Your Home for Homemade Japanese Food

How to cook "with visual instructions" "using familiar ingredients from your local grocery stores" healthy, traditional and delicious Japanese dishes!!

Category Archives: Rice


by 8 Comments

Egg Rice Bowl (Vegetarian/Gluten-Free)

Egg Donburi is easy to cook, has carbohydrate and protein, and is delicious!! It is great for lunch during work, or any meal at home.

%IFHkWaFoodgawker1

In this recipe, I sprinkle some chopped green onion but you can add  sliced dried seaweed (Nori) on top in stead. Seaweed has great protein, minerals, and iron. You can get dried seaweed in most grocery stores easily so please add it to your meals everyday.

z+wJETf_foodgawker3_Fotor

[Recipe]

Collage_Fotoreggdonburi

In a sauce pan, combine sliced onion, dashi stock, cooking sake, soy sauce and mirin. Bring it to a boil and simmer over low heat for 5 minutes.

Pour beaten egg into the soup gently and slowly. Immediately turn off the heat, add some chopped green onion, and let it sit for 2 minutes.

In a serving bowl, place a cup of cooked rice and pour the egg and dashi mixture over the rice.

{Ingredients (For 2 people)}
*Click BLUE TEXT to link to the product on Amazon*

1/2 onion, sliced

2 large eggs, beaten

½ cup Dashi stock (Any kind)

2 tablespoons Cooking Sake

2 tablespoons Soy Sauce REDUCED SODIUM [Gluten Free] (Organic)

2 tablespoons Mirin

Some chopped green onion

2 cups cooked rice (See this post White Rice)

fullsizeoutput_c16_Foodgawker2


by 14 Comments

Perfect and Easy Japanese Rice (gluten-free/ vegan)

Today I introduce you to “How to cook Japanese rice perfectly and easily”. If you have a rice cooker, you can just follow their directions. But if you don’t have one, this is the easiest recipe for perfect Japanese rice.

img_0514_fotor

Steamed rice is a staple food in Japanese cuisine. Japanese rice has soft texture and rice grains are shiny when it is cooked! We mostly eat rice two or three times a day. Even when we don’t cook, most super markets and convenience stores have many kinds of rice balls and rice products can be cooked in microwave.

Lately, some people add multi-grain rice to white rice when it is cooked to make the dish healthier but steamed white rice remains perennial favorites.

The cookbook Bento for Beginners is now available on Amazon.

 

Tips for cooking Japanese rice;

  • Find dried short-grain white rice, not “sweet sticky rice”.
  • Wash and soak rice for 30 minutes before cooking.
  • The heat level is the key. Once it boils, turn down the heat to very low not to get burned.
  • Do not open the lid when it is cooking even if it bubbles over. Wait patiently.
  • Steam the rice for 10 minutes after cooking.

Detailed and visual instructions can be found in the recipe PDF: Japanese rice

Tips for storing cooked rice;

Put one portion of cooked rice without cooling down in a glass container with a lid or freezer bag, or wrap with plastic wrap. Store in the freezer and use within 3 weeks. When you eat, put unwrapped frozen rice on a microwave-safe plate  and microwave for 2 to 3 minutes with a cover.

The key to store is to freeze the rice without cooling so it has fresh cooked rice taste even after storing for 3 weeks in the freezer.

Ingredients (4 servings, about 4 cups)

1 ½ cups short-grain white rice (I recommend Koshihikari Rice 4.4 Lb)

1 2/3 cups water

Detailed and visual instructions can be found in the recipe PDF: Japanese rice


by 5 Comments

Egg and Ham Fried Rice (Gluten-free)

Today I introduce you to “Egg and Ham Fried Rice”. My mother sometimes cooked various kinds of fried rice for us for weekend brunch because it is very quick, delicious and healthy. It takes 15 minutes if you have leftover steamed rice in your refrigerator. 

In this recipe, I used egg and turkey ham so it has great protein and carbohydrate. I recommend you eat this with salad and/or vegetable soup so that your meal has a perfect balance of nutrition. Plus when you sprinkle with some minced parsley for final presentation, the dish becomes a very spring like colorful dish!! 

IMG_2666_Foodgawker2

You can adjust the ingredients as you want. For example, you can add some carrot, cabbage and/or onion. You can use any kind of meat. Or you can make egg fried rice using just egg and rice! Fried rice ingredients are very flexible so you can make any kind of fried rice depending on what you want or what you have in your refrigerator.

The recipe is

Collage_eggfriedrice
Cook the seasoned beaten egg. Add rice and turkey ham. Stir-fry and season with salt and pepper.

Detailed and visual instructions can be found in the recipe PDF: Egg and Ham Fried Rice

IMG_2663_Foodgawker

Ingredients (2 servings)

3 Beaten Eggs + a pinch of Salt

3 Pieces Turkey Ham

2 Cups Steamed Rice

½ tsp. Salt

¼ tsp. Pepper

Some minced Parsley to taste

1 Tbsp. Vegetable Oil

Detailed and visual instructions can be found in the recipe PDF: Egg and Ham Fried Rice


by 32 Comments

My Mother’s Homemade Simple Fried Rice

Today I introduce you to my mother’s Homemade Fried Rice.

When I was child, we had steamed rice all the time in my house. So when my mother thought about the menu for our meals she checked in the refrigerator and came up with recipes for main dish and side dishes using the ingredients we had in the refrigerator. Sometimes (especially lunches before grocery shopping) we didn’t have enough ingredients for most main dish and side dishes, so she always cooked this fried rice because it has great carb, vitamins and protein all in one dish and it is delicious! I love this simple fried rice anytime. This is also a great dish for busy-day-meals!!

The ingredients are onion, turkey sausage and green bell pepper, and the seasonings are just salt and pepper. Any kind of meat and vegetables are okay. In the recipe I don’t mention how much salt and pepper I use because if you use other kinds of meat such as bacon or spicy sausage, you might need to adjust the amount of salt and pepper to avoid a strong taste.

The recipe is easy and quick!

Collage_Fotoryakimeshi

Cook chopped vegetables and meat. Add steamed rice and season.

Detailed and visual instructions can be found in the recipe PDF: Homemade Fried Rice

Ingredients (1 serving)

1 Turkey Sausage

¼ Green Bell Pepper

½ Onion

A cup Steamed Rice

1 Tbsp. Vegetable Oil

Salt and Pepper

Detailed and visual instructions can be found in the recipe PDF: Homemade Fried Rice


by 15 Comments

Japanese Home-Style Chicken and Rice (Gluten Free)

This “Chicken and Rice” recipe is a very popular dish in Japan. A chicken fried rice dish is seasoned with KETCHUP. In Japan, many kids love the dish and it is a great quick and nutritious meal for many adults!

The recipe is so easy, quick and delicious! This dish also tastes good cold so it is a perfect lunchbox stuffer!!

Cut every ingredient.

Collage_Fotor

Saute the ingredients and add rice and ketchup.

Collage_Fotor2

Stir well.

IMG_8939

You can use any kind of vegetables and meats, and also you can add more or less ketchup to taste.

{Ingredients (servings 2)}

1 piece Chicken Thigh (about 0.2 lb.)

1 small Onion

1 Carrot

A half Green Bell Pepper

1 Tbsp. Vegetable Oil

¼ tsp. Salt and Pepper

½ cup Gluten-Free Ketchup

2 cups Steamed Rice
(Recommended Rice)Nishiki Premium Rice (Recommended Brown Rice)Tamanishiki Super Premium Brown Rice

Detailed and visual instructions can be found in the recipe PDF: Japanese Home-Style Chicken and Rice

Steamed Rice Recipe in PDF: Japanese Home-Style Chicken and Rice


by 26 Comments

Rice Croquette (Vegetarian)

Today I introduce you to “Rice Croquette”. It is delicious, easy and a great dish for potluck party! Also kids will love it!!

Make creamy white sauce.

IMG_9584

Mix steamed rice, the white sauce and cheese.

IMG_9588

Batter with flour, egg, and bread crumbs.

IMG_9591IMG_9592IMG_9593

Fry about 2 minutes.

IMG_9594IMG_9596

The outside of the croquette is crunchy and the inside is cheesy and smooth!

IMG_9641_Fotor

If you want, you can serve with your favorite tomato sauce. That would make the croquette look and taste great!!

{Ingredients (makes about 20 croquettes)}

3 cups Steamed Rice
(Recommended Rice)Nishiki Premium Rice
(Recommended Brown Rice)Tamanishiki Super Premium Brown Rice

3 Tbsp. Flour (total)

1 Tbsp. Butter or Margarine

1 cup Milk

1 cup Shredded Cheese (any kind)

2 eggs

½ cup Bread Crumbs
(Recommended Panko)PANKO BREAD CRUMBS

Vegetable Oil for frying

Salt and Pepper

Onion Powder, Garlic Powder (to taste)

Detailed and visual instructions can be found in the recipe PDF: Rice Croquette


by 9 Comments

Green Pea Rice (Vegan/Vegetarian/Gluten-Free)

Today I introduce you to steamed white rice with green peas. The Japanese process for cooking rice is a little complicated, so in this recipe I show you the easiest way to cook steamed rice. It takes about an hour, but you don’t need to do much.

We have many kinds of seasoned-steamed rice recipes, because rice is the most important carbohydrate in the  Japanese diet. Japanese rice is short-grain rice which is soft, sticky and a little bit sweet in taste. This is good for ease of digestion and also great for making Sushi rice.

The “Green Pea Rice” in this recipe has a slightly salty taste and a very tender green pea texture so even kids who don’t like green peas tend to eat this rice happily.

Green peas are high in protein, vitamins, minerals, fiber and so on. Green Peas also have more vitamin B1 and fiber than many vegetables. But the nutritional value can weaken under the heat so when you cook, you can add the green peas to the recipe as the last part of the cooking process.

I love rice but I don’t have time to cook it for every meal so I always cook large amounts of steamed rice and freeze some of it. To store steamed rice, put cooked rice in a freezer bag and keep in the freezer. When you want to heat it up, you can microwave on a microwavable dish for 2~2:30 minutes. Please use the frozen rice within a month.

{Ingredients (servings 2)}

1 ½ cup Dried Rice (short-grain rice)

⅓ cup Frozen Green Peas

1 tsp. Salt

2 Tbsp. Cooking Sake

Water for soaking rice and cooking rice

Here is my recipe in PDF (5 MB): Green Pea Rice


by 15 Comments

Very Popular “Rice-Omelet”(Vegetarian/Gluten-Free)

This is an original Japanese omelet style dish. We call “Om-rice” in Japanese. About a hundred years ago, a Japanese restaurant made this recipe as a meal for the restaurant’s employees to have quickly and get enough nutrition to work from one plate. Nowadays, this is one of Japanese kids’ favorite dishes because it is so delicious!!

The ingredients are rice, vegetables and egg. We always season with salt, pepper and ketchup but if you don’t like using ketchup, season with just salt and pepper which also would be great!

I use onion, carrot and fresh shiitake mushrooms as my vegetable ingredients. You can use any kind of mushrooms if you can’t find shiitake mushrooms. In Japan, shiitake mushrooms are the most common mushroom. We use fresh shiitake mushrooms, and also dried ones. I use the two kinds of shiitake mushroom quite differently because the flavors are totally different; when I want to add much more shiitake flavor to my dish such as simmered dishes, I use the dried ones. When I cook Japanese dishes for which I want to add just fresh mushrooms, I use the fresh one.

You can add any kind of vegetables to the Om-rice that you like, as long as they are chopped to the same size as the other vegetables.

Enjoy your new omelet!!

{Ingredients (servings 4)}

1 Onion

1 Carrot

3 Shiitake Mushrooms

1 clove Garlic

1 tsp. Salt

¼ tsp. Black Pepper

3 cups (1.5 pint) Steamed Rice

¾ cup Gluten-Free Ketchup

8 eggs (total)

2 Tbsp. Vegetable Oil (total)

Here is my recipe in PDF (5 MB): Rice Omelet


by 2 Comments

Salmon Chirashi (Gluten-Free)

This is seasoned steamed rice with salmon, egg, dried seaweed and sesame. It is very delicious and looks beautiful with a colorful presentation. Japanese eat steamed rice in at least 2 meals every day. But children tend to leave over steamed rice, which has only a slightly sweet taste, so Japanese mothers cook seasoned steamed rice to help get their children to eat a bowl of rice. This recipe is just mixing steamed rice and other ingredients, so there is no need for special equipment. Buy steamed rice at a Chinese restaurant and you can cook this at home in 30 minutes.

Salmon is rich in nutrients as I wrote in https://japanese-food.org/2015/05/16/creamy-salmon-soup/

However, recently there are many concerns about farmed salmon’s effect on human health. Salmon has worms so farmed salmon is said to become contaminated from drugs to rid salmon farms of worms. People say this has contaminated farmed salmon and may effect our health, such as immune compromise, hypometabolism, deterioration in brain function and so on. Please choose wild salmon or a good untreated farmed salmon. By the way, wild salmon can have worms so we do not eat it raw. The worms disappear when Salmon is heated to over 140F for some minutes or frozen at under -4F for 48 hours.

{Ingredients (servings 2)}

½ lb. Salmon

2 Eggs

1 tsp. Dried Seaweed Flakes

1 tsp. White Roasted Sesame Seeds

1 Tbsp. Vegetable Oil

½ tsp. Salt

1 pint Steamed Rice

Boiled Water (for boiling salmon)

Here is my recipe in PDF (5 MB): Salmon Chirashi


by 1 Comment

Mushroom Rice (Vegan/Vegetarian/Gluten-Free)

This is not fried rice, but steamed seasoned rice. In Japan a major part of the diet is RICE. Traditionally we eat white rice with every meal. A long time ago Japanese people ate millet.

あわ・きび・ひえ-16-コピー_R-270x300

Today, we sometimes mix the rice with other ingredients to make Mushroom Rice, Bamboo Shoot Rice, Chestnut Rice, Greenbean Rice and so on. These are all steamed. If you have a rice cooker, it is very easy to cook!

shiitake

Mushroom is low calorie (about 18 kcal per 100 grams). Also high in fiber and high in minerals (especially potassium). I didn’t used dried mushrooms this time, but dried mushrooms are usually high in vitamin D. This dish is cooked in one pot or in a rice cooker so it preserves the nutritions and amazing flavor.

Please enjoy!

{Ingredients (Servings 3)}

2 ¼ cups Premium Rice, Medium Grain

3 oz. Oyster Mushroom

8 oz. Sliced Baby Bella Mushroom

3 pieces of Dried Kelp (5 square inches each)

700 ml Water

5 Tbsp. Soy Sauce REDUCED SODIUM [Gluten Free] (Organic)

2 Tbsp. Cooking Sake

2 Tbsp. Mirin Sweet Cooking Rice Wine

½ tsp. Salt

Here is my recipe in PDF (8MB): Mushroom Rice