Bliss Bowl

There's a vegetarian place in Williamsburg called Bliss that we used to go to when we lived in that part of Brooklyn, in large part because it was cheap and featured the "bliss bowl" which consisted of brown rice, beans, greens, tofu or tempeh, and a tahini-miso sauce. Over the years, it has become a more malleable idea in our kitchen, but essentially means the same thing: a perfect meal in a bowl (there's also a restaurant in Brattlboro, VT called the Common Ground that has a "square meal in a round bowl" on the menu- same idea.)

Fot this one, brown rice, kidney beans, tofu cubes crisped in olive oil, steamed broccoli and carrots, leftover braised red cabbage and tahini-miso sauce. The kicker, which took this to a whole other level of taste and cold-crushing greatness, was some homemade sambal oelek brought to us direct from Holland by Josie and Kees (their neighbor or something makes it- it's pure genius.) This stuff makes the kind in the green-lidded plastic jars that we get in Chinatown taste like tinfoil marinated in white vinegar. It's subtle, complex, gorgeous, and wicked hot. It makes you want to put it on everything, including peanut butter sandwiches. We finished the riesling, which I like a little more now that it's sat in the fridge.