Grain Bowl with Shiru Broth and Oyster Mushrooms
This bowl is light and comforting at the same time, and full of nourishing goodness. I’m using a flavourful broth to add a gentle flavour to my veggies and grains. When I visited Japan a few years ago, I discovered how delicious shiru broth is. Shiru is a common everyday flavouring broth in Japanese kitchens. It’s often used to braise pumpkin, vegetables, fish, and meat, and to wilt and simmer greens and tofu. It’s delicious flavour balances savour with a little sweetness.
Drizzle warm shiru-broth over your grain bowl, it will let you taste the food in a fresh sublime sense, without over powering and bolder flavours. Maybe it’s the start of something new and beautiful for your meal times!
Recipe partly adapted from Bowls of Goodness: Grains + Greens by Nina Olsson, Kyle Books, Octopus Publishing Group, Hachette
This is the kind of grain bowl you can easily throw together with what you have in your kitchen. Any cooked grain will do. I go for a wholegrain most of the time because of the valuable fibre that comes with it. Having a portion of whole grains every day does wonders for my digestion too, and makes me feel both full and nourished.
For this bowl, I chose gluten-free Sorghum (just because I had it at home and wanted to eat it). Sorghum is an extra earth-friendly grain, as it grows well in dry, hot weather. Thus, a truly resilient crop that doesn’t need much of our earths resources to be farmed.
Sorghum originates from Africa and grows around the world in warmer climates. You can read more about Sorghum and other wholegrains in my fourth book, Bowls of Goodness - Grains + Greens.
Tip for variations:
Work with the seasons and what’s on offer. Bowl food is all about going with the flow :) ! You can use seitan instead of mushrooms. Soft tofu instead of Avocado and/or beans. You can use other seasonal root vegetables in place of radish and carrot, try kohlrabi, or beets for example. Use any seasonal greens instead of spinach. I would also use broccoli, kale and or even rucola here too. Make sure to adjust cooking time to make sure the greens are at their peak moment before removing from the pan.
Plan your cooking: While the grains are cooking (if they’re not already batch cooked), you have time to prep the rest of the ingredients.
Makes 2 bowls
150g uncooked wholegrain or 250g cooked ( used Sorghum), you can easily substitute with brown rice, barley, quinoa, kamut or other grains (consider pre-soaking time on some grains)
Creamy Hot Beans
1 tablespoon vegan mayonnaise
1 teaspoon lemon juice
a pinch of salt
between ½ to 1 teaspoon red chilli pepper flakes (such as shichimi togarashi (Japanese spice mix with (gochujang (Korean chili), or use other child flakes, a teaspoon of sriracha or hot sauce works nicely too!
Quick-pickled carrots and radishes salad
2 small to medium carrots, sliced thin with a mandolin or knifer, or grated roughly
½ small water lemon radish or other type of radish, sliced thin with a mandolin or knife, or grated roughly
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
½ teaspoon maple or agave syrup
Green Onion & Mushrooms
I tablespoon olive oil for cooking
2 handfuls of fresh Oyster or Shiitake mushrooms (you can also use regular button mushrooms), roughly chopped
2 green onions, chopped
1 tablespoon shoyu (Japanese soy sauce) or tamari sauce
Shiru broth (adapted from my book Grains + Greens)
250 ml fish-free kombu-based dashi or vegetable broth
3 ½ tablespoons mirin
75 ml shoyu sauce ( or 1 ½ tablespoon genmai miso)
2 teaspoons brown sugar
2 generous handfuls of spinach (can be substituted with other greens, se note in the post)
Add-ins (to share between 2 bowls)
1 avocado, sliced
2 tablespoon soaked or pickled wakame, alternatively add shredded nori (dry wakame needs to be rinsed and soaked for at least 5-10 minutes. Drain before eating)
a handful of fresh sprouts
2 teaspoons of white or black sesame seeds
To serve
Place toasted sesame oil and rice vinegar and if you like it more hot, extra chilli flakes to sprinkle over the bowl.
Cook your grains according to package instructions, if they’re not already prepped.
Mix the quick-pickled carrot and radish salad ingredients together.
Stir together the ingredients for the creamy beans.
Drizzle a frying pan with olive oil and heat up to medium high temperature. Place the mushrooms without overlapping in the pan and let sear for 1 ½ minute, toss and stir for another 2 minutes minute before adding green onion and shoyu sauce. Stir fry for another 2 minutes before removing from heat.
Mix the shiru broth together. Heat up a pan to medium high heat. Add two generous handfuls of fresh spinach and the shiru. Let it simmer for a minute Remove the spinach with a slotted spoon. Reserve and seal the liquid, keeping it warm for serving.
Divide the grains between the bowls and pour in some broth so that there’s a base with broth in the bottom of the bowls. Divide the rest of the elements and drizzle with broth. Serve with extra shoyu sauce, toasted sesame oil (optional) rice vinegar, and chilli flakes.
VE ✔︎
GF Use tamari instead of shoy sauce.
Ceramic from Birdtsang
