Sweet Pepper Rice

January 2022. The new year is quiet. Not pandemic-quiet — that was a different silence, a terrified silence — but chosen quiet, the quiet of a woman who has rebuilt her life and is now living in it. The apartment is warm. The miso soup steams. The morning practice — yoga, then dashi, then writing — is a sequence so ingrained that the body moves through it without instruction, the way a musician's fingers move through a scale: automatically, beautifully, because the practice has become the body.

I made nanakusa gayu — the seven-herb rice porridge that Japanese families eat on January 7th, to cleanse the body after the rich New Year's food. Seven wild herbs, chopped fine, stirred into rice porridge. The herbs are subtle — parsley, shepherd's purse, chickweed — the kind of ingredients that require a Japanese market and a specific intention. The porridge is plain and healing and the eating of it is a reset, the culinary equivalent of pressing restart, telling the body: the celebration is over. The daily life resumes. The daily life is not less than the celebration. The daily life is more.

The blog starts the new year with twelve thousand readers and a rhythm that feels sustainable: one post per week, each one a small essay about food and life, each one true, each one the best sentence work I can do in the time available. The blog has become my practice the way yoga is my practice, the way miso soup is my practice: non-negotiable, weekly, rain or shine, good week or bad week, the post goes out and the practice continues.

Miya returned from Brian's with a new vocabulary word: "custody." She heard it somewhere — from Brian, from Lisa? (Brian is not dating anyone named Lisa yet, but he's dating, cautiously, the way men date after divorce: with the enthusiasm of someone who has been freed and the caution of someone who has been burned.) Miya said, "What is custody?" I said, "It's the plan for when you stay with mama and when you stay with daddy." She said, "I don't need a plan. I already know." The confidence of a six-year-old who has internalized the schedule without needing to name it. She knows. She already knows. The knowing is the adjustment completed.

The nanakusa gayu I make on January 7th requires a special trip to the Japanese market, and I love that about it—the intention built into the errand itself. But for the weeks that follow, when the body still wants something plain and warm and grounding, this Sweet Pepper Rice has become my answer: bright with color, simple in its demands, the kind of dish that moves through the kitchen the way a practiced hand moves through a scale. Miya eats two bowls. She already knows it’s good.

Prep Time: 10 min | Cook Time: 25 min | Total Time: 35 min | Servings: 4

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups long-grain white rice
3 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, finely diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 yellow bell pepper, diced
1 orange bell pepper, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
Salt and black pepper to taste
2 tablespoons fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Instructions

Sauté the aromatics. Heat olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for 4–5 minutes until softened and translucent.
Add peppers and garlic. Stir in the diced bell peppers and garlic. Cook for another 3–4 minutes until the peppers begin to soften and the garlic is fragrant.
Toast the rice. Add the rice to the pan and stir to coat in the oil and vegetables. Cook for 1–2 minutes, stirring, until the rice turns slightly opaque.
Season and simmer. Stir in the smoked paprika, turmeric, salt, and pepper. Pour in the vegetable broth and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
Cook the rice. Reduce heat to low, cover tightly, and simmer for 18 minutes without lifting the lid. Remove from heat and let steam, covered, for 5 minutes.
Finish and serve. Fluff the rice gently with a fork. Stir in the lemon juice and scatter parsley over the top. Serve warm.

Nutrition (per serving)

Sweet Pepper Rice — The Daily Life Is More