Long about December, food gurus put out their food and menu predictions for the coming year. Well, let’s call this Christmas in July. I’m going to make a food prediction—early.
I predict we are on the cusp of rice. It’s cheap, it’s versatile, it’s international and consumers have an appetite for it, especially as foodservice operators find trendy things to do with it. Rice in bowls is where the trend is headed right now. Look for that to increase.
- A few months ago, Starbuck’s added to its lunch menu a Hearty Veggie & Brown Rice Salad Bowl.
- Earlier this summer, Tropical Smoothie Café offered a Jamaican Jerk Bowl for a limited time. The ingredients were grilled chicken, mozzarella cheese, onions, a Southwestern rice medley and romaine lettuce, all topped with a Jamaican Jerk sauce.
Chipotle has already acclimated consumers to rice in a bowl with its burrito bowls. But that’s not all. The company also operates a newer concept, ShopHouse Southeast Asian Kitchen, which started a few years ago with a single unit in Washington, D.C. I visited, and it’s refreshing. Using the same Chipotle service-line idea, you can get rice and/or noodle bowl dishes to which you can add marinated meats, vegetables, herbs and sauces. It’s been well received, to the point that Chipotle is expanding it, so that by mid-2014, it will have eight ShopHouse units open.
But there’s another bowl application for rice that could also take off—Asian porridge, or congee, as it’s called. In American terms, you would call it soup. In Asian countries, there’s not just one recipe. It’s a one-dish meal that can take on any ingredient.
My husband, being Asian, has taught me how to make it, and I think it’s the best-kept secret for a quick and easy meal. Simply make a mirepoix of onions and garlic, and when it’s done, add water and a small amount of rice (either pre-cooked or not) and let it boil until the rice seriously swells and becomes mush. To that you can add left-over meat or any vegetables. If you have an appetite for canned fish, go to an Asian store and buy canned dace packed with black beans. When you serve the porridge, top it with heated dace and beans. Yum. That’s also an application for which to eat salty eggs.
At any rate, I recently interviewed chefs for an article I was writing about rice (Calling on Rice: 30 ways to switch up plain white rice, you’ll see it to the right) and Howie Velie, associate dean, culinary specializations at the Culinary Institute of America, told me that he spent a year teaching in Southeast Asia where porridge is quite common. He said, “We’re starting to see it pop up on menus here. I’m surprised it’s not bigger here. Almost all cultures have porridge of some kind. It’s something that will be a trend.”
For a delicious savory porridge, he recommends adding a little dried shrimp, thin slices of meat, dried shallots, Thai bird chilies and a dark, thick soy sauce that you’ll only find in Asian stores.
While restaurants spend months doing their R&D to introduce things like this, I know college and university foodservice is already on it. The appetite of international students will continue to drive the rice trend.
Tell me what you think.
Jody
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