Salmon Sashimi and Black Rice

I'd never heard of black rice until I saw a Food & Wine recipe for "Fried Forbidden Rice".  I thought it sounded exotic and at the very least, a different color so I set out on a search for it.  It has taken several months to locate some black rice because my local Asian market didn't carry any and I only recently went to my beloved H-Mart in Dallas when driving Josh to the airport.  The package was completely written in Mandarin so I just went on my previous knowledge of rice for cooking procedure. 

Rice, 2 servings:
4 cloves garlic, peeled
2 tbs vegetable oil
1 c black rice
1 c water
6 slices turkey bacon, coarsely chopped
1 small onion, diced
2 tbs low sodium soy sauce
salt
2 tsp Chinese five-spice
4 scallions, coarsely chopped

Sashimi, 2 servings:
6oz sashimi-grade salmon
thyme sprigs
lemon slices
drizzle of low sodium soy sauce

Slice the sashimi into 1/4" strips.  Lay down one piece of fish, then put a sprig of thyme on it, then put down a slice of lemon.  Repeat the sequence until you run out of fish.

Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a couple hours to let the thyme and lemon infuse the fish ever so slightly.

Peel the garlic and place it on a sheet of foil. Drizzle it with a bit of oil and seal the foil into a secure package.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.  If you multiply the recipe, add some time.  The original recipe called for 12 cloves to cook for an hour so just go by that scale.

It should look like this when it's done.  Soft and caramelized.  It was all I could do to keep from just spreading this roasted garlic on a cracker and scarfing it down right then and there.  The lovely aroma that filled my house made me want to roast some garlic every morning to start my day.  It isn't a smell like sauteing garlic.  It's sweeter and more earthy.  Very nice.  I'll stop now and continue.
Wrap the garlic back up and refrigerate for a couple hours.


For the rice, give it a little rinse in a strainer then put it in a saucepan and cover with the water.  Bring the pot to a boil then reduce the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes.  After that time, use a fork to taste a little.  It is going to have a slightly heartier texture than white rice or even brown rice but if it's crunchy, add another tablespoon of water and simmer another 5 minutes or so until it's done.  Let the rice cool and refrigerate overnight.  If you suck at planning like I do, just refrigerate until the rice it's cold.  It's best when left overnight but the rice will gum up and stick to your pan if it's used right after cooking so cool it off for as long as you can for the best results.

When you're finally ready to put everything together, chop the bacon, onions, and scallions.  Also chop up the garlic.  The original recipe would have you leave the cloves whole but I like to get a little of everything in each bite so instead of having one bite of garlic and one bite of rice, I opted to mince the garlic before adding it to future steps.

Put a tablespoon of oil in a skillet and cook the bacon for about 7 minutes or until cooked through and slightly crispy. 

Transfer the bacon to a holding container, pour in another tablespoon of oil, and saute the onions until translucent and tender.  Throw in a dash of salt for seasoning (Using pork bacon produces a good deal of grease so you can just use that oil to cook the onions but I only buy low sodium turkey bacon so I needed to add oil).

When the onions are ready, add the bacon, rice, garlic, soy sauce, and five-spice.  The original recipe called for white pepper but I love the warmth of the five-spice so I made the call to change it up and it turned out perfect.  Cook everything together, stirring or tossing frequently, until thoroughly warmed and all the ingredients melded together.  Garnish with the scallions and serve.  Take out the sashimi and drizzle it with a bit of soy or ponzu sauce.

What you end up with is a delicious, nutty rice dish with a refreshing, cool sashimi dish.

The black rice barely tastes like rice.  It has such a wonderful nutty flavor that is unlike anything you've ever had. It quickly became one of the foods I want lots more of and a food around which I want to develop new recipes.  The rice was amazing all by itself and could have stood alone because of the meatiness of the bacon and the nuttiness of the rice.

I had the salmon left over from some sushi I made and didn't want its freshness to be wasted by cooking.  Adding fresh herbs and lemon to anything just adds a crispness that can only be magnified by the final dish being served cold.  It was a delightful complement to the hearty rice dish and every hard-to-find ingredient is totally worth the final result.

*Black rice, or more specifically Forbidden Rice, is very high in the antioxidant anthocyanin.  It is also very high in iron and fiber.  Yummy AND healthy!