46 I’m loving

Inspired by the upcoming soccer World Cup, Matt Preston presents global food bowl combos from the competition’s less-likely winners.

Matt Preston’s fired up for his World Cup of food bowls.

THE US SUPER BOWL has been decided and now the bookmakers have set the odds for the soccer World Cup, which is upon us once again (June 14-July 15). This got me thinking who would win a culinary world cup if the countries headed to Russia were each asked to field that most fashionable of items – a food bowl that represented their cuisine. Which would be the bowl you’d most like to have play in your own kitchen? To help you choose, here is my form guide to my Food Bowl World Cup.

THE FAVOURITES

Let’s be brutally honest, the best bowls come from nations that are at the longest odds of winning the World Cup. So we’ll focus on them. Go to delicious.com.au to see other countries’ offerings.

The favourite must be Japan, which, along with Korea, inspired this whole bowl story. For my money, the perfect Japanese bowl is warm, vinegared sushi rice topped with a slab of fatty tuna or salmon warmed on the barbecue. The crisped skin of the fish would add texture along with sesame seeds, fresh pickled ginger, a crumbling of nori and a fine zigzag of Japanese mayo to dress, together with a little soy and a few sprigs of coriander. For veg, I would play either some broccolini that has spent a little time on the grill then been lightly dressed in soy or, for hotter months, cubes of avocado tossed in lemon juice. I’d make sure that furikake and shichimi togarashi were available off the bench.

South Korea could field several choices for a bowl first XI, whether it was a classic bibimbap; fried chicken with a gochujang mayo, some shredded shiso and pickles; or pear-marinated

bulgogi beef. In any of these, kimchi would play a part. Iran could offer a cunning combo bowl of its two classic Persian rice dishes, zereshk polo and shirin, and its own great rice cooking technique, which adds melted butter to the rice at the end of cooking to create a golden crunchy crust or tahdig. Toss the cooked rice with those wonderfully sour little red barbarries and then top with shards of the crunchy rice base, threads of carrot and orange zest candied in a little sugar and orange juice, toasted slivered almonds, pistachios, crispy fried onions, and plumped raisins if you crave sweetness. For a protein, try grilled lamb chops (or loin) marinated in onion juice, or grilled chicken rubbed with an advieh spice mix of equal parts ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, ground rose petals and ground cardamom, with half a part of ground cumin.

Couscous and freekeh are undervalued as bases for great bowls, and thus a joint Food Bowl World Cup entry from minnows Tunisia and Morocco would be a winner. Cook either couscous or freekeh in vegetable stock to boost flavour and serve topped with barbecued-slow-until-they-are-creamy fingers of eggplant and zucchini drizzled with melted honey. Add feta, toasted walnuts, chopped mint and parsley, and the optional inclusion of slow-roasted lamb shoulder squeezed with lemon juice.

Finally, what would be the Food Bowl equivalent of our Russia-bound Socceroos? Obviously, it would contain ingredients with different cultural backgrounds working together as a glorious multicultural goal. So here is our Green & Gold Food Bowl recipe. Needless to say, it has to include avocado, corn, miso and chilli.

GREEN & GOLD RICE BOWLS SERVES 4

2 cups (400g) pearl barley 2 tbs sushi seasoning liquid (from supermarkets) 3 tsp sesame oil 40g unsalted butter 1 tbs white (shiro) miso paste 11/ 2 cups (240g) fresh or thawed frozen corn kernels

1/4 cup (40g) almonds, chopped 2 tsp brown sugar 6 spring onions, white part cut into 4cm-thick slices,

green part shredded 200g snowpeas 3 tsp gochujang (Korean fermented chilli paste) 300g sashimi-grade tuna, cut into 5mm-thick slices 2 tbs each tamari and furikake (from Asian food shops) 2 avocadoes, halved 2 tbs each white and black sesame seeds, toasted Kewpie mayonnaise, to serve

Boil barley in a saucepan of boiling water for 30 minutes or until tender. Drain, transfer to a bowl and stir through sushi seasoning and 1 tsp sesame oil. Set aside.

Meanwhile, melt butter and miso in a frypan over high heat, stirring until well combined. Add corn, almonds, sugar and 1/ 3 cup (80ml) water, and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until reduced slightly. Remove from heat and cover to keep warm.

Place green part of spring onions in a bowl of iced water and stand for 10 minutes to curl. Drain and set aside.

Heat a frypan over high heat until very hot, then add snowpeas and cook on one side for 2 minutes or until blackened. Transfer to a plate and season. Return pan to high heat, add white part of spring onions, gochujang and remaining 2 tsp sesame oil, and cook, stirring regularly, for 90 seconds or until softened slightly.

Toss tuna in tamari and dip tuna edges into furikake. Dip cut side of avocadoes in sesame seeds. Divide ingredients among serving bowls and serve with mayonnaise.