Happy Juneteenth! Just before her 90th birthday, Opal Lee decided to walk from Fort Worth, Texas to Washington D.C. to try and get Juneteenth recognized as a national holiday. She walked two and a half miles each day—a symbol of the two and a half years between the Emancipation Proclamation and the day freedom arrived for enslaved Black people in Texas. When the New York Times asked Ms. Lee about the difference between the 4th of July and Juneteenth, she said:  “Woo, girl! The fact is none of us are free ‘till we’re all free.” Isn’t that the truth?

Today, I celebrate the freedom announced on June 19, 1865. Today, I mourn the freedom still withheld from Black people in America. Today, I commit again to work for freedom for all.

I made Bryant Terry’s green rice from his book Vegetable Kindom this week, and it is a celebration of greens. It’s full of grassy freshness and filling to boot.

The first night, I ate the rice as a main dish with toasted sesame seeds, blistered peanuts, sesame sticks I had in the pantry, and an egg on top. I added ginger, green curry paste, and extra garlic to amp up the spice a bit. And I subbed coconut milk for the cashew cream because I had an open can.

The next morning, I turned the rice into a pancake by mixing in an egg. I sprinkled parmesan cheese on the outsides of the pancake and pan-fried it. A little more parm on top along with some hot pickled peppers and it was delicious.

After treating myself for breakfast and dinner, I had to try one more variation lest lunch become jealous. When my dad worked at a restaurant—called Benjamin’s—he fell in love with a dish called Joe’s Special. Who’s Joe? I don’t know. The internet says Joe’s Special was popularized by a San Francisco restaurant called Original Joe’s. Whatever the source, my dad passed along the recipe, and it worked beautifully with the leftover green rice. I just substituted Impossible “meat” for the ground hamburger and the green rice for the spinach.

Green Rice

Servings: 4-6 Time: 50 minutes + soaking time Via: Adapted from Bryant Terry’s Vegetable Kingdom

1/2 cup yellow onions, diced
1/2 cup green bell pepper, diced
3 garlic cloves, pressed/minced
1 1/2 inch piece of fresh ginger, grated
1 cup tightly packed and de-stemmed spinach leaves
1 cup tightly packed and de-stemmed kale leaves
1 1/2 cups vegetable stock
2 tablespoons coconut milk
1/2 tablespoon green curry paste
1 teaspoon Diamond brand kosher salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup long-grain white rice
1 tablespoon sesame seeds, toasted
1 handful of peanuts, toasted
Oil or ghee for frying the egg
4-6 eggs, fried

(The night before making this, soak rice in a bowl with water and 1 tablespoon white vinegar.)

1. Dice the onion

2. Dice the green pepper

3. Press/mince the garlic

4. Grate the ginger

5. De-stem the spinach and kale

6. Put the spinach, kale, vegetable stock, coconut milk, ginger, and green curry paste into a blender and blend until smooth. Set aside.

7. Warm the oil in a medium saucepan until you see slight ripples. Saute the onion and green pepper until soft—about five minutes.

8. While the onions and green pepper cook, rinse and drain the rice.

9. Add the garlic to the saute pan and cook—stirring frequently—another 2 minutes.

10. Stir in the rice and cook for a couple of minutes.

11. Pour in the blender contents and raise the heat to high. Bring to a boil.

12. Once boiling, immediately reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer until the rice is soft and most of the liquid is absorbed—about 20 minutes.

13. While the rice cooks, toast sesame seeds in a dry saute pan over medium heat for a couple of minutes. Make sure to watch them because they burn quickly.

14. Wipe out the saute pan and toast peanuts in the same manner.

15. Remove rice from the heat and let steam for 10 minutes.

16. Fluff the rice with a fork and portion out on plates.

17. Wipe out the pan from toasting the sesame seeds and peanuts. Add a thin layer of ghee or neutral oil and heat over high heat. Once hot, fry one egg at a time and try not to break the yolk. Place one fried egg on each serving.

18. Top with sesame seeds and peanuts.

Green rice pancakes

Servings: 1 Time: 10 minutes Via: Inspired by Bryant Terry’s Vegetable Kingdom

1 cup leftover green rice (see recipe above)
1 large egg
Grated parmesan
Butter for frying
Hot pickled peppers or other topping of choice

1. Crack egg in a small bowl and whisk until bright yellow.

2. Add leftover rice to the egg and mix together.

3. Dump the mixture onto a plate and form about 3 small pancakes/patties.

4. Cover the top of the pancakes/patties with grated parmesan cheese.

5. Heat a skillet over medium heat and add butter.

6. Place as many pancakes/patties as will fit in your saute pan parmesan-side down. Add more parmesan to the second side while the first side cooks.

7. Once the pancakes/patties are browned—about 2-3 minutes—flip so the second side browns too.

8. Repeat steps 6-7 for all pancakes/patties.

9. Place cooked pancakes/patties on a plate, top with more parm, and some pickled peppers or other topping of your choice.

Vegetarian Joe’s Special

Servings: 3 Time: 10-15 minutes Via: Inspired by Bryant Terry’s Vegetable Kingdom and my dad

2 garlic cloves, pressed/minced
1 teaspoon-ish ghee
6 ounces Impossible “meat”
2 large eggs
2 cups leftover green rice (see recipe above)
Salt to taste
Red pepper flakes to taste
Grated parmesan to taste

1. Warm a skillet over medium heat. Add ghee and saute garlic for 1-2 minutes. Be careful not to let the garlic burn because burned garlic is bitter garlic.

2. Add the Impossible “meat” and break it up like you would ground beef. Turn the heat up to medium-high.

3. Brown the Impossible “meat.”

4. Once browned, add the two eggs and stir continuously until the egg is cooked and incorporated. You’ll see flecks of yellow yolk and egg white.

5. Add the leftover rice and cook until warmed through—stirring regularly.

6. Add salt and red pepper flakes to taste.

7. Serve with parmesan on top and more red pepper flakes.