Kathy says: “A light, clean and refreshing bowl of goodness, this is the loveliest combination of prawns, sugar snap peas and tofu – so nourishing for the mind and body. However, it can easily become a vegetable-based dashi broth by adding extra greens and omitting the prawns.”

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 2 sachets instant dashi
• 2 litres boiling water
• 220g sushi rice, rinsed under cold running water
• 60ml soy sauce, plus extra to taste
• 2–3 green tea bags
• 16 medium uncooked prawns, peeled
• 200g mixed Asian greens
• 20g sugar snap peas, trimmed
• a thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, grated
• 200g tofu, cut into cubes
• a little watercress, to garnish

Method

Whisk the dashi and boiling water in a large saucepan over a high heat, add the rice and soy sauce and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to medium-high and cook for 15 to 20 minutes until the rice is just tender.

Add the green tea bags, prawns, greens, sugar snap peas and ginger, remove the pan from the heat, and stir in the cubed tofu just to gently heat. Let stand for three to four minutes until the prawns are cooked through and the greens wilted.

Ladle the soup into warm bowls, discarding the green tea bags. Scatter with watercress sprigs, and serve hot. 

Kathy says: “The most well-known of Korean dishes, this humble rice bowl is topped with all sorts of seasoned sautéed vegetables, marinated meat (usually beef), traditionally served with a fried egg sunny- side up and finished with a sprinkle of sesame and generous dollop of a sweet-spicy-savoury gochujang sauce. My take is a lighter vegetarian version with 7-minute boiled eggs, rather than fried, but super tasty nonetheless. You can have a play with the toppings as you like.”

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 400g short-grain brown rice, rinsed 
• 250g mooli, julienned on a mandoline
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 cucumber, shaved into ribbons
• 2 tsp smoked chilli powder
• 2 eggs, boiled for 7 minutes
• 2 tsp vegetable oil
• 80g kimchi, chopped salt

For the pickled carrots: 

• 60ml rice wine vinegar
• 55g caster/granulated sugar
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 large carrot, julienned on a mandoline

 For the fried shiitake: 

• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 200g shiitake mushrooms
• 2 tbsp tamari or soy sauce
• 2 tbsp sake
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar
• 11⁄2 tsp brown sugar

 For the wilted spinach: 

• 200g fresh spinach

For the gochujang sauce:

• 2 tbsp gochujang
• 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 2 tsp roasted sesame seeds
• 2 tsp Korean rice malt syrup

Method

For the pickled carrots, stir the vinegar, sugar, salt and 250ml hot water together in a saucepan over a medium heat to dissolve sugar. Set aside to cool, then add the carrot and stand for 1 hour to pickle. Drain the carrot from pickling liquid before serving.

Cook the rice for 12 minutes in a pan of boiling water, drain, then remove from the heat and stand, covered, for five minutes.

 For the shiitake, heat a frying pan to a medium heat, add the sesame oil, then the mushrooms and sauté for a few minutes. In a bowl mix the other ingredients and pour into the mushrooms. Cook for another minute, then remove from the heat and set aside.

For the spinach, blanch the spinach leaves until just wilted, refresh in iced water, drain and squeeze dry. 

For gochujang sauce, combine the ingredients in a bowl and set aside.

Sauté the mooli and garlic in sesame oil in a frying pan over a low heat until just tender. Season to taste and set aside.

Season the cucumber ribbons with chilli powder and salt and set aside. 

To serve, divide the rice among individual serving bowls, add the kimchi, pickled carrots, shiitake and spinach on top. Top each with a boiled egg half and serve hot with the gochujang sauce drizzled over. 

Kathy says: “This Vietnamese-inspired rice bowl encompasses the five flavours and elements of Vietnamese cuisine: sweet, sour, bitter, spicy and salty. The charred chicken skewers on the bed of rice, the fresh salad, the herbs and the citrus, spicy sweet and sour sauce all come together for a taste sensation.”

Serves 4

Ingredients

For the chicken skewers: 

• 1⁄2 onion, finely chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 30g palm sugar
• 2 tbsp  soy sauce
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 2 tbsp  sesame oil
• 500g chicken breast, cut into chunks

For the nuoc cham:

• 2 tbsp palm sugar
• freshly squeezed juice of 1 lime
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1–2 bird’s eye chillies, chopped

For the rice:

• 1 tbsp rapeseed oil
• 1⁄2 onion, finely chopped
• 250g jasmine rice
• 1⁄2 teaspoon ground turmeric
• a thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, grated
• 1 lemongrass stalk, bruised
• 1 tbsp palm sugar
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• freshly squeezed juice of 1 lime

To serve:

• 30g mint, leaves picked
• 30g coriander, leaves picked
• 1 carrot, julienned
• 1 cucumber, julienned
• 2 little gem lettuces, leaves separated
• 2 tbsp peanuts, toasted
• 2 limes, cut into wedges sriracha

Method

For the chicken skewers, whisk together everything except the chicken together in a small bowl for one minute until combined and the sugar is starting to dissolve. Add the chicken chunks and stir to coat. Refrigerate overnight or for at least 4 hours. Meanwhile, soak eight long wooden skewers in water for at least an hour. Fire up the grill and allow it to become hot and fiery. Add a few chunks of chicken to each skewer and grill until the chicken is cooked through and there’s a nice char on the nuggets. Remove from the heat and set aside.

To make the nuoc cham, add three tablespoons of water and the palm sugar to a bowl and stir for 1 minute until dissolved. Add in the lime juice, fish sauce, garlic and chillies.

To cook the rice, heat the rapeseed oil in a saucepan, add the onion and soften for a few minutes, then add the rice and turmeric and cook for a further minute. Add the ginger, lemongrass and 500 ml of water, bring to simmer and cook, covered, for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat. In a separate bowl dissolve the palm sugar in the fish sauce and lime juice and pour into the rice, fluffing it up with a fork. Keep covered until ready to serve.

To serve, divide the rice between bowls, top with the chicken skewers and add the mint, coriander, carrot, cucumber, lettuce, peanuts, lime wedges, nuoc cham and some sriracha for some extra kick. 

Rice & Grains by Kathy Kordalis (Ryland Peters & Small, £18.99) is out now