Okomeyaki, brown rice okonomiyaki

Mid-way between yaki-onigiri and okonomiyaki, a tasty and healthy lunch. That’s really interesting to enjoy together the crusty flavor of grilled rice and the cabbage soft feel of okonomiyaki.

A triple base : cooked brown rice (leftovers), dry mushrooms and cabbage.

For the batter : 1/3 cup of cooked rice, 1/2 rice flour, the soaking water of mushrooms, salt. In the blender 1 minute.
For the filling : cabbage, ninnniku no me (garlic stalks), minced fresh ginger, 2/3 cup of cooked rice.
Mix, cook one side in an oiled pan.

Flip, add sesame oil, flip again…

With sauce (here Bulldog Worcester style sauce). Then aonori seaweed flakes and chili flakes :

Champilège final : genmai ‘shroom risotto

Let’s make a creamy brown rice risotto. You need a little more time, but at some point, the broth thickens just as much as with white rice.

That’s the last dish made with this basket of assorted mushrooms :

The series :
Champilège 1 : Paris in salad.
Champilège 2 : shiitake in amuse-gueule
Champilège 3 : awabitake, bunapi, in pie soup
Champilège 4 : maitake, eringi, in quiche

shiitake,awabitake, bunapi, champignon de Paris, maitake, eringi…
I had a few of each left, plus a few feet :

Minced the feet, red onion, lots of garlic…

New crop rice of this year. Tsuyahime, Princess Tsuya.
From Yamagata Prefecture, well the only problem is it’s a bit close to Fukushima. It’s a cultivar close to Koshihikari.
That’s a good risotto rice.

That’s a Japanese risotto. A fusion if you prefer. I’ve used kombu seaweed to make dashi stock. There is wine. The main seasoning is miso. Salt, pepper, olive oil, and thyme on the top :

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)

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

Mabo Tofu, azuki variation

I replaced the meat by azuki beans in the classic tofu dish. That makes a purely plant based meal.

You can see the beans between big chunks of onions. Lots of garlic, ginger… even more grated ginger on top of the plate.
My genmai (brown rice) looks fluffier than usual. It’s because it’s Milky Queen rice that I have now. It’s the first time I see it in brown rice version. I should write a post about the different Japanese rices. I usually prefer Akita-Komachi and Koshi-Hikari, both type cultivated in the North of Honshu island. They are the “hardest”, the most “al dente” you can find among Japanese rices. It’s like Arborio and Carnaroli. The comparion makes sense. Arborio is a “Japanese rice” brought to Italy, and if you can’t get Japanese rice for sushi, it’s a good substitute.
The Milky Queen is a new one, that has been put on the market maybe 10 yrs ago. I bought it white only one, and I found it extremely soft. Way too “mushy” for me, but I guess that’s the taste of many toothless aged Japanese. In brown version, on the contrary, it’s very pleasant, light and textured.