Your wife’s Zojirushi rice cooker has settings for nine different kinds of rice, plus a button to tell it whether the rice is prewashed. Her uncle gave it to her; she is the third person in the family to receive such a gift. It plays one friendly tune when you start it and another friendly tune when the rice is done. It is easy to clean, and you were able to replace the original inner bowl with a stainless-steel one, pleasingly heavy to the touch. When the smell of rice and sesame oil fills the air, you open the window to air out the house. You lean out the window to smell the night air, which is sweet and fresh, and you wonder what kind of salad the salad days are all about.
Ingredients
For the rice cooker
- 1½ cups white basmati rice, rinsed
- 1⅔ cups water
- 1 tablespoon white or yellow miso
- ½ teaspoon vegetable Better Than Bouillon
- 3 cups finely shredded green cabbage
- 1 medium carrot, grated or cut into thin matchsticks
- 1 tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger
- 3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
For the bowls
- 8 ounces prepared miso-marinated tofu, such as the kind sold at Key Food, sliced
- 2–4 garlic cloves, very thinly sliced or grated
- 1–2 tablespoons gochujang, to taste
- 1 tablespoon unseasoned rice vinegar
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil, plus more to taste
- ½ cup torn fresh mint
- ½ cup roughly chopped cilantro
- 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
- 2 sheets roasted seaweed, crushed
Instructions
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Put the rinsed basmati rice in the rice cooker.
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Whisk the water, miso, and Better Than Bouillon together until dissolved, then pour the mixture over the rice.
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Layer the cabbage, carrot, ginger, and sliced garlic over the rice without stirring them in. Drizzle with 1 teaspoon sesame oil. Cook using the regular white-rice setting.
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When the cooker finishes, leave it closed for 5–10 minutes. Open it and fluff the vegetables and rice together. If the rice is firmer than you like, sprinkle in a little hot water, close the cooker, and let it steam for another 5 minutes.
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Meanwhile, divide the tofu among serving bowls. In each bowl, add some raw garlic, gochujang, rice vinegar, sesame oil, and half of the mint and cilantro. Stir the seasonings together around the tofu.
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Spoon the steaming cabbage rice directly into the bowls. Leave it undisturbed for 1 minute so the heat warms the tofu, wilts the herbs, and softens the sharpest edge of the raw garlic.
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Mix thoroughly. Finish with the reserved fresh herbs, toasted sesame seeds, crushed roasted seaweed, and another drizzle of sesame oil.