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)

Glossy omuraisu

When I saw the post of Nippon Nin (she is the Ambassador of Japanese family cooking in the US), I knew what my lunch would be… She made a deliciously looking omelet rice, also known as omuraisu. She gives you a detailed recipe.

You need leftovers of rice, eggs, whatever you get in the fridge to stir-fry with the rice. I had bits of pork and a few veggies.

Butter to flavor the omelet and the rice.

That’s it. It’s glossy on the first photo because I painted it with sweet chili sauce.

I had a little rice left as a side dish…

A cup of mizuna, to say I’ve eaten my greens…
Yummy !

The meal :

Cal 610 F18.3g C83.1g P26.4g

Another version with sauce :

omuraisu

L.O. day 3 : omu-raisu (omelet-rice)

Omu-raisu, omelet filled with rice is a yoshoku (Western dish adapted to Japanese taste) that is so popular that there are many restaurants dedicated to it. They serve only that, but they have 30 variations for the rice flavoring and the sauce. It’s also very popular at home.

Omelet + butakimchi rice + parmesan cheese + paprika gravy

I had this <em>butakimchi gohan twice, so this third time makes it look different. The cheese changed the taste.

The sauce is not compulsory, but for me, it’s a bit dry without.

You can cut it with the fork. Children love it because it is very soft food.
Great comfort food !

Butakimchi gohan, hot pork rice. Juggling with left-overs.

I had made this buta-kimchi yesterday… and you see only half on that photo.

So I ate one serving.

All that was left-over in the pan.

But I had 1/2 of the konnyaku left.

I added it.

And a little more gochujang.

And rice.
I had cooked 1 go of rice. A go is a Japanese rice-cup (180 milliliter, while the US cup is 240 ml). It’s used to measure the raw rice.
2 go makes 3 standard rice-bowls. But with 1 go, I get for 4 servings for small woman.
So that gaves me 3 servings of buta-kimchi gohan. (pork kimchi rice)