As I told you before, Japanese rice is a unique flavor. It’s moist and a little bit sweet（It’s not like sugar sweetness, but the sweetness from natural crops). Matching this unique flavor, several menus of Japanese rice have developed. I would like to introduce them.
Donburi(Rice bowl)
Ten-don(tempura)
Gyu-don(beef and onion)
Oyako-don(chiken and egg)
Donburi is that one-bowl dish, which has dishes on the top and rice on the bottom. The advantage of this style is to be able to taste rice soaked in sauce or dressing from side dishes. Typical menu items include Tendon(Tempra), Yakinikudon(BBQ), and Zukedon(Marinated Tsuna). All Donburi have “~don” at the end of their names. Any rice bowl can be named by adding ”don” at the end. Sarada-don, sausage-don, Tofu-don…, etc. FYI: Tempura plate and Tendon are different things; the ingredients are the same, though. With Tendon, you can enjoy the taste of sauce-soaked rice and tempura slightly softened by the sauce and moist from the rice. All of them mixed together in one bite. That’s the joy of Tendon.
This is the Tempura plate. It’s different from Tendon.; all ingredients are the same, though. (There is no sauce in this picture, but usually, it’s included.)
Chazuke(Rice with green tea poured over it) There is a traditional custom of eating Chazuke at the end of a meal, which is rice with green tea poured over it. It usually goes with seaweed and dishes as you can see in this picture. However, in some households, “freeze-dry Chazuke powder “ is popular recently. After pouring the powder into the rice, the next thing you do is just pour hot water on the rice. It would also be suitable for midnight supper or snack.
general Chazuke(grilled salmon and seaweed)
Besides green tea, you can pour Dashi(fish soup) on rice. It is also said to be done at the end of the meal. Eating Chazuke is a kind of ritual for the Japanese. There are several variations of Chazuke. Hitsumabushi is a grilled eel donburi. You can enjoy 2 different ways to eat in one meal, with or without dashi. In this meal, you don’t eat it directly from this wooden bowl. You try to serve some of it into the little bowl 2~3batches. You can change the taste of each serving of it. In the 1st round, eat it as it is. The 2nd, eat it with some spice like wasabi and green onion, and lastly, you can make it into Chazuke by pouring dashi on it.
Here is another unique variation of Chazuke. It’s Taichazuke. In this variation, you pour hot dashi on Sashimi donburi. By doing so, the sashimi is cooked by the heat of hot dashi or tea. Therefore it is no longer sashimi or raw fish. You can enjoy the delicious taste half cooked fish in a uniquely Japanese style. Tai-Chazuke(The 3rd picture.) is unique in that when pouring hot dashi or tea on sashimi donburi, sashimi cooks by the heat of hot dashi. Therefore, it is no more sashimi or raw fish.
- In Hitsumabushi, you use a little bowl of the left lower corner, serve food from the wooden upper corner of left.*
Tai-Chazuke
Zosui(rice porridge) Zosui is rice porridge. You may think it’s almost the same as Chazuke, but actually not. It has an unmistakable different touch from Chazuke. When rice is stewed, it becomes sticky and thick. But Chazuke isn’t stewed, which means rice doesn’t absorb the soup. Therefore it is very light, and goes down your throat quickly, just like soup, not rice.
Typical Zosui is the one to eat at the end of the Nabe(hot pot). Nabe is a kind of Japanese meal style, in which it happens to cook and eat at the same time at the table. You set the raw ingredients and a hot soup pot with a portable gas stove at the table. And then, each person puts their own food into the boiling soup to be cooked each time. Fish, vegetables, clams, meat…anything can be Nabe ingredients. The soup left in the pot is concentrated with good flavor. Lastly, after eating all ingredients, only the soup remains in the pot. Pour rice into the pot and stew it for several minutes to create a wonderful Zosui. It makes your body warm. It is winter’s special dish, but you can eat it throughout the year.
Nabe. (chicken, vegetable, tofu with soup)
This is Okayu which is rice porridge without any ingredients. Only rice. It usually goes with Umeboshi(salted plum). It’s served for breakfast or the sick.
Furikake Furikake is the kind of powder with good flavor. It usually consists of seaweed, fish powder, little fish, sesame, herbs, etc. All ingredients are dried. It makes plain rice taste much better. So, when you have no other dishes, only rice, it would be helpful. Some people make Onigiri(rice balls)by using it.
Furikake would be great if you have no dish anymore. It makes plain rice a great meal.
Not only for Onigiri, because of the beautiful color, it is also used for Bento(lunch box).
There are numerous Furikake and Onigiri powder(both are almost same)in the supermarket in Japan.
Takikomi-Gohan Takikomi-Gohan is a steam rice. It’s made by cooking rice with Dashi(fish soup), vegetables, meat, or fish; anything you want. It always uses Dashi, which is the most important point. Dashi makes it taste so much.
Above the picture: the ingredients are bamboo shoots and mushrooms, and Dashi(fish soup).
Takomeshi
Among many Takikomi-Gohan, I would strongly recommend Takomeshi(Octopus). I’m aware that some people are afraid of Octopus, though. But it’s extremely delicious. Please try it if you happen to encounter it.