Not forbidden anymore!
A few weeks ago I was in Austin staying with my daughter and we had lunch (and shopped) one day during her lunch break. There’s nothing more fun than lunching with a daughter (or son) and shopping.
We had lunch at the Flower Child Restaurant which is in the Domaine in Austin. They have quite a few locations in AZ, CA, GA, MD, NV, TX, and CO; so if there is one in your area you have to try this dish; you will love it.
FC makes everything from scratch and they cover most diets like paleo, vegetarian, vegan and can even do sugar-free. The Forbidden Rice bowl is one of the favorites on their menu and was a favorite of mine from the first bite. So after picking through the bowl and looking at the menu description I decided to make my own version. How hard could that be; all I had to do was come up with the red chili hoisin sauce which I managed pretty easy.
You should be able to find red rice in most large grocery stores. I’m sure Whole Foods carries it and if you can’t find it, it can be ordered from Amazon. The black (Forbidden Rice) is pretty easy to find. I’ve found that at our Krogers and HEB. Here’s a recipe for Forbidden Black Rice with Mushrooms that I did a while back.
So this recipe was pretty easy, black rice, red rice, snap peas, bok choy (I used baby bok choy), broccoli, very thinly sliced purple carrot, onion, toasted sesame seeds and the red chili hoisin sauce that I had to come up with. Options were to add shaved beef or chicken. I opted for the chicken and for my version I just bought a rotisserie chicken, chilled it and sliced into very thin pieces; or you could use some leftover chicken and slice it very thin.
After making this in Chicago a couple of weeks ago my son had a couple of suggestions of adding some red bell pepper for color and some water chestnuts for crunch. I’ll be adding those two things when I make it for friends soon.
I hope you will give this recipe a try if not and you find a Flower Child restaurant in your area, give it a try. I can’t wait to go to the one opening in Houston.
BLAST FROM THE PAST: Looking for a good brunch item, try my Avocado Toast which is a recipe I recreated after having in New Orleans.
These are the sauce ingredients.
This is the sauce. Use sparingly. My hub thought I put too much, I personally loved it.
Had everything ready to go; precooked the rice too earlier in the day.
Sautéing the vegetables.
I added the carrots in towards the end since I wanted a little crunch from them.
Add the peas in and saute only until they are hot. You want crunchy peas too.
Add in the cooked rice.
Add in the chicken and as much as the sauce as you want.
- 2 c. cooked black rice (forbidden)
- 2 c. cooked red japonica rice
- 1-2 Tbsp. olive oil
- 1 1/2 c. sugar snap peas, cut in 1/3's
- 2 c. baby bok choy, cut in about 1/2" pieces
- 1- 1 1/2 c. broccoli, cut in 1/2" pieces
- 3 rainbow carrots, peeled and sliced paper thin (use mandolin or potato peeler)
- 1 c. 1/2" diced red onion
- 1-2 Tbsp. sesame seeds toasted (black and white if you have them)
- Thinly sliced chicken (as much or little as you want)
- 1/2 c. Thai Sweet Chili Sauce
- 1/2 c. hoisin sauce
- 1/2-1 tsp. crushed red pepper
- 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
- 1 Tbsp. sesame oil
- 4 Tbsp. soy sauce
- salt and pepper to taste
- For Red Chili Hoisin Sauce, put all ingredients in small sauce pan and cook for 4-5 minutes on low to cook the garlic. Set aside.
- Heat the oil in a large skillet (I used a 13"). Add the broccoli, bok choy and onion to skillet and stir-fry for 4-5 minutes until things start to cook, then throw in the paper thin carrots and saute for 1-2 minutes (you want these to remain crunchy).)
- Add in the sugar snap peas and both cooked rices, stir for 3-4 minutes then add in the thinly sliced chicken (optional).
- Drizzle on some of the Red Chili Hoisin Sauce and toss to coat. You can serve the extra sauce on the side in case you want more. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds.
- You can easily make this for 2 just but dividing ingredients in half.
No Comments