Kamameshi

Rice cooked in a small iron pot with a hard burst at the end to make a crust on the base.

Chicken, Fish. Not vegetarian — contains chicken, fish.

Ingredients

• 400 g Japanese short grain rice
• 440 ml dashi
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons mirin
• 1 tablespoon sake
• 200 g chicken thigh, in small pieces
• 1 carrot, in fine matchsticks
• 4 shiitake, sliced
• 60 g bamboo shoots, sliced
• 2 tablespoons green peas
• 2 spring onions, sliced

Method

1. A HARD BURST AT THE END TO BUILD THE CRUST. The last 20 to 30 seconds go on a high flame, and you listen for the crackling to change pitch. That browned layer stuck to the base -- okoge -- is the reason to cook rice in an iron pot at all, and a rice cooker cannot make it.
2. Too long and it is burnt, not browned. Thirty seconds is the outside.
3. THE LIQUID IS MEASURED INCLUDING THE SEASONINGS, not on top of them. Soy, mirin and sake are part of the 440 ml, not extra -- added as well, the rice is wet.
4. Rinse the rice until nearly clear and soak it 30 minutes, then drain.
5. Rice into the pot, liquid over it, and the ingredients laid ON TOP without stirring. Stirred in, the rice cooks unevenly and the grains at the bottom go gluey.
6. Lid on. HIGH heat until it comes to a boil -- you hear it rather than see it.
7. Then LOW for 12 minutes. Do not lift the lid at any point.
8. The burst of high heat for 20 to 30 seconds at the end.
9. HEAT OFF AND LEAVE IT 10 MINUTES, lid still on. The rice finishes in its own steam and the crust loosens from the base.
10. Fold through gently with a cut-and-lift motion, scraping the crust up in pieces. Peas and spring onion at the end.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Japan · All recipes