I am a self professed book hoarder. Given my situation and the state of the world I’ve been able to cut back on a lot of stuff, like using half the electricity, gas and water, and only having to take out the trash once every 2 weeks, largely due to the smell, but not because my trash can is full.
The one thing I cannot seem to cut back on is books. This is all books, but books in relation to the Dutch East Indies and cookbooks in particular.
On The Side
Dutch as I am, then I also love a sale, so when I saw Ed Smith’s On The Side at the American Book Center in The Hague a while ago, I had to have it.
It has since become the most heavily bookmarked cookbook I ever owned. I don’t know why more people aren’t writing cookbooks about side dishes, but On The Side is a genius list of simple, mostly vegetable based side dishes. Including explanations on what to have them with, or how to combine them to make a full meal.
I’m in love with this book and I basically cannot stop cooking from it. There’s never an occasion where you don’t need a side now, is there?
Variations on three peppercorn wild rice
The first recipe I cooked, and cooked again and again and again, from On The Side, is this 3 peppercorn wild rice dish. Sometimes I’ll make it with plain or brown rice. Sometimes I’ll use the leftovers in a salad with some beans, chicken and cilantro, sometimes I’ll have it for lunch with some fried eggs and my hot-tingle mapo hot sauce, sometimes I’ll switch the eggs out for crispy oven-baked tofu puffs. Basically, it works with everything. As long as you like it hot.
I did switch out the lemon for lime and one of the peppercorns for Indonesian andaliman pepper, since that’s what I had laying around, but you can basically pick and mix from your own cupboard.
Peppercorn and lime rice
Equipment
- Rice cooker OR
- Heavy bottomed small (sauce)pan with a lid
- Fine sieve, optional
- Pestle and mortar or spice/ coffee grinder
Ingredients
- 1 c - 225 gr wild rice plain (non-stick) rice will also work
- juice of 1 lime
- 1 t - 5 gr black peppercorns
- 1 t - 5 gr Sichuan peppercorns black seeds removed
- 1 t - 5 gr Andaliman peppercorns if you can't find these pink or green peppercorns are nice as well
- salt to taste
Instructions
Methods for cooking the rice
- Rinse and wash your rice thoroughly until any added water runs clear.
- Cook 1 c - 225 gr of rice in a rice cooker, according to your manufacturer's instructions.
- Alternatively cook 1 c - 225 gr of rice in a heavy bottomed (sauce)pan with ample water by bringing it to the boil, lid on, and then leaving it to simmer for 3 minutes less than the packet instructions prescribe. Strain the rice and place it back in the saucepan, lid on, and leave to sit for another 3 minutes for perfectly fluffy rice. This is Ed Smith's method.
- Place 1 c - 225 gr of rice in a heavy bottomed (sauce)pan. Add water until the rice sits 1 index phalanx deep in water. Bring to a boil on a medium heat with the lid on. Leave to cook for 5 minutes. Move to the lowest heat you have and steam for another 15 minutes for perfectly fluffy rice. This is the Asian method that I learned from my grandmother.
To finish the rice
- While your rice is cooking, grind together 1 t - 5 gr of each of the peppercorns in a pestle and mortar and squeeze out the juice of 1 lime.
- Once the rice is cooked, fluff it up with a fork and stir in the peppercorn mixture, lime juice and salt to taste.
