Karl’s Confetti Rice

I wanted a rice dish to go with my Asian cabbage rolls. Since I developed diabetes, Jan has pushed me to serve more brown rice. No Chinese meal is complete without some rice. You can eat until you are bursting, but if you have not eaten at least one bite of rice, then all you have had is a “snack.”

Karl’s Confetti Rice

When we moved to Chengdu Miriam was 3½ years old and we put her in Chinese kindergarten. Mimi’s favorite school lunch was what she called confetti rice, Chinese garlic chives stirred into steamed rice. The chives look like blades of grass and when you chop them finely you get little green confetti-like squares. I decided to make this simple dish with brown rice.

Karl’s Confetti Rice

Ingredients

1½ cups brown Jasmine rice, dry

¼ lb. Chinese garlic chive (about 1 cup)

Directions

1. Put the rice in a steamer with the correct amount of water and start the steamer.

Tip: I have found that for steamed rice, nothing beats an Asian rice steamer. Unless you have a huge family, I would not get a large one, but they make small, three cup ones that are perfect for most uses. You put in the dry rice, add water, push the button and walk away. Twenty minutes later you have perfect steamed rice.

Note: You may use chicken or vegetable broth instead of water.

2. Rinse and chop the chives.

Note: Chinese chives are sold in bundles of about 100 grass-like stems. Sort the chives very carefully. Like green onions, Chinese chives rot from the tips and outside leaves first.  Cut off any discolored tips and remove any suspect leaves, before chopping them up.

3. As soon as the rice has finished steaming, stir the chives into the hot rice.

Tip: You may reserve some of the chives for garnish.

4. Re-cover the rice pot and let the hot rice cook the chives.

5. Transfer the rice in a serving bowl and garnish if you wish.

Note: You may like to garnish the rice with black sesame seeds.