Dragon Rice Bowl (Updated)

UPDATED: The method Mr Chen used did not work for us. I don't know why. I have gone to old fashion way of making my sauces. Scroll down, if you wish to skip the anecdotal story. 

The other night, my bride was watching videos. One from Mike Chen came across the screen. It grabbed my attention when I hadn’t yet realized that I needed to watch this video for inspiration. (He is “Strictly Dumpling” on Instagram. I think I will follow him.) Now you must be asking, why did you, Steven, need to be inspired?

Well, I am so glad that you’ve asked, so I will tell you. I am a huge fan of church dinners. I think it’s something that is taught in one of the ministry courses at Ozark Christian College. I think it might even be a four-credit course, Church Dinners and Other Food Sourcing for Ministers, or something like that. But I’ve taken the rabbit trail. Let me resume.

I love Church Dinners. But the last church dinner I participated I had decided to make Papa’s Slop Joes for dinner. Someone else in the church had made their own sloppy joe concoction. Both were popular. Both were about 2/3 gone. But the other person didn’t want to take home leftovers and didn’t trust me to bring back the slow-cooker. So the logical choice? Combine them! Why not? They taste practically the same.

Let’s stop there. They were different. I liked my rendering. I didn't like the other rendering. I didn’t eat the leftovers. My food was contaminated. Rant over.

Today is another church dinner that we will celebrate to bring in the new year, albeit a bit early because we will be home long before midnight. I didn’t want to risk the same event happening so I needed something unique. Then I saw Mike Chen’s “Big Tomato Rice in a Rice Cooker” video (his title, not mine). He talked about jazzing it up with asparagus, mushrooms, potato, and jalapeño Spam, with seasoning and garlic.

EUREKA ! No one will make something like that for church dinner. That’s what I will do. But I don’t like jalapeño Spam. I love Spam, but I try to keep a low sodium diet. So I thought, I also love sausage. And since this is the eve of church dinner, I need to make a couple of other adjustments. I don’t have any ripened tomatoes. There’s not enough time for a tomato fresh from the store to soften. My solution was canned diced tomatoes, not the petite diced. Then there is the double starch, potato and rice. I’ve never liked double starched because the textures are just different enough to be gross for me. If they were quite different, or if they were the same texture, then double starch me. That means no potato. I also don’t like asparagus, unless it’s fresh, lightly steamed in a butter sauce. This dish isn’t that. Asparagus had to go. Mushrooms? I guess this would have been triple starch. I prefer my mushroom swimming in marinara or covered in cheese. (Do oriental dishes have cheese? I’ll have to look into that because my mother in law never used cheese for her cooking.)

After all is said and done, I was inspired. I didn’t copy the recipe, per se. He said we have the freedom to use whatever. So I thought to what I did like. Hopefully it will be good. I am eager to try some tonight at the church dinner. I’ll even post a picture.

Old Update: I tried the dish, and followed my instructions that were his instructions. This is my second and final failed attempt at rice-cooker cooking. Here is what I am saying. For me, rice cooker cooking is not an option. I envy and applaud those who are able to make the recipe work. I will post the results when I change up the cooking method. Stay tuned. 

Here’s the recipe:

4 cups of Cal-Rose Rice (very short grain white rice), rinsed and drained

1 pound sliced, smoked sausage (why use Spam when you can use this?)

1 15 ounce can diced tomato, do not drain

1 10 ounce bag of California mix veggies

4 tablespoons hot soybean paste

3 tablespoons olive oil

3 tablespoons sliced chestnuts

1 tablespoon sesame seed oil

1 splash of soy sauce

1 splash of balsamic vinegar

1 pinch cilantro

1 pinch mint

1 tablespoon sweet basil

Generous amounts of water

Step 1 – The Sauce

Heat olive oil in Dutch oven. Sauté chestnuts and then toss in sausage to caramelize cut edges. Use one tablespoon of basil during this process. Once everything looks good, add balsamic vinegar for few more minutes. Add California/Normandy mix, add remaining seasons and can of diced tomatoes, undrained. Turn heat down to “4” on your electric stove (equivalent guess for gas stove). Cook for 20 minutes, or until veggies are to preferred texture.

Step 2 – The Rice

Cook rice, using your preferred method. Rice cooks differently and affected by grain type, elevation, and humidity. We use automatic rice cookers for this reason.

Step 3 – The Plating

Mix cooked rice into sauce and serve. Or serve sauce over bed of white rice.

I will tell you that the aroma is quite pleasant. The sausage tastes great. I’ll update soon. Enjoy this, my Dragon Rice Bowl.