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Rice Bliss: A Rice Donabe

When I visited a traditional donabe maker in Iga last fall (see my post), I brought home a specialized rice donabe, an earthenware vessel designed specifically to cook rice on the stove top -- in other words, a traditional pot adapted for modern lives. But I haven't used it much, to be honest. Until now...

May 26, 2008

Video: Washing Rice Perfectly

Check out that beautiful rice in the photo above. Every grain is glistening, polished, plump perfection. Nobuko-san cooked it in a regular rice cooker -- my rice cooker. But my rice never comes out this amazing. So what's Nobuko's secret?

January 8, 2011

Kurama Mixed Rice

The amazing chestnut rice I cooked in the last post must have put me in a serious rice kind of mood, because here's another incredible rice dish, this one mixed with soy sauce-infused chirimen jako (dried, tiny fish, a fantastic ingredient we'll get to in a minute) and sansho (intensely aromatic, seductive accent, ditto about getting into in a minute).

December 10, 2009

Kaki Gohan: Oyster Rice

I love mixed rice dishes in Japanese cooking. In this one, Nobuko prepared rice with freshly shucked oysters, delicious.

December 25, 2010

Video: Atsushi's Way to Wash Rice Perfectly

Last night I helped my buddy Atsushi Nakahigashi, a chef at the award-winning Kajitsu, teach a packed class at the Brooklyn Kitchen about traditional Japanese breakfast. (A truly fantastic, fascinating, informative class -- great job, Atsushi!!) Of course, no Japanese breakfast is complete without a bowl of beautiful, steaming white rice, so one of the first things Atsushi did was demonstrate his way of washing, rehydrating, and resting rice for cooking.

May 17, 2011

Washing Rice

I was going to wash the rice for dinner myself, but my houseguest, a talented young Japanese chef stepped in to do it.

January 25, 2010

mixed rice of the mountains

Train your eye to the top right hand corner of this amazing dinner. Overlook the thick slices of super fresh hamachi. Skip past the delicious udon noodles with oysters and fish cake. Forget the kiriboshi daikon, air-dried strips of daikon. Focus on the mixed rice -- we'll get to it in a minute.

February 28, 2008

Chestnut Rice

A friend in Japan just sent me this recipe for chestnut rice (kuri gohan) and I cooked it tonight. Wow! So simple, but with such a play of delicate flavors. You have to try it.

December 1, 2009

Shiso Rice

The last simple cooking method I explained, simmering, got, well, a little lengthy and drawn out - I said simple, but forgot concise! So let me make amends by offering this exceptionally delicious, exceptionally simple (and concise) method for shiso rice:

September 26, 2010

Hijiki Mixed Rice

Ah, Japanese mixed rice. There are so many variations, and they're all so tasty and easy to prepare. So why isn't this dish a standard in every American home? It should be.

December 1, 2011

how to cook rice, or the essence of japanese cuisine

October 26, 2007

cooking rice in a donabe

November 17, 2007

japanese mixed rice

August 17, 2007

Oyakodon: Chicken and Eggs Over Rice

Here is Chef Isao Yamada's incredibly tasty version of a Japanese comfort food classic...

April 13, 2010

Miso Clams Over Rice, From "Dashi and Umami"

When I worked on a story on dashi last fall, I searched mightily for all the English-language information I could find on kombu and katsuobushi (dried kelp and dried, shaved bonito), the elements that make up a classic Japanese stock. I wish "Dashi and Umami" was available when I was writing my article.

March 13, 2009

rice 'n robata

June 8, 2006

How To Eat Rice Porridge (And Cook It, Too)

Visiting Kyoto last week, Tadashi and I rendezvoused with Chef Hisao Nakahigashi at 7 a.m., hopping in his van and setting off for the valleys and mountains north of the city, where he heads every day to forage for wild greens and collect vegetables from family farmers.

November 27, 2008

Garlic Fried Rice at En Japanese Brasserie

Since I returned in June from three months of cooking in Japan, I've been itching to keep building my skills. Luckily, Abe-san, the chef of the fabulous En Japanese Brasserie in lower Manhattan, graciously invited me into his spacious open kitchen.

October 16, 2009

Making Sake

At 8am the toji, the sake brew master, makes his morning rounds. He inspects the moto, a mingling of rice, water, koji rice, yeast and lactic acid that fulminates for about two weeks. He steps into the warm, fecund koji room to check out cottony mold blooming on steamed rice spread on large wooden trays. He works a twelve foot pole to stir the moromi -- the sake mash -- moto, rice, water and koji percolating in thirteen hundred gallon steel tanks, a mixture like gurgling oatmeal that ferments for about twenty five days before being pressed to release clear liquid -- sake.

March 25, 2009

Nira Tamago, or Simmered Garlic Chives with Eggs

Last night we enjoyed a beautiful Japanese dinner at home that reminded me why I love this cuisine so much: grilled shiosaba (Boston mackerel salted for a few days), freshly steamed rice and nira tamago, or garlic chives with eggs.

September 27, 2011

Baby Gen's Japanese Dinner Party

Too bad baby Gen can only eat mashed rice: The chefs of the fabulous Kajitsu and their wives came over to our place in Brooklyn the other night for an impromptu Japanese dinner party, and I wish Gen could have tasted the amazing spread.

August 17, 2011

The Right Temperature To Serve Sake: A Guide

I remember the first time I tasted sake, and sushi for that matter, back when I was in college in the 80s. A friend who studied in Japan took me to a sushi bar on Irving Place in Manhattan, where he introduced me to raw fish on rice and sake served as hot as a steaming mug of coffee.

February 7, 2010

Ton Jiru: Classic Winter Miso Soup

Tadasuke Tomita is the force behind an incredible Japanese-language website called Shiro Gohan ("white rice"). A self-described food enthusiast and now cookbook author, he writes that he created the site "to help people recognize the deliciousness of washoku" (traditional Japanese food).

November 22, 2011

Japanese Pickle Recipes

Like most Americans, I suppose, I grew up with a concept of "pickles" as, basically, heavily vinegared cucumbers. But in Japan I discovered something completely different -- a vast and fascinating world of pickles, lightly cured for the most part to amplify the natural flavors of a wide array of vegetables, and typically infused with aromatics and other ingredients (like rice bran and sake lees) to add even more layers of flavor. (See last year's post on pickles.) They're an integral part of the traditional Japanese meal and a favorite of mine, especially at breakfast. And there are countless regional varieties and family recipes. I've been very interested to learn more about Japanese pickles.

May 20, 2008

old school sake

August 18, 2007

masa's soul brother

June 1, 2006

freestyle hotpot

After I wrote about nabe, or home-style hotpot cooking, last month, I asked a friend in Japan to research the many regional varieties of this social and comforting soul food. She just sent me a list of twenty styles of nabe, dishes prepared with salmon, tuna, octopus, pork, chicken, root vegetables, even wild boar and snapping turtle. These hotpots all reflect local foods, customs and geography, and their histories and lore are absolutely fascinating: One traces back to the cooking of Japanese pirates, another originated with bear hunters. There's a nabe invented by sake makers living inside breweries during production season and one that's supposed to be eaten in the dark (yikes!). There's even a nabe invented in 2005 to commemorate the merger of three cities. Like I said, fascinating.

January 28, 2008

Cooking Miso Soup with Hiroko Shimbo

A few weeks ago I kicked off the Miso Soup Project, an occasional series about this versatile, healthy, elemental and, of course, supremely delicious Japanese dish. To learn more, I visited the remarkable Hiroko Shimbo, Japanese food authority and author of The Japanese Kitchen, The Sushi Experience, among other terrific books. Hiroko graciously invited me to her kitchen to teach me about miso soup, and show me how to cook three tasty versions. Here's our interview:

April 14, 2009

farmers markets

After completing our four day trek along Shikoku's pilgrimage trail (see posts below), my girlfriend and I gave our aching feet a rest and rented a car to explore the island. Shikoku was a revelation: A rugged, breathtaking region with dramatic rocky coastline and towering mountains in the interior. I fell in love with this place, my first time there. We drove along the Pacific from Tokushima City to Kochi City over two days, then headed inland to the remote Iya Valley, where we relaxed at the fantastic Kazurabashi Onsen. Along the way we discovered (or at least I discovered, my girlfriend knew all about them) Japan's amazing network of local markets.

March 2, 2008

iga donabe maker

November 17, 2007