This is a fancy recipe using black rice and high quality ingredients. Black rice is a mutation of red rice, which is the original rice consumed in ancient times. Red rice is more nutrient dense and contains more antioxidants than modern rice. Black rice is like a super-concentrated version of that. This rice was at one time only eaten by royalty in Ancient China, due to it being very difficult to grow. It was believed to extend life, and given the high levels of antioxidants and nutrition in black rice, these claims seem plausible.
I used a home-made vegetable stock for this. Pureering slightly wilted vegetables and tossing them into a pressure cooker with a bayleaf, thyme, and peppercorns is a great way to prevent wasting vegetables and save money on broth/stock. To save money, you can stick to only buying fresh vegetables if they can be used in stock, and buy all vegetables that can’t be used for stock-making frozen. I hate cooking rice, and tossing a single serving in a pressure cooker and forgetting about it for 30 minutes is a great way to make it easier. Due to the small serving size and the use of a pressure cooker, accuracy is critical, so use a gram scale. This recipe also uses my trick for making a poached egg with a kettle and a gravy separator.
Since butter and saffron in rice is a characteristic of South Asian cuisine, and soy sauce and sesame seeds are a characteristic of East Asian cuisine, I consider this dish to be a fusion of both
Procedure:
Weigh out 45g of black rice and 70g of vegetable stock on a small-weight gram scale. Place in a small pressure cooker with a pinch of saffron. Pressure cook on high for 22 minutes. Wait for the steam to release naturally. Stir in the butter and mushroom umami seasoning. Place the rice on a plate, top with a poached egg, and garnish with soy sauce, sesame seeds, and dried chives.
