Brown Rice and Mushroom Congee | Ottolenghi

The flavor bombs: pickled red onions and roasted mushrooms

We are building an arsenal of flavor bombs inspired by Ottolenghi’s Flavor, a new cookbook. Using brown rice congee as a blank canvas, we add pickled onions and an amazing roasted mushroom mix (both on page 238). Together, the dish delivers a perfect balance of healthfulness and great flavor. Let’s examine the components, especially the pickled red onions and the umami-filled roasted mushrooms.

What makes the pickled onions a flavorful bombshell in this recipe? The ingredients used are somewhat unconventional and unexpected. Get this. Besides one red onion, there are two oranges (peel and juice), two hibiscus tea bags, 10 allspice berries, 1/4 cup of rice vinegar and a good sprinkle of sugar and salt. Hibiscus tea bags? Yes, for all we know, they’re doing double duty than flavoring tea. Hibiscus adds tartness and vibrant color to the pickled onions.

Meanwhile, don’t hold back in doubling or tripling the recipe amounts. You won’t regret having extra servings of this flavor bomb in the fridge. In fact, the hibiscus pickled onions are unlikely to last long because there are very few places they can’t go in boosting deliciousness.

Fresh mushrooms are reliable choices in adding earthy and meaty flavor to a dish. In my family, we eat meat occasionally and prefer primarily a plant-based diet. Increasingly, I’ve found mushrooms to be satisfactory substitutes for meat, although it is not a consensus. However, everyone clearly enjoys this mushroom dish.

Roasting mushrooms is a timesaver over sautèing them in a skillet. It’s much easier to use a sheet-pan as opposed to pan-frying the mushrooms in a large skillet, a batch at a time. Once you put the sheet-pan in the oven, you can pretty much forget about it — for about 30 minutes. I’ve found this streamlined approach appealing and the results decidedly consistent.

Prior to roasting, the mushrooms get a quick soak in a sauce seasoned with: garlic, soy sauce, maple syrup, olive oil, cumin seeds, chiles and allspice berries. The smell of mushrooms roasting in the oven is a prelude to the umami flavor of this common, yet incredible, ingredient.

Can we say that “the whole is greater than the sum of the parts,” as it relates to the recipe? In the final congee, there is clearly a synergy of the components contributing to the taste and tenor of the dish. Notably, the quality of the parts (pickled hibiscus onions and roasted mushroom) is compelling and each deserves our full attention.

Print Recipe

Brown Rice Congee, Pickled Red Onions and Roasted Mushrooms

Ingredients

BROWN RICE CONGEE:
brown rice
water
PICKLED ONIONS:
1 red onion, finely sliced into rounds on a mandoline
2 oranges, finely shave the peel to get strips, then juice to get 1/4 cup/60 ml
2 hibiscus tea bags, or 1/4 oz/5 g dried hibiscus flower (optional)
10 allspice berries
1/4 cup/60 ml white wine vinegar
1/4 tsp salt
ROASTED MUSHROOM WITH CHILI OIL:
12 oz shitake mushroom, roughly sliced
12 oz baby portobello mushroom, roughly sliced
2 garlic cloves
3 tbsp soy sauce
4 1/2 tsp maple syrup
7 tbsp/105 ml olive oil
salt
1 tsp cumin seeds
4 dried ancho chiles, roughly broken
1/2 tsp allspice berries
green onions
cilantro

Instructions

FOR THE BROWN RICE CONGEE:

Cook the brown rice with four times as much water in a pot or an automatic rice cooker. For example, 4 cups of water for one cup of brown rice. Season with salt.

FOR THE PICKLED ONIONS:

In a small serving bowl, mix together the red onion, orange peel, orange juice, tea bags, allspice, vinegar, sugar and salt and set aside.

FOR THE ROASTED MUSHROOMS AND CHILI OIL:

Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line two large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, mix the mushrooms with the garlic, soy sauce, maple syrup, 5 tbsp/75 ml of the olive oil and 3/4 tsp salt. Blitz the cumin seeds, chiles, and allspice to a powder in a spice grinder or a mortar and pestle. Put 1 1/2 tsp of the spice mix into a small bowl with the remaining 2 tbsp olive oil and set aside. Stir the rest of the spice mix into the bowl of mushrooms.

Transfer the mushrooms to the prepared baking sheets, spread out as much as possible, and roast for 20 minutes. Combine all the mushrooms on one sheet, mix well, and continue to roast for another 8 minutes, until crisp and browned.