Eating With The Seasons: Spicy Summer Bowl (August 2023)
Spicy Summer Bowl
This bibimbap-inspired dish is a quick, delicious way to get your fill of essential nutrients for the hot summer months
Summer is the freshest season— vibrant fruits and vegetables are ready for harvest; everything is lush and green. It’s also the time of year where we are faced with intense heat, sun, and humidity— and all of the effects those things have on our bodies. Your diet should reflect the seasonal obstacles and offerings to help your body remain balanced and nurtured.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the most important thing during the summer months is to eat foods with a cooling property. This doesn’t necessarily mean you’re stuck with chilled salads for the season, though. “Cooling” refers to the effect that the food has on the digestive system, not the way it’s prepared. Of course, there are plenty of amazing cooling summer vegetables like cucumbers and carrots that you’ll want to eat plenty of, but we want to balance those out with some warm, delicious foods as well.
Contrary to the winter, where roasting and stewing will help you warm the body during those cold nights, the summer calls for high heat and quick cooks. That means we’re focusing on foods that work well on the grill or in a pan on high heat. Make sure you’re using a cooking oil that can tolerate the heat like coconut oil, and cook ingredients like vegetables so they still have some firmness at their center.
Some of the most recommended summer ingredients are the aforementioned cucumbers and carrots, corn, beets, potatoes, spinach, summer squash, zucchini, apple, fig, millet, and mung bean. Chinese Medicine suggests limiting animal products to chicken eggs, crab, and clams. For today’s recipe, we’re going to mix sweet and savory, cooked and raw foods, and kick it up with some pepper for our Spicy Summer Bowl.
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This recipe is quick, easy to make, and doesn’t require a lot of technical skill. That makes it a perfect meal for busy summer months where you don’t want to spend all day in the kitchen. This recipe can easily be prepped and cooked in 45 minutes or less. All you’ll need is a wok or pan, a pot, and a sharp knife.
This recipe focuses on fresh, in-season vegetables, with a quick-cooked mushroom and ginger medley for a nice punch of flavor. We typically use a wok since it can withstand high heats and it’s easy to toss the mushrooms to get them evenly coated in sauce.
We used a bagged, pre-cut slaw mixture for the sake of convenience. Cutting cabbage is time consuming, and you’ll almost definitely end up with more than you need if you make a slaw from scratch. However, if you’re focused on making this with 100% fresh ingredients, you can definitely cut your own cabbage and use as much as you’d like.
As a final note— there are a number of spicy additions to this recipe. Hot peppers cleanse the body, are great for circulation, and awaken the palette. However, not everyone is accustomed to this much heat. We would recommend that you still include some cayenne pepper to keep with the spirit of the season, but the amount can be reduced and the jalapenos omitted if necessary. If you’re sticking to a vegan diet, simply omit the egg and you’re good to go.
Getting Your Ingredients
All of these ingredients are readily available at most supermarkets. You may also be able to pick up most of the produce in this recipe from your local farmers market.
Ingredients: (serves two)
Rice:
White Rice— 1 cup
Mushroom mix:
Coconut oil— 3 tbsp
Fresh ginger, cut into thin strips— approx. 1/3 cup
Shiitake mushrooms, sliced— 5 oz
Coco Aminos (can substitute for soy sauce or tamari)— 2 tbsp
Cayenne pepper— added to taste
Salt— added to taste (omit if using soy or tamari)
Black pepper— added to taste
Toppings:
Red Pepper, cut into thin strips— 1 medium-sized pepper
Jalapeno, sliced— 1 pepper
Cucumber, sliced and quartered— 1 medium-sized cucumber
Spinach, roughly chopped or torn— approx.. 2 cups
Toasted sesame oil— added to taste
Sesame seeds— 1-2 pinches per bowl
Green onion, roughly chopped— 1-2 stalks
Egg, fried to preference— 1 per bowl
Slaw:
Cabbage slaw mix, 1 bag
Toasted sesame oil, 1 tbsp
Honey, 1 tbsp
Sriracha, ½ -1 tsp
Salt— added to taste
Black pepper— added to taste
A Vibrant Summer Dish
This recipe leaves most of the ingredients in their natural, fresh state, which showcases their vibrant colors and amazing contrasting textures.
Recipe
Cut all of your fresh ingredients first. Cut the red pepper into thin strips, and slice the jalapeno into discs. The jalapeno slices can be thinner or thicker, or cut into smaller chunks based on your preference. Cut the cucumber like the jalapeno, but take the extra step of quartering each disc into pieces the shape of pizza slices. Cut the spinach in large bunches, roughly. You can also tear the spinach with your hands, the goal is really to make each leaf smaller and easier to eat so there isn’t an exact measurement here. You can also do this step while the cooked ingredients are on the stove, depending on your ability to multitask.
Prepare the rice. Add 2 cups of water to a small pot. Lightly salt the water and bring to a boil. Add 1 cup of rice, stir. When the water returns to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cover. Cook on low heat for 15-20 minutes, until the rice has absorbed all of the water. Remove from heat, fluff with a spoon and leave covered until it is time to plate the dish.
While the rice is cooking, prepare the mushrooms. Slice the mushrooms into strips, roughly 3-4 strips per mushroom. You can choose to cut off the stems if you don’t like the texture. Cut the ginger into thin strips. Peeling the ginger is optional, based on your preference.
Warm up 2 tbsp of coconut oil in the wok on high heat. When the oil is hot, add the ginger strips and toss quickly in the oil. Let cook for 1-2 minutes, and then add the mushroom, salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper to taste. If you are using soy sauce instead of coconut aminos, use less or no salt. Toss again until the ingredients are coated in oil and salt and pepper. Cook for an additional 1-2 minutes. Cook times vary depending on the type of stove, but you’re going for all ingredients to be hot, but not mushy.
Add coconut aminos or soy sauce to the wok. Toss to coat the mushrooms and ginger, and cook until the mushrooms are soft, about 1 minute at high heat.
Toss the cabbage slaw in sesame oil, honey, Sriracha, and salt, and pepper. Don’t do this too early or the cabbage may become soggy. You want a nice crunch in each bite.
Plating— in a large dinner bowl, scoop half of the rice. Spread it so it covers the surface of the plate. Take a scoop of the mushrooms and ginger and place it in the center of the dish, then arrange each fresh ingredient and the slaw in a circle around the outside edge of the bowl. Add as much of as little of each ingredient as you would like. Drizzle toasted sesame oil all ingredients and garnish with chopped green onions and sesame seeds sprinkled over the entire dish.
If you are adding an egg, cook it at the last possible moment. Use 2 tbsp of coconut oil, preheated at high heat in the wok or a nonstick pan. Crack your egg into a small bowl, then carefully slide the egg into the pan to avoid oil splashing out of the pan. Add a pinch of salt and black pepper. Cook until the white has almost entirely solidified, then carefully flip the egg with a rubber spatula. Cook to the desired doneness, and then slide the egg onto the top of the bowl.
When it comes time to eat your bowl, slice into the egg, and then toss all ingredients together with a spoon and fork. Be sure to have the sriracha, sesame oil, and coconut aminos on the table in case you’d like to add more.
Note: You will more than likely have some slaw and vegetables left over, depending on how much each person wants on their bowl. Put the leftovers in a jar, and they should keep for 1-2 days in the refrigerator. This makes an excellent on-the-go salad.