Locally grown rice from Lee’s One Fortune Farm has finally returned to markets! This week, look for sweet sticky and red rice from the Lees, with more varieties to come over throughout the season, like purple and brown rice! You can find them at Asheville City, Black Mountain, East Asheville, River Arts District, and West Asheville markets this week.
The flavor and texture of sweet sticky rice is pretty reflective of its namesake, with a taste that is subtly sweeter than typical white rice varieties and a notably stickier texture. Sticky rice can be easily substituted for white rice in any recipe, but is most commonly used in dessert recipes like rice pudding, mochi, or the traditional Southeast Asian dessert, mango sticky rice!
Cooking sweet sticky rice isn’t as straightforward as most rice varieties. While you can cook your sticky rice in a one-to-one rice and water ratio if you’re pressed for time, for the best results, you’ll want to soak it beforehand and steam. Prepare your sticky rice by washing with water until the water runs mostly clear. In a large bowl, cover the rice with lukewarm water, then soak for anywhere between four to twelve hours. Drain the rice and steam for 20 to 25 minutes. You can do this with a bamboo cone steamer or steamer rack and cloth, and if you don’t have either of these, add the rice to a metal sieve, and steam.
Red rice has a delicious nutty flavor and aroma, with a slightly chewier texture than your typical white rice from a grocery store. Its unique flavor and high nutritional content makes it a perfect foundation for a buddha bowl prepared with other seasonal veggies from farmers markets. To decorate your red rice veggie bowl, we recommend sautéing some shiitake mushrooms from Black Trumpet Farm (North Asheville and River Arts District markets), cooking and shelling a handful of edamame beans from Bear Necessities (Asheville City and West Asheville markets), thinly slicing a few root vegetables like carrot and radishes, and finishing off with some locally fermented kimchi from Serotonin Ferments (Asheville City, Black Mountain, North Asheville, and West Asheville markets)! To cook red rice, add a one-to-two rice to water ratio to a pot, bring to a boil, then lower heat to simmer, cover with a lid, and let cook for 40 to 45 minutes.
At farmers markets now you’ll also find corn, winter squash, peppers, okra, muscadine grapes, Asian pears, potatoes, carrots, beets, radishes, mushrooms, and greens like lettuce, kale, and bok choy. Markets are also stocked with a variety of plants, meats, cheese, rice, pasta, bread, pastries, drinks, and prepared foods. Find more details about farms and markets throughout the region in ASAP’s online Local Food Guide.