the pieces are too big for the spoon and your mouth. Hence the reason for cutting everything even the avo into small cubes. It eats so much better. But this does not make the best food for photographs. You have to weigh up the options.
Method
Firstly, I just add the rice to the bottom of the bowl I will use.
I add some soya sauce and some of the toasted sesame seeds to the rice.
I use very little rice. And thus add more cucumber. The sweet taste of the cucumber pairs so well with the rice.
I then add the carrots and celery stem.
The avocado is so creamy and pairs well with the crunchy elements of this dish. The dish is definitely a clash of textures and that is what makes it so well-balanced. Who would have guessed that a clash of textures would balance so well?
Add the pickled peppers and cucumber. Below I will show you how to make the quick pickles.
Add the sesame seeds and the mayonnaise. Your dish is done!
Writing this, I am salivating for some more. I have made extra rice so I will make this tomorrow again.
I am sometimes a messy eater. So I mix everything together before eating it. You might prefer to keep it as is and not to mix it.
Quick Pickle Tips
A quick pickle is some of the best condiments you can make. Pickled onions are the best on burgers or salads. Pickled cucumber is also one of the best snacks. It just hits differently. You can also mix up many different spices and ingredients to make some awesome brine for your pickles.
For one, I once made some brine with strained ginger and celery stems. I cut them very finely and mixed them with salt and water. I let it sit for 30 minutes. I strained the liquid. I then added thinly sliced cucumber and let them soak for 30 minutes or so. These were by far some of the best pickles I have ever made.
Anyways, a quick pickle is basically any vegetable thinly sliced and salt-water brine, vinegar brine, or sugar-vinegar brine.
The thinner you slice them, the quicker they will pickle. And you can mix and match the different brines. Different tastes will obviously be emphasized. For example, peppers are always best for me in a sugar-vinegar brine. Salt brine is best for cucumbers, and onions are best in vinegar-salt brine. Again, let your creative mind go wild.
But one of the most valuable resources from quick pickles is the brine itself.
I swear this is the key ingredient to the best mayo-burger sauce. You cannot throw this away. This makes for the best salad dressing. Just mix some oil in it. Or tahini paste. Or dijon mustard.
Postscriptum
In any case, I hope you will try this recipe and the quick pickles. It will surely ramp up your cooking. All of the images are my own, taken with my iPhone. The recipe is also something that just came to me. Or it might be an amalgamation of various other dishes and photographs on google images. Let me know in the comments if you have tried anything similar! Stay safe and happy cooking.