RECIPE : green comfort congee bowl with miso sauce

a surprise dinner i had ready for david when he got home from work the other day. when i look at food like this i always think this is what humans are meant to eat. pure comforting goodness – after eating this i can feel my body relaxing. full and content, but not heavy.

there really is something special about cooking good food like this for someone you love. to know that i’ve prepared food that will take care of his body. in my book, this is love.
then again, instead of being ready to serve the food when he came in the door, i was busy taking pics being like “yeah yeah have a seat i’ll be with you in a moment”. so maybe not the most romantic girlfriend after all.

if you think this recipe has too many steps, just remove some ! this was a proper fancy dinner, so for a normal weekday dinner, i’d just make the congee and throw in some veggies.

ok what’s in the bowl ?
· congee is my favourite. it’s basically rice porridge or rice gruel : cooking rice until it sort of melts. in this dish i’ve used brown rice, which adds a lovely nutty flavour, and i’ve added red lentils to get some legume power in there. a tip is to make a lot of congee at once and keep it in the fridge, especially if you’re using slow-to-cook brown rice. i like my congee a bit chunky so i don’t cook it until it’s completely gruel-like. just find the consistency you like !
· i just took some of mine and david’s favourite green veggies, but you can of course use whatever. just leave out or add in whatever you want, congee goes with just about any veg.
· the daikon (the white radish strips on top) adds some serious crispy freshness. i’ve quickly sort of pickled them in rice vinegar, but just using it as is works too !
· i’ve got a new favourite – the miso sauce ! you’ll probably see this one pop up in tons of future recipes. so complex in it’s flavours, i love it. david however hates it, like i sort of knew he would ^^ he just had soy sauce and rice vinegar on top of his bowl instead.

green comfort congee bowl
2 servings
125 ml / 0.5 cups brown rice
750-1000 ml / 3-4 cups water
125 ml / 0.5 cups red lentils, uncooked
2 large handfuls of kale, in smaller pieces
2 large handfuls of green beans
1/2 zucchini, thinly sliced or spiralized
2 large / 4 medium cremini mushrooms
5 cm / 2 in daikon radish, julienned
0.5-1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 scallion, sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
salt and pepper (black and white)
2 lemon wedges

miso sauce
3 tbsp white miso paste (found in asian food & whole food shops, make sure it’s vegan)
3 tbsp water
1 tbsp rice vinegar (optionally white wine vinegar)
1 tsp ginger, grated
2 garlic cloves, grated

– cook the rice with most of the water until it starts to break apart, about 1h.
– roast the zucchini and mushrooms for about 30 min in 175°C / 350°F, until browned.
– place the julienned daikon in a bowl and sprinkle it with some salt and rice vinegar. give it a toss to cover all daikon slices. set aside.
– make the miso sauce by mix all ingredients with a fork until smooth. keep leftover sauce (if any) refrigerated in a clean glass jar.
– add the lentils to the rice and pour in the rest of the water, if needed. cook until lentils break apart and the congee has a gruel or porridge like consistency. when the lentils start to melt the congee easily sticks to the pot, so stir frequently.
– sauté the veggies. you can of course use whatever type of veggies you like, but i used green beans and kale. i sautéed the green beans in salt and garlic, with some water. and the kale with salt and healthy pinch of white pepper – again with some water.
– plate ! i used the daikon, lemon, and scallion to garnish, looks kind of pretty right ?