From The Pantry: Multigrain rice, mystery bentos, and more
Ideas for what to cook in the week ahead, inspired by my (actual, chaotic) home pantry
Welcome to another edition of From The Pantry, where I share a few ideas for what to cook in the week ahead, inspired by all the shit I’m always trying to use up from my very full, very chaotic home pantry. This series will always be free to all subscribers and non-subscribers (though hopefully you are a subscriber?). FYI these are not sponsored product placements, nor do I earn income from anything you purchase via links in this newsletter.)
Hi and welcome to another edition of From The Pantry, the free newsletter I send every Sunday evening in the hopes that it sparks some ideas for what to cook in the week ahead. Many of you may be here for the first time after subscribing to this newsletter via my most recent essay about finding out I have prediabetes. If this is you: hi, welcome, thank you for being here!
Here’s what I’m cooking from the pantry right now:
Multigrain rice with adzuki beans
I knew I had an intensely busy workweek this past week, so I made bigger batches of a few things I knew would keep well throughout the week: kabocha squash wedges simmered with dashi/mirin/soy sauce, a sautéed arame seaweed salad with slivers of carrot and onion, and a big pot of multigrain rice. They anchored so many good, quick meals that reminded me of when I used to work in an office and put more thought into a hearty packed lunch. I prefer multigrain rice made with a 4:1 ratio of rice to mixed grains/beans using the following method: Rinse 4 parts white or brown medium- or short-grain rice in a bowl under several changes of cool water to wash away excess starch. Once the water runs mostly clear, cover with plenty of cool water and add your 1 part mixed grains/beans—this could be millet, amaranth, buckwheat, rinsed quinoa, black rice, barley, oats, adzuki beans, or a combination. (For the rice pictured, I used a mix of brown short-grain rice and brown sweet rice and some very old adzuki beans that were totally fine.) The most important step is to let the rice/grains mix adequately soak (at least 2 hours, but preferably 6 hours or overnight if you’re using brown rice). This helps the grains cook evenly. My rice cooker has a “brown rice” setting that’s very handy for this style of rice.
Mystery bentos
Cute idea alert: On Friday, convinced that the cherry blossom trees at the botanic garden would be in bloom on this balmy 35-degree day, my friend Leanne and I met to admire the blossoms and swap homemade bento box lunches we prepared for each other. While the blossom were…well, basically not ready yet, we were absolutely tickled by each others’ whimsical mystery lunches. It was an excellent way to spend an afternoon, and I highly recommend doing this with a friend when you’re in a food rut!
Almond streusel coffee cake
I will sing praises of the cookbook Mother Grains until I die because it is one of the most creative and beautiful baking books of the last decade and an educational, supportive introduction to a vast array of flours and grains, from sorghum to rye to buckwheat to corn. I baked the Almond Streusel Coffee Cake from the rice chapter and it was possibly the most tender cake I’ve ever baked, thanks to the brown rice flour mixed into the batter, which also added a unique mild sweetness. The recipe calls for dolloping the cake batter with spoonfuls of jam before topping with lots of buttery streusel and baking, and I knew this was the time to use our friend Sarah’s family’s homemade blueberry jam, which they make every year with berries from their blueberry bushes. Thank you, Sarah!
Okay that’s all for today! Have a great week and see you here on Thursday.
–Chaey