133 replies to this topic

[torakris]

I have done the roasted version as well too, I like the extra nuttiness it gives.

[helenjp]

So are we having Takikomi Gohan day again this Dec. 12??

I read in Japanese somewhere that maitake gohan is best made WITHOUT shoyu, because the shoyu disguises the maitake aroma. I tried it with just kombu-dashi, a dash of sake, and crumbled up maitake, and a little salt, and it was good! Serve with mitsuba if, unlike me, you remember to get them out of the fridge.

[torakris]

So are we having Takikomi Gohan day again this Dec. 12??

I read in Japanese somewhere that maitake gohan is best made WITHOUT shoyu, because the shoyu disguises the maitake aroma. I tried it with just kombu-dashi, a dash of sake, and crumbled up maitake, and a little salt, and it was good! Serve with mitsuba if, unlike me, you remember to get them out of the fridge.

Sounds good to me!!
Anyone else?

That is interesting about the soy sauce and maitake, what if you were making a kinoko (mushroom) takikomi where maitake was just one ingredient, would this still apply?
Kinoko takikomi is sounding quite good right now!

[jeniac42]

I would like to participate on December 12! My Japanese oral final will be either that day or the next so I can just think about how I'd describe the food in Japanese and I'll consider it "studying"...

[Hiroyuki]

So are we having Takikomi Gohan day again this Dec. 12??

I read in Japanese somewhere that maitake gohan is best made WITHOUT shoyu, because the shoyu disguises the maitake aroma. I tried it with just kombu-dashi, a dash of sake, and crumbled up maitake, and a little salt, and it was good! Serve with mitsuba if, unlike me, you remember to get them out of the fridge.

Sounds good to me!!
Anyone else?

That is interesting about the soy sauce and maitake, what if you were making a kinoko (mushroom) takikomi where maitake was just one ingredient, would this still apply?
Kinoko takikomi is sounding quite good right now!

Sounds good to me too, but like someone has already suggested elsewhere, why not turn it into a weeklong event so more people feel inclined to participate?

[Kiem Hwa]

Im in for Takikomi Gohan day!!!

[torakris]

Sounds good to me too, but like someone has already suggested elsewhere, why not turn it into a weeklong event so more people feel inclined to participate?

That makes sense!
OK, Takikomi Week runs from the 12th!!

[Chufi]

This dish intrigues me.. I find myself with that odd EGullet phenomenon: craving something I have never tasted Between all the takikomi-gohan's mentioned here, I think I can figure out which flavourings to use.. but I have another problem.
I don't have a rice cooker, I cook my rice in an electric steamer-type thing that does not have the marks inside that I see in the pics of the ricecookers.

What is the ratio of liquid to rice so that I can just put them in the steamer pot together?

Thanks

[Priscilla]

When adding sake or shoyu or other liquid to the rice cooker for takikomi gohan, is this in addition to the regular amount of water?

Also, the hijiki versions ... I have dried hijiki. Would I reconstitute the seaweed first? And how much to add?

[torakris]

What is the ratio of liquid to rice so that I can just put them in the steamer pot together?

Thanks

Since I never make rice without a rice cooker, I actually have no idea...
So, I looked in Japanese Cooking: A simple Art (Shizuo Tsuji) and for his takikomi recipes he has 3 1/3 cups of rice to 4 cups of water/dashi.
Some variations with a lot of additional ingredients will need more liquid though.

[torakris]

When adding sake or shoyu or other liquid to the rice cooker for takikomi gohan, is this in addition to the regular amount of water?

Also, the hijiki versions ... I have dried hijiki.  Would I reconstitute the seaweed first?  And how much to add?

Reconstitute the hijiki first, a handful of reconstituted hijiki is a good amount.

I always add the seasonings first then add water slowly, with a cup, until it hits the proper line.

[Priscilla]

Ah, thanks Torakris. Both make sense!

[Chufi]

Made my first takikomo gohan today.. it was a big success.. I made it with a pack of assorted mushrooms I found in my market, carrot, aburage, and hijiki. Flavored with mirin and soy, dashi for the liquid. Served with spinach sauteed with garlic and sesame.



I made it in my steamer using 1 1/2 cups rice and 2 cups of liquid. Half way through the cooking I panicked that there was way too much liquid so I drained some, but I ended up putting it back in.. looks like that was the right amount of liquid..

edited to add: I'm in love with hijiki seaweed!

Edited by Chufi, 17 December 2005 - 11:46 AM.

[Evan]

Decided to make gomoku (five ingredient) takikomi gohan for a holiday pot luck lunch at my work. Since I've never made it before, I did a little tester batch first to test out the seasonings using Hiroyuki's recipie as a guide adding only dried shiitake, hijiki, and carrots. Well, it helped out because the first attempt, I didn't add enough soy sauce and used only water and it was a tad bland to say the least. So for the actual dish I decided to make a vegitarian takikomi gohan; for ingredients, I used dried shiitake, hijiki, renkon(lotus root), aburaage, and carrots with dashi made only from konbu. I opted not to use any of those 'dashi no moto' since I wanted to stay away from the MSG. It came out very well except I forgot to mix the rice and ingredients after steaming so most of the ingredients were gone before the rice. But by the end, it was totally gone so it was a success. In previous pot lucks, I made some creme brulee which was also a hit with the crowd, and year before that I made some potato salad which did not go over very well. So now, I'm on a good streak, yay.

[jeniac42]

Ooh, I forgot about takikomi-gohan day. I might be able to participate later in the week but with Christmas coming up things are very hectic for me right now....

[Hiroyuki]

Sorry, I didn't make takikomi gohan that week. We had a record level of snow for December in our area (171 cm as of yesterday); I had to devote all my spare time to snow clearance, melting, removal, and so on and I was in no mood for making any decent dish. Maybe some other time...

[JasonTrue]

Tonight we finally got around to making takikomi-gohan in my donabe.


This was hijiki, aburage, ninjin, and saya-endo; the snow peas were blanched and added after the rest was done. It was a little light on the seasoning, but had a good fresh taste and was complemented by our stash of zasai pickles and umeboshi.

(blog entry)

[OnigiriFB]

After all the christmas food of the past couple of week I needed some rice. But all I had in my fridge was some leftover bamboo shoots and some mushrooms about to go bad. I remembered this thread and threw them in the rice pot with some soy sauce, mirin, and shiaxing cooking wine. Talk about delicious! I loved it and I'm definetely going to try this again. Hopefully I can pick up some aburage and hijiki at my asian market soon. Thanks for such a great thread. I'll upload a picture as soon as I get them uploaded to the computer! Wonderful stuff!

[Hiroyuki]

3 gou (540 cc) regular rice (1 gou = 180 cc)
1 pack hiratake mushrooms (buna shimeji or maitake mushrooms)
1/2 carrot
1 aburaage

45 cc soy sauce
30 cc sake
5 cc mirin

1. Wash rice and leave it in a sieve for at least half an hour.
2. Rinse hiratake mushrooms and drain.
3. Finely cut carrot.
4. Cut aburaage horizontally into two parts and then cut them vertically into pieces of about 5 mm (1/5 inch) in width.
5. Put rice in a rice cooker and add soy sauce, sake, and mirin.
6. Add hiratake, carrot, and aburaage.
7. Add water up to the 3-gou level and stir the ingredients.
8. Turn on the cooker.

i basically didnt really want to wait around to make my first batch and so i made this today with a pack of bunashimeji. followed the recipe exactly. the smell coming out of the rice cooker was positively wonderful. you know how the smell of rice cooking can be so, so, so good? it was just like that, but with a new twist. i think it was the addition of the soy sauce, mostly. amazing aroma.

it was delicious. my husband loves it too. :D

Say, do you guys really add the ingredients and then fill the water to the 3-cup mark? I am just discovering takikomi gohan, and my only recipe (from Hensperger/Kaufman Ultimate Rice Cooker Cookbook) says to fill the water to the mark, then add the ingredients on top of the rice. This makes sense to me - all those carrots and mushrooms take up a lot of space.

I'm looking forward to searching the forums for more takikomi gohan recipes, and discovering my own. I was inspired to buy a rice cooker by my Sansei boyfriend, and now I cook Japanese way more than he does. He's more of a ravioli guy. :)

Take care,

- Karen

Tonight, my wife made maitake takikomi gohan. She said that the gohan was a little soggy. I asked how she made it, and she replied that she added water first and the ingredients last, according to her cookery book. Ah ha! I told her that I add the ingredients first and water last. I have never failed so far.

[saycheese]

I am curious about the difference between takikomi gohan and kamameshi. I had unagi kamameshi recently, and it was like takikomi gohan with broiled unagi arranged on top, and served in a metal pot with a wooden lid set in a square wooden stand. Thanks.

[JasonTrue]

Kamameshi refers to the style of pot used to make the rice. A lidded cast-iron or other metal pot is used for kamameshi. That kind of pot produces a result more like baking than steaming/boiling rice.

I am curious about the difference between takikomi gohan and kamameshi.  I had unagi kamameshi recently, and it was like takikomi gohan with broiled unagi arranged on top, and served in a metal pot with a wooden lid set in a square wooden stand.  Thanks.

[Hiroyuki]

Kamameshi refers to the style of pot used to make the rice. A lidded cast-iron or other metal pot is used for kamameshi. That kind of pot produces a result more like baking than steaming/boiling rice.

I am curious about the difference between takikomi gohan and kamameshi.  I had unagi kamameshi recently, and it was like takikomi gohan with broiled unagi arranged on top, and served in a metal pot with a wooden lid set in a square wooden stand.   Thanks.

When I hear the word kamameshi, I always associate it with Touge no Kamameshi, also known as Yokokawa no Kamameshi. It's a very popular ekiben (train lunch?) originated from Yokokawa Station in Nagano prefecture.

I can't think of an exact definition of kamameshi; all I can say is that to make kamameshi, you need a special pot called kama, which is relatively small and for one or two servings only.
I found some nice pictures of anago kamameshi:
http://www005.upp.so...e-kamameshi.htm
(Japanese only)

[torakris]

For me it should only be called kamameshi if it is cooked in a kama.

But many companies sell kamameshi no moto that are meant to be cooked in a regular rice cooker. I don't know how these are any different than takikomi though...

[Hiroyuki]

I made takikomi gohan with hanabira take and enoki. I was disappointed by the lack of flavor of hanabira take. The takikomi gohan itself was tasty as usual, with the same old soy sauce/mirin/sake flavor and the same old ingredients (carrot and aburaage).

For this takikomi gohan, I tried a new technique: Put hanabira take and enoki in a pan, add soy sauce, mirin, and sake, plus some water. Bring to a boil and stop the heat in a few seconds. Drain and put the liquid in the rice cooker, but not the mushrooms. After the rice is cooked, put the mushrooms and mix well.
This way, you can keep the texture of the mushrooms intact and prevent them from turning brown. I highly recommend this technique. I learned it from this webpage more than a year ago. I should have tried it much earlier.

[Hiroyuki]

I submitted a takikomi gohan recipe here on RecipeGullet.
Final product:

I know, I know. I'm not a serious home cook. Anyone care to try my recipe and compare it with a meticulous one?

[helenjp]

I will try it, and looking at your recipe, I see you comment that many recipes for this are too complicated. I agree wholeheartedly - with takikomigohan, less is more!

[Hiroyuki]

I will try it, and looking at your recipe, I see you comment that many recipes for this are too complicated. I agree wholeheartedly  - with takikomigohan, less is more!

Thanks, Helen. I forgot to mention one important thing: NO DASHI for my takikomi gohan!

[Hiroyuki]

I made kuri okowa (glutinous rice cooked with chestnuts) for yesterday's dinner.
The ingredients are 4 gou (1 gou = 180 ml) glutinous rice, 18 large chestnuts, 2 tablespoons sake, and 1 teaspoon salt.
So simple, yet so delicious!

It's already that time of the year!? I was really craving some kuri gohan (kuri okowa would be good too, but I'm currently out of mochigome) the other day and lamented the fact that it will probably be a couple more weeks until some chestnuts are available to me. Summer doesn't seem to want to die just yet here.

It's that time of year again! My parents, who live in Chiba prefecture, sent us a box of chestnuts the other day, as they do every year. I have decided to make kuri okowa for tonight's supper.
Before I went shopping in the morning, I told my wife I'd buy some mochigome (glutinous rice) to make kuri okowa, but she replied that I could always make kuri gohan instead. I said, angrily, "But I like mochigome!!" I'm usually a faithful rice person, but when it comes to "takikomi-ing (?) chestnuts, sansai (wild edible plants), etc., I've always preferred mochigome. I don't know why, but the texture of mochigome is so right with chestnuts and sansai.
There has been little or no discussion about varieties of mochigome. Here is the variety often found in Niigata, Kogane Mochi, which is said to be the "king of mochigome".

This 1-kg (2.2 lb.) bag costs 620 yen.
The inner pot of the rice cooker, together with "Kurikuri Bozu", which I used to peel the chestnuts. Tough guy!

I used the whole bag of mochigome, which is equivalent to about 6.5 gou (1 gou = 180 ml). My complaint is why they sell mochigome and regular rice (uruchi mai or gome) by the kilogram when we still use "gou" for cooking .

[Cheeko]

I am both dying and inspired to try this recipe as well as the carrot/hijiki, mushroom, bamboo shoot, etcetera. Thanks to all for these pictures, experiences and recipes.

Yesterday, I bought the first kabocha of the season. I was almost jumping up and down in the store when I saw them. To me, displaced northerner now living in the hot south, the first signs of Autumn are precious. September will be the most sweltering month of the year and maybe, just maybe, October will give us signs of cooler weather and hopefully, no major hurricanes. Before we notice the Fall weather, winter will be here. But the kabocha squash and the giant butternuts! It was like seeing a very dear friends... I am being very nostalgic and silly.

Anyway, I will have to wait until at least late October or November before I see chestnuts. But I will try these other offerings with what is locally available. Need to buy a bigger rice cooker too...

[Cheeko]

I watched the latest "Iron Chef America" battle with Morimoto. The secret ingredient was tofu, so sure enough he worked in a takikomi-gohan in donabe. I love this guy. It was various mushrooms and abura-age. It's interesting to see his "battle strategies" in this american version of Iron Chef. His dishes are quite simple and fairly traditional like the takikomi-gohan. I guess he too goes with the "less-is-better" approach.

BTW, how difficult is it to pull off these recipes in a donabe? Is it worth it?