Warm Kimchi Bowl + Blueberry Lemon Cake

We're celebrating Meatless Mondays with balanced, delicious meal plans. We hope you'll join us -- whether you're vegetarian all the time or just here and there.

Today: Focus your attention away from side dishes and salads and onto what really matters -- dessert.

This kimchi rice bowl has all of the qualities of a stir-fry with none of the pain of standing over a sputtering wok of hot oil. It's also a complete meal in itself (especially if you add a fried egg or some baked tofu), which means that you won't need to focus on side dishes or salads. That leaves you with plenty of time to bake a weeknight cake. And a weeknight cake means you'll be able to eat a weekday cake breakfast -- a significant upgrade from cereal or granola bars.

Here's the plan of action:

Get the cake started first so that it will be cool and ready to eat when dessert rolls around: Preheat the oven to 350° F, butter a square baking pan, and then use a stand mixer, hand-held beaters, or a pair of strong arms to make the batter. Fold in frozen berries, then spread the batter into the pan, sprinkle it with cinnamon sugar, and bake the cake until a toothpick comes out clean, between 30 and 40 minutes.

As the cake bakes, cook the wild rice in water or vegetable broth on the stove until all of the liquid is absorbed, about 35 minutes. Fluff it with a fork, leave it alone for 10 minutes, and then mix in sesame oil, tamari, mirin, and chopped scallions.

While the rice is cooking, chop the broccoli and toss it in a spicy Sriracha marinade. Spread the vegetables on a baking sheet and put them in the oven with the cake. Once the cake is out of the oven, increase the temperature to 425° F and let the broccoli cook until it’s crispy and browning. Divide the rice, broccoli, and kimchi between four bowls and sprinkle everything with sesame seeds. Eat cake for dessert, then store it in an airtight container and have the leftovers for breakfast.

The Menu

Take advantage of our handy grocery list and click the recipe photos or titles to see (and save and print) the full recipes.

Warm Kimchi Bowl with Spicy Broccoli and Sesame-Scallion Wild Rice by Gena Hamshaw

Blueberry Lemon Cake by Merrill Stubbs

The Grocery List

Serves 4, with exra cake

1/4 cup heavy cream
1 lemon
2 cups frozen blueberries
1 cup uncooked wild rice blend
1 3/4 cups vegetable broth (or water)
2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
2 tablespoons tamari
1 teaspoon mirin
2 green onions or scallions
1 1/2 pounds broccoli
1 to 2 tablespoons Sriracha
1 cup kimchi of choice (if you're vegan or vegetarian, make sure it's fish sauce-free)
1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds

We assume you have 6 tablespoons of butter, sugar, an egg, all-purpose flour, baking powder, kosher salt, milk, ground cinnamon, olive oil, and garlic in your kitchen. If not, add those items to the list.

Kimchi bowl photo by James Ransom; cake photo by Mark Weinberg