Bring the beautiful cuisine culture of Japan to your home through the two following delicious but also easy-to-do recipes.
Japanese cuisine offers a cornucopia of gastronomical delights with a boundless variety of regional and seasonal dishes. Their worldwide popularity has led to the establishment of many restaurants, which makes the majority of the enthusiasts think that cooking Japanese food is a daunting task due to all of their special ingredients, complex gadgets, and sophisticated cooking techniques.
While there is truth to the above-mentioned statement, there are many other Japanese dishes that are very simple and quick to complete because home-cooking in the country is often easy and basic. Better yet, try the two following rice recipes below for an amazing Japanese cooking experience.
Ingredients
- 1. Yaki Onigiri
- Items needed for onigiri:
- 2 cups uncooked short-grain rice
- 2 cups water
- Items needed for miso flavour:
- 2 tsp sake
- 1.5 tbsp butter
- 1 tsp sesame seeds to garnish
- 2 tsp mirin
- 1 tsp finely chopped chive to garnish
- 1 tbsp miso
- 2 tsp sugar
- Items needed for soy sauce flavour:
- 1.5 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1.5 tbsp butter
- 1.5 tbsp any rice seasonings
- 2. Japanese Curry Rice
- 9 oz of your preferred protein
- 1 large potato
- 1/2 a large packet of Curry Roux
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 2/3 cups uncooked rice
- 1/4 cup grated apple
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 brown onion
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 cups water, approximately 500 ml
- 1 carrot
- Worcestershire sauce (optional)
- Fukushinduke and/or Rakkyo to accompany condiments (optional)
- Pinch of salt and pepper to taste
Directions
- 1. Yaki Onigiri
- 1Cook the rice according to your rice cooker's directions.
- 2While the rice is cooking, combine all of the miso paste ingredients in a mixing bowl and well combine.
- 3Make 6 equal amounts of cooked rice.
- 4In a piece of cling film, shape and crush the rice into a triangular shape.
- 5To prepare the miso flavour, heat a cast-iron pan over medium heat and add butter.
- 6Coat the Onigiri with butter and grill for about 1 minute on each side.
- 7Brush each side of the rice balls with the miso paste and grill until crispy.
- 8Garnish with the garnishes and serve.
- 9To prepare the soy sauce, coat a cast iron skillet in vegetable oil and heat it over medium heat.
- 10Onigiri should be grilled for about 1 minute on each side.
- 11Every time the rice balls are flipped over, brush each side with soy sauce (turn a few times).
- 12Each side should be grilled until crispy. Remove from the heat and place on a platter.
- 13Add 1/2 tbsp butter to each of the grilled rice balls.
- 14To serve, garnish with rice seasonings.
- 2. Japanese Curry Rice
- 1Cook the rice.
- 2Meanwhile, prepare the meat by cutting it into bite-size pieces. Set them aside.
- 3Next, peel and cut the potatoes, carrot, and onion into large bite-size pieces. Set them aside.
- 4Peel and slice the garlic.
- 5In a medium-sized saucepan, heat the olive oil and add the garlic.
- 6Cook the onion when the garlic has become aromatic.
- 7Cook the chicken until it becomes a white colour, then add the potato, carrot, and onion and toss with a wooden spatula.
- 8Add the water, honey, and grated apple once the oil has uniformly covered all of the ingredients and the outer edges of the potatoes have become translucent.
- 9Bring to a boil, then reduce to low heat and continue to cook until the potatoes are tender. All of the other components have been cooked as well. (This will take roughly 15 minutes.)
- 10Turn off the heat and crumble the curry sauce cubes into the saucepan.
- 11With a pair of chopsticks, dissolve each piece of curry roux into the cooking water in a ladle.
- 12To thicken the sauce, reduce the heat to low and bring it to a simmer.
- 13In a shallow dish, place the cooked plain rice and pour the curry over it.
- 14For a complete Japanese cooking experience, you can garnish with Fukushinduke and Rakkyo if you like.
