What we love about this rice bowl, and all rice bowls really, is the variety. It’s got everything but the kitchen sink on it: smoked salmon, crunchy cucumbers, sweet, tangy pickled onions, creamy avocado, shredded carrots, green onions, spicy Asian microgreens, a lush soft-boiled egg — and a classic sesame ginger vinaigrette. It’s so fun to get in there with your chopsticks. One bite is just the salty salmon and sticky, mildly sweet rice; the next is a delightful salad of avocado, cucumber, and the wee spicy greens. Salmon and onions dipped in egg yolk? Absolutely! There are so many bites to take, and all of them lead to yum.

And yet, in spite of its glorious jumble of flavor and texture, the rice bowl is a tidy, handsome dish (at least until you start mucking about with your chopsticks) worthy of special luncheons and dinner. The best part is that you can put out all the colorful ingredients and let your family build their own masterpieces.

Our tip: This rice bowl is also the ultimate leftover or meal-planning situation because you can mix and match ingredients all week and never get bored. Dress it right before you eat it so your greens stay perky — and the rice doesn’t get soggy.

Servings: 2

Ingredients

1 cup sushi rice
4 oz smoked salmon
1 avocado, sliced
2 oz Asian microgreens mix
¼ cup pickled red onion
¼ cup carrot, grated
1 Tbsp green onion, sliced
½ cucumber peeled, seeded and diced
2 soft-boiled eggs, cut in half
6 Tbsp sesame ginger vinaigrette (see recipe below)
2 tsp black sesame seeds, toasted
Flake salt, to taste

Directions:

1. In two bowls, create a base of cooked rice, about one ½ cup of rice for each bowl.
   
2. Add half the ingredients to each bowl, laying them down on the rice so that you can see a bit of each ingredient and it looks pleasing. Here’s the order we like: smoked salmon, avocado, microgreens mix, pickled red onion, grated carrot, green onion, and cucumber.
3. Tuck the egg halves in next to the other ingredients, yolk side up so that you get the sunny color.
4. Drizzle about 3 tablespoons of the sesame ginger vinaigrette over each bowl.
5. Scatter about a teaspoon of toasted sesame seeds over each bowl, season with flake salt, and serve.

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Sesame Ginger Vinaigrette

Yield: 1 cup

Ingredients

3 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
2 Tbsp orange juice
2 tsp orange zest
1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
1 garlic clove, grated
½ small shallot
⅓ cup avocado oil
½ tsp sesame oil
½ tsp salt
½ tsp honey
1 Tbsp Sriracha sauce
¼ tsp fresh cracked black pepper
½ tsp black sesame seeds

Directions

1. Combine all the ingredients except black pepper and sesame seeds in a blender and whirl them up until they’re well emulsified — the vinaigrette should coat the back of a spoon.
2. Stir in the black pepper and sesame seeds, and use immediately. You can keep the leftovers in the fridge for up to two weeks.