Japanese Rice

About Japanese Rice:

Although rice consumption in Japanese households is declining, rice is still popular and is a very important food in Japan. Japanese people even call each meal "gohan (cooked rice)", such as "asa (morning) -gohan" for breakfast. A bowl of rice is included in most of Japanese meals. Rice is cultivated all over in Japan.

Cultural Aspects:

Many Shinto ceremonies and Japanese festivals involve rice growing and rice products. Kome (raw rice), sake (Japanese rice wine) and mochi (rice cakes) are typical offerings in shrines. Japanese people believe that it's important not to waste rice. Leaving pieces of rice in a bowl or a dish is considered to be rude.

Japanese Rice Varieties:

Japanese rice is short grain rice and is used for daily cooking. It gets sticky when it's cooked. There is a kind of rice called mochigome (glutinous rice). It's the stickiest rice and is used to make rice cakes (mochi) or red rice (sekihan).

How to Cook Japanese Rice:

See Steamed Rice Recipe.

Miscellaneous:

Japanese rice is also grown in California. Kokuho Rose and Nishiki brands are well known. Japanese rice is cooked in many different ways. There are even "rice burgers" sold in Japanese fast food shops, which use crunchy rice instead of the buns.

Japanese Rice Cooking:

Rice Balls (onigiri)
Hand shaped round or triangular balls of rice. It's easy to eat and is often taken for picnic or lunch. There are different kinds of fillings.

Rice Bowls (donburi)
Plain rice is served in a large bowl with various toppings and sauce. For example, Ten-don (tempura topping), Katsu-don (tonkatsu topping), and Oyako-don (chicken and eggs topping).

Sushi
Dishes cooked with sushi rice. Nigiri-zushi (hand pressed sushi), maki-zushi (sushi rolls), inari-zushi (blown bag sushi), and more.

Takikomi-gohan
Rice is boiled with various ingredients and seasonings, such as soy sauce.

O-kayu (rice porridge)
Plain rice is simmered very soft.

O-chazuke
A simple rice soup, which is made by simply pouring hot water or green tea on top of plain rice with various ingredients.

Furikake Rice
Furikake is a mixture of dried toppings, which is sprinkled on top of plain rice.

Mochi (rice cakes)
Mochi-gome rice is steamed and pounded to make mochi. It's really sticky.

Sekihan (red rice)
Light pink colored rice for celebrations. Mochi-gome is steamed with azuki beans.