GOHAN Japanese rice, A to Z

RICE

The most important ingredient of Japanese cuisine is rice. Japanese rice are of the japonica style, they are round and firm. Outside Japan, you can get some sushi rice, or Italian arborio that are of japanica cultivar too. Sticky rice is a different type, it’s called mochigome in Japanese. Rice has different names in Japanese. Kome, okome, the plant. Gohan, meshi when it’s cooked…

how to cook Japanese rice (without a rice cooker)
genmai brown rice(healthier)
sticky rice

The bowl of unsalted, unflavored but perfectly cooked hot white rice is often present on the the table.
But, you have many variations.

onigiri
The rice “sandwich”. Shape hot rice in your hands.

basic
yaki onigiri (grilled)

domburi

Rice bowls : fill half of a big bowl with hot rice, add some toppings.

gyudon (beef)
tendon (tempura)
oyakodon (mama-baby, chicken egg)
soboro (sloppy joe domburi)
eight treasures

takikomi gohan

Flavored rice dishes. Ingredients are added in the rice-cooker. There are millions of possibilities. A few classics :

chicken rice
kaibashira (scallop)rice
oyster rice

sekihan (red rice)
mame gohan (green peas)
kuri gohan (chestnut)

sushi

Click here to go to the sushi compilation

Bento
Fill a part of your lunch box with rice.

midori okowa
chirashi bento
Unaju (eel)

yakigohan
Stir-fry your rice leftover :

nira fried rice
buta-kimchi rice (pork)
soba meshi (with noodles)

More elaborated dishes :

omurice (omelet filled with rice)
doria (retro baked rice)

o-cha-zuke

Okayu
Rice porridge, often a breakfast.

nanakusa okayu (7 herbs)
red okayu
umeboshi
salmon

More ?
Also see mochi (rice paste), and wagashi (Japanese sweets)

Sushi bento dinner (via GiO)

As you can see, in eating order :
shrimp nigiri (hand formed),ikura (salmon eggs/roe) and cucumber “war boats”, gunkan-maki , hoso-maki of shrimps and shiso leaves…

Cosy sushi, many ways

Are not visitors disappointed ? A food blog from Osaka with so few sushi… It’s Japan, so we are supposed to eat some at every meal.
That’s not really the case, but we have some. I don’t try to replicate the restaurant style, but anyway what we are proposed here tends to differ from the horr… , I mean, the offer, in the West. There are many regional variations. I try to prepare the original home-made ones…

Definition : vinegared rice, with toppings.

If there is no rice or nor no vinegar (citrus juice/fermented sake), it is not a sushi. Consider using another name. Well, the concept is large enough to play around with shapes and toppings.

Personal opinion : what makes a good sushi, is :

ONE : the rice, quality (Japonica or Arborio, which is a Japonica anyway) and good preparation.
TWO : there should be a way to distinguish a sushi and a hamburger (I mean no ketchup, no cheese, no fries…)

Enjoy the visit…

Osaka sushi
They are the oldest style, before the custom of eating raw fish.

shime-saba and unagi
chakin sushi (egg wrapped)
meharizushi (leaf wrapped)

Edo-mae (“standard”)
Tokyo-style.The classic, famous around the world.

nigiri (hand-shaped)
gunkan-maki (war boats)
hosomaki (thin rolls)

Chirashi-zushi
Display sushi, not shaped, served in a wide dish for many guests.

yuzu chirashi (with tuna) yuzu chirashi (with goya)
radish chirashi
natsu chirashi (Summer style)
panda style
rose sushi

Different techniques :

Oshizushi. Pressed in a box, like those of Osaka
inari-zushi (tofu pockets)
Aburi-zushi (flamed)

Maki-zushi

The big rolls…

hatsuga genmai healthy salmon sushi
ehomaki (horoscope sushi)
rolling a makizushi

Fancy :

mini-cup sushi
chicken chirashi
egg sushi in a verrine

TO BE CONTINUED

Sushi bento dinner

As you can see, in eating order :
shrimp nigiri (hand formed),

ikura (salmon eggs/roe) and cucumber “war boats”, gunkan-maki

hoso-maki of shrimps and shiso leaves.

The rice is brown + mochigome (sticky rice), cooked with kombu seaweed. The “su” is black rice vinegar, plus sudachi lemon juice. I just added a little salt. The rice was not so great, I put too much sticky rice to shape it nicely.

The reason for serving wasabi on the side is… I forgot including it. Well not great shape. I’m not read to open my sushi bar. Anyway, in Japan it’s not a job for women, our hands would too warm, we would only good at making onigiri.