Gohan (Rice)

In Japan a bowl of rice is a beautiful thing, and it is. It is pure white and simply beautiful. To the Japanese it represents purity, beauty, perfection, goodness and so on. There is a whole rice culture in Japan as you’d expect from a country that has had rice as a staple for centuries. Japanese people will pay a premium price for good quality locally grown rice, and there are many varieties and qualities, fetching a range of prices.

I took these photos, last September and early October, before and after the rice harvest in Japan. Here the rice is grown on the flat areas in the valleys, flanked by the houses of farmers and steep, wooded mountains.

Green rice fields in Hiroshima prefecture Japan

The rice is starting to turn golden.



Rice fields ripe for harvesting turn golden and the heads droop with grain

Rice hanging up to dry after being harvested

 Rice is called gohan in Japanese which is also the word for meal, indicating its importance in the diet. Bread, pasta and noodles are popular but rice is still eaten 3 times a day by many people, at least sometimes. When rice is eaten on the side of a non-Japanese meal, as with curry and rice, it called raisu.
 

My rice bowl collection

In a classic washoku Japanese-style meal made up of 5 or perhaps more items (rice, soup, main, side dish of vegetables/salad/vinegared food and Japanese pickles), rice is served in a separate bowl. A rice bowl. Eating a little from this one then that as you go through the meal, not finishing one before you start on another. Japanese people do not like to blend a lot of flavours, they like clean tasting food and enjoying the different unique flavour of the different foods, hence the separate serving dishes.

Rice bowls are designed to be held in the hand, hence the size and shape. They held in the left hand up close to the mouth, and the chopsticks are held in the right hand while eating rice. Since the rice is naturally a little sticky, it is easy to pick up with chopsticks.

Rice bowls make a pretty sight draining on my sink.

The inside of rice bowls are usually slightly bluish, which makes the rice appear very white by comparison. The sizes and shapes of the rice bowls vary a little and there are seemingly endless decorative patterns. Blue and white is classic, as is the wave pattern and plum blossom motif.

The inside of the bowls
 

What rice to buy in Australia

In Australia the medium grain rice by SunRice is the same type of rice that is used in Japan. It is grown in Australia and available economically in 5 and 10kg bags. Sometimes imported rice from Japan is also available.

Cooking rice
To make rice use a rice cooker. They are great. I love the way that when the rice is done it sits there waiting for you to use it and keeping warm until you need it. So convenient! 
While many Australians now have rice cookers, many do not seem to know that you are supposed to rinse the rice. Japanese people rinse it at least 3 times. After measuring the required number of cups into a rice cooker fill with plenty of water, swish around and rinse. Pour of the excess water which will be milky looking. Repeat noticing that it looks clearer each time you rinse it. Then measure in the same amount of water in as you have rice. Note that the cups that come with rice cookers are usually 180ml size (6 fl oz)- as opposed to an Australian cup which is 250ml (8 fl oz), but it doesn’t matter so long as you use the same number of the same cups of water as rice.  Two cups of uncooked rice (the Japanese 180ml sort) yields 4 cups (of the same small cups) cooked rice, which is enough to serve 4 small bowls of rice. I suggest making 3 cups (the 180ml /6 fl oz ones) of rice to have enough for 4 generous servings. The uncooked rice doubles in volume when it cooks, as the water is absorbed into the rice and the rice swells.

You can alter the hardness and softness of the cooked rice by using slightly more or slightly less water when cooking it. One Japanese mother was telling me that half her family liked it one way and the rest the other.

Most Japanese families would put the rice cooker on in the morning and use it all day. The rice is then ready for each meal, to fill lunch boxes with, and for snacks for hungry kids just in from school. When I tell my students (teenagers) about this, they say they would love that.

Ways to flavour rice

Based on my experience in Japan years ago, I thought that the Japanese would never add anything to their rice except for sprinkling over some furikake (rice seasoning).  However on my visit to Japan a few years ago, many of the housewives that I know were adding little sachets of seeds and grains to the rice and water in the rice cooker before cooking it, and when the rice was done it had lots of interesting flavours and textures. Formerly this would have been considered like contamination. So things are changing.

Also in restaurants you were given a choice of which type of rice you wanted, for instance plain white rice or one with a flavouring. The flavourings varied from restaurant to restaurant, I remember one restaurant offered finely chopped aojiso (perilla leaves) mixed through the rice. Then a year later I visited Japan again and saw nothing but white rice. Admittedly I spent more time in the country than the city on the second trip, so I am not sure if the seeds and grains and other flavourings were just a passing fad or not. Brown rice is not as popular as white rice but is eaten in Japan.

I tried using 2 cups rice, with ½ cup oatmeal and ½ cup barley in the rice cooker, to 3 cups of water. The oats which were “quick oats” cooked well but the barely would have been better if pre-soaked. However, I didn’t really like it as I am used to savoury flavourings added to rice and sweet ones to oatmeal. I decided that I prefer my rice plain. You could experiment with quinoa and chia seeds too. Find what works for you.
Black roasted sesame seeds and white sesame seeds are used to sprinkle over cooked rice to add a touch of flavour. They are usually ingredients in furikake (rice seasonings, lit. “sprinkles”), together with bonito flakes, and finely chopped のりnori (seaweed sheets), dried egg and dried salmon.  


white and black roasted sesame seeds and furikake

Rice topped with white and black roasted sesame seeds and furikake

 Furikake "rice seasonings" (literally rice sprinkles), are also available in sachets like this at Asian food stores:

3 varieties of furikake; Seto-style, pickled plum and bonito mirin

When going into an Asian food store, it can be helpful to know a little bit of Japanese to read labels:

ごまgoma means sesame

くろkuro means black

しろshiro means white

ふりかけfurikake means rice seasonings (literally sprinkles)

ごましおgomashio means sesame and salt

An 梅干しorうめばしumeboshi, pickled plum is often added to the rice in bento boxes, looking like the Japanese flag. There are 2 basic types of pickled plums, small and hard or large and soft.



Foods that feature rice in Japan

Besides being served as a bowl of rice on its own, rice is used to make a variety of dishes. Here are some that I am familiar with:

Chahan (Japanese style fried-rice)  Chinese-food, including fried-rice is popular in Japan. There is the Japanese way of making of it though.

Domburi Rice is also the main ingredient in Domburi’s, which are a more casual style meal that you will find everywhere in Japan. Domburi is the name of the bowl and the food that is served in. It is larger than a rice bowl. 

A rice bowl on the left and domburi bowl on the right.

To make a domburi, fill the bowl with rice and top with a cooked topping. Domburi bowls are not held up to the mouth to eat. The impromptu domburi pictured below was simply made using some left-over grilled salmon, which I flaked, and broccolini, served with sesame seeds and soy sauce. Now that is wholesome, easy and relaxed!



An  impromptu domburi- salmon and broccolini 

Kareraisu (Japanese-style curry and rice)  Obviously of Indian origin, Kareraisu is very popular in Japan. The word raisu (rice) being used indicating a loan word. The Japanese style curry is generally mild in flavour and has a thick gravy like sauce. It is made by first stewing some meat and vegetables and then adding what looks like a solid block of chocolate, but is actually a curry roux. The roux dissolves easily as you stir it into the liquid of the stew, and hey presto, you have got your curry. It is served with beni shoga (red coloured ginger). It is served on a flat plate, the rice on one side and the curry on the other.

Mochi This is a special type of cooked rice which has been pounded and pounded until it forms a smooth dough. It is used as dumplings in soup, especially at New Year’s, and in many different traditional sweets, including sakura mochi during the cherry blossom season (sakura means cherry tree) and kashiwa mochi, which is wrapped in an oak leaf (Kashiwa means oak), for Children’s Day.  There are also dango which are dumplings made of rice flour, served on skewers and either sweet or savoury depending on the toppings and sauces.

Ochazuke (Green tea rice) 


Ochazuke rice ready for the ocha and kelp stock to be poured over it. 

Ocha means green tea, and zuke to pour over. I guess its origins were a way of heating up left over gone cold rice- just tip some hot tea over it.  Ochazuke is a very traditional old-style way to eat rice. As with all good Japanese food it is wonderful in its simplicity. This dish once was rarely seen in restaurants as it is so homey, however it seems to be making a comeback. To make ochazuke place some rice in a bowl, sprinkle over snipped nori and sesame seeds. Pour 1 cup boiling hot water over one teaspoon powdered kelp stock (こんぶ だし kombu dashi) and a green tea tea bag in a teapot or jug, allow to steep. Pour the stock and tea over the rice and eat it.


A green tea tea bag and powedered kelp stock



 

Packaged kelp stock and green tea (ocha)



 



 

 



Omuraisu (Japanese style rice omelettes) Omuraisu is rice wrapped in an omelette served for breakfast. A western and Japanese fusion recipe, hence the anglicized word for rice, raisu. Omu is short for omelette.

Onigiri (rice balls) Rice balls are a good way to use up left-over rice. Balls of rice are squeezed together with 2 hands and fashioned into triangle shapes. There are many variations that use various fillings and furikake (rice seasoning) to give the rice flavour. They are popular as snacks and in lunch boxes. I plan to add a rice ball recipe to this blog in May.

Sushi rice Sushi rice is rice that has been sweetened and vinegared. It is the essential ingredient in sushi, anything made with it is sushi by definition. Gomoku sushi is another type of sushi rice that you add finely chopped vegetables to before cooking the rice in the rice cooker. For recipes see my sushi rolls recipe, chirashizushi recipe for Girl's Day, and gomoku sushi recipe to come.
Takikomi Gohan Vegetables, tofu and flavourings are added to the rice cooker along with the rice and cooked together. The flavours soak into the rice as it cooks. Somewhat like fried rice but no fat and no eggs and ham. Healthy and easy!

I plan to add blog posts with recipes from everyday Japan cooking, using rice, that I think Australian home cooks might like to try.

There is so much to say about rice!
 

 #CookingWithRiceInJapan #Rice #Domburi #RiceBalls  #RiceToppings  #RiceBowls #Furikake #SushiRice #RiceSeasonings #HowToMakeRice #EasyandRelaxedJapaneseFood #DeborahNelson