Tag Archive for 'gohan'

Unagi Kamameshi (iron pot rice with eel)

Published
by
marc
on May 12, 2008
in Asian, Japanese and Seafood
. 15 Comments

While it’s not exactly a culinary mecca, Texas is loaded with gut bustin’ soul satisfyin’ comfort food. My weekend was filled with elephant sized portions of smokey bbqed sausage, cajun spiced bbq burgers, tender carne asada, and chicken fried steak drowned in creamy gravy, all washed down with margarita’s and Coors light.

Gut busted and soul satisfied, I returned to NYC craving something a little different… something a little more asian and little less cajun… something filling, but not heart-attack inducing… something like kamameshi!

Kamameshi is rice cooked in a cast iron pot along with a flavored broth and some other goodies. It’s similar to takikomi gohan except the pot it’s cooked in encourages the bottom layer of rice to lightly burn (known as “okoge” in Japanese) giving it a nice flavor reminiscent of rice crackers.

Unfortunately I don’t have a kama (iron pot) and I imagine most of my readers don’t either, so I made this using a small Le Creuset (enameled cast iron pot). You could probably use any heavy bottomed pot with a lid you have as long as it’s not teflon.

The rice cooks with a sweet soy sauce flavored broth and is topped with a layer of mitsuba (which I talk about more in this post) and unagi while it steams. After it’s all done, I mix it all together before serving which helps integrate all the flavors.
Continue for full recipe

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Chilled cucumber with sesame miso broth over rice (Hiyashijiru)

Published
by
marc
on April 27, 2008
in Breakfast, Japanese, Salad, Summer, Vegan, Vegetable and Vegetarian
. 13 Comments

The summers of my youth were often spent on the southern island of Kyushu Japan visiting my maternal grandparents. They live in what used to be a small, rural fishing/farming village about 2 hours from the nearest small airport (which for an island about the size of South Carolina is a long way).

For those of you that haven’t been to Asia in the summer, it’s hot and humid. The kind of “hot and humid” where you step outside and are met by a curtain of sticky, sweat-inducing heat that makes you want to turn right around to go take a shower. The only tolerable times of the day are sunrise and sunset, but due to the mosquitoes that come out at dusk, you really only want to be out at dawn.

Dawn was one of my favourite times in Japan, not just because of the temperatures, but because this was the time my ojiichan (grandpa) would take me fishing off a stone outcropping, and the time that my o-obaachan (great-grandmother) would take me out into the fields to pick cucumbers, daikon, shiso, and other bounties of the summer.

As the day heated up, we’d go back to the shelter of home for breakfast. Here is a recipe for one of my favorite breakfasts from those summers in Japan. Hiyashi-jiru (lit. chilled broth) is a regional specialty of the Miyazaki region of eastern Kyushu. The chilled crunchy cucumbers with the cold miso sesame broth are poured over hot rice which makes for a delightful appetite enhancing breakfast that’s both nutritious and filling.

While traditionally this is made with a fish based dashi, this can easily be made vegetarian by using a kombu (kelp) and shiitake (mushroom) based dashi. If you can’t find fresh Japanese or Lebanese cucumbers where you live, you can substitute a small hothouse cucumber with seeds removed, or other thin-skinned variety of cucumber. The shichimi is entirely optional, but the shiso really does add something if you’re able to find it (try Japanese markets or local sushi restaurants).
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Crab and bamboo rice (Kani takikomi gohan)

Published
by
marc
on March 20, 2008
in Japanese and Seafood
. 0 Comments

Crab and bamboo rice (Kani takikomi gohan)

Takikomi Gohan (also known as Gomoku Gohan) literally translates to “cooked with rice”. It’s basically rice cooked in stock with stuff in it, like a pilaf. In Japanese groceries you’ll usually find a whole section of instant packets that you just add to rice before you cook it, but they often contain loads of MSG. It’s fairly simple to make from scratch and you can add all sorts of things like burdock, carrots, wild mushrooms, etc.

The key to it’s light flavor is in the dashi, and while hard to find, Mitsuba adds a nice woodsy dimension. It does look a bit like parsley or cilantro but it doesn’t taste anything like either of those. If I had to go out on a limb and suggest a substitute, it does taste a tiny bit like carrot leaves, if you’re feeling daring, give it a go and let us know how it turns out in the comments. I’m pretty sure carrot leaves are a lot stronger though so you might wanna go light at first.

I strongly suggest you use a rice cooker to make this. While you could make this on the stove in theory, I’m so reliant on a rice cooker I’m not sure how much liquid to use or what heat to cook it over, so you’re on your own there. If you’ve cooked rice on a stove before please do post your tips in the comments.

360 ml of short grain rice rinsed (2 rice cooker cups, or about 1 1/2 regular cups)
1 Tbs sake
1/4 C canned crab meat crumbled, liquid reserved (see tofu with crab sauce for more info)
dashi, about 2 cups
1/4 C chopped bamboo (I prefer the whole vacuum sealed ones if you can find them)
1/4 C chopped nameko or enoki mushrooms
Salt to taste

1/4 C mitsuba leaves and stems roughly chopped

salmon roe as garnish (optional)

Rinse the rice until the water runs almost clear, then drain as much of the water out as you can.

Add the sake and reserved crab liquid. Fill the rice cooker bowl up to the “2″ mark with dashi.

Add the crab, bamboo, and mushrooms. Stir the liquid and taste for salt. It should taste like a slightly watery soup. Add more salt if needed.

Run the rice cooker according to directions. When the rice is done and has had a chance to steam, add the mitsuba and gently fold into the cooked rice.

Garnish with salmon roe and serve immediately.

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