Takikomi Gohan Recipe (Japanese Seasoned Rice)

I'm Yuto and today on Sudachi I'm going to show you how to make Takikomi Gohan, a delicious Japanese rice dish made with meat and seasonal vegetables. Let's dive right in. First we need to wash and soak the rice. Start by placing a sieve over a large bowl and pouring in 300 grams of Japanese short grain rice. Fill the bowl up with water and discard it straight away. Then you can fill it up again and wash the rice by gently swishing in a circular motion. Once it becomes cloudy, pour it out and add fresh water. Do this three times. The water will probably still be cloudy even after the third time but this is fine and perfectly normal. After the third time, pour the rice into the bowl and soak it in fresh cold water for about an hour. At the same time we need to make dashi for this recipe. Place two dried shiitake mushrooms and about three grams of kombu in a bowl. Then add 275 milliliters of cold water. Cover it and leave it to soak for an hour so it will be ready at the same time as the rice. Okay this has been soaking for an hour so I'm just going to drain the water and pour the rice back into the sieve. I will leave this to dry until it's time to cook. The soaking and drying makes it cook more evenly. Our dashi is also ready so I'm just gonna take out the kombu first. You can throw it away or save it to make a kombu rice ball filling if you like. Transfer the shiitake mushrooms to a chopping board and thinly slice them. We're going to add these to the rice later. Next, thinly slice 50 grams of carrot and then cut it into matchsticks. I recommend cutting the ingredients small for this dish not only so that they cook quickly but also so that they're distributed more evenly when mixed in with the rice. If you want to add different vegetables to what I used, check out my blog for suggestions and substitutions. The link is in the description. Next, I have three sheets of aburaage here also known as a deep fried tofu pouch. It's a little sweet and has a spongy texture. It's one of my favourite ingredients but you can leave it out if you can't find it in your area. Now we're going to cut 10 grams of fresh ginger. This adds a wonderful fragrance to the dish. All the vegetables are cut now so let's move onto the meat. I'm using 150 grams of chicken thigh with the skin on. I'm going to start by pulling the skin off. We will fry that separately to make it extra crispy. For that meat, cut it into small pieces like this. Smaller is better for this dish because we want the ingredients to be spread evenly throughout the dish. Next, heat a frying pan on medium and once it's hot, add the oil and chicken skin. It tends to splash a lot so I recommend placing a lid on top. Once it's crispy, remove it from the pan and place it on a piece of kitchen paper. Add the chicken meat to the pan and fry in the juices from the skin. Frying the chicken in the pan improves texture and taste then it will finish cooking with the rice later. Once the chicken is seared, add all the thinly sliced vegetables from earlier and fry them for about a minute. Cooking everything in the leftover fat from the chicken skin is going to add amazing flavour but you don't need to cook them completely because they are going to be cooked with the rice. This step is mainly to improve the flavour and texture. Now remove the pan from the heat and set aside. Take a cooking pot and add the rice and dashi. You need to use a pot that is large enough to fit all of your ingredients without cramming them in. Next, pour the contents of the frying pan on top. If you want to add the chicken skin, you can or you can save it for sprinkling at the end if you want to add some crunch. Finally, add two tablespoons of soy sauce, two tablespoons of mirin, two tablespoons of soy sauce and two tablespoons of sake. It is important that you don't mix it and you must start cooking straight away to avoid the condiments sinking down to the bottom. Place a lid on top and bring to a boil over medium heat. When the water starts to boil, set a timer for two minutes. Keeping the steam in the pot is vital for even cooking so it's important that you do not remove the lid until the very end. I know it's tempting but you just have to trust the process. After two minutes, reduce the heat to medium low and set a timer for three minutes. After three minutes, reduce the heat to the lowest setting and cook for five minutes. Finally, blast the heat on high for 10 seconds and then turn it off. Leave the pot on the warm stove for 20 minutes to allow everything to cook in the residual heat. Okay, this has been resting for 20 minutes so I'm going to take off the lid and give it a mix. Use a rice bottle to scoop and fold then use the edge to break it apart. Be gentle so that you don't crash the rice but thorough so that all the ingredients are evenly distributed. Scoop it into a bowl and it's ready to serve. You can serve takikomi gohan instead of regular rice as part of a Japanese style meal. Sprinkle with finely chopped spring onion and chicken skin from earlier and enjoy. Thanks a lot for watching. If you want to learn more about this recipe, check out the written version on my blog. The link is in the description. Have a great day.