the last thing i needed to do today, after eating and drinking heartily at a french restaurant last night, was indulge some more. but sometimes, sundays need to be about spoiling yourself, especially if you’ve worked particularly hard over the past week. that’s the excuse i’m going with today.
my version of comfort food includes white rice, which i don’t indulge in that often. i happen to enjoy brown rice and pasta so i don’t feel like i’m punishing myself when i opt for those healthier options. but today i had a craving for white rice because i had a craving for “meat” (soy-meat, in my case) and rice, drizzled in acid-y, onion-spiked, slightly sweet soy sauce, and i knew white rice was the right match. it’s a throw back to something i ate often in high school when i hung out with a particular filipino family who seared fast-fry flank steak strips and served it with a soy sauce dressing and nothing else. it needed nothing else. i added shallot, lemon juice and a little sugar to my soy sauce dressing. perfect over the “meat” and rice–the tartness and saltiness balancing the fat.
it being brunch and all, i decided to indulge in a few eggs too (why stop now?) and scrambled them with more shallots and chinese chili oil–a lot of it so that the scrambled eggs themselves were the spicy condiment. i washed it all down with strong jasmine tea.
and as if that weren’t sufficient enough, i made sure to make extra white rice so that i could treat myself to a snack of seaweed and white rice later. yep, sufficiently spoiled and ready for the week ahead.
“sweet and sour” soy sauce dressing
3 tbs light soy sauce
1 tbs lemon juice or 1/2 tbs white vinegar
1 tbs sliced shallots
2 tbs chopped flat-leaf parsley
1/4 tsp (brown) sugar
note: sliced scallions, both the white and green parts, can replace the shallots and parsley in this recipe, and did originally
combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well, using the back of a spoon to smash the shallots and parsley a little to release their flavour.
spoon over “meat” and rice.
serves 2.