(Photos of this blog will be posted next)
One of my favorites Corn and Ginger Takikomi Gohan (introduced in Hiroko’s American Kitchen) is so easy when I do it in my Zojirushi’s Micom/IH. I love it. But, from time to time I get bored with easy, convenient tasks. I always love challenges, or at least I want to keep my skills honed. So, the other day I cooked takikomi gohan in the traditional way which my mother taught me – using an earthenware donabe pot. The result was what I expected – super tasty.
I own this donabe pot for over 24 years. This is not just for takikomi gohan preparation, but for winter time nabemono, hot pot, dishes.
Here is some tips how you do it using donabe. Your devoted attention to steam, strength of heat and cooking time are necessary all the time. Please also make sure that your nose can catch any wrongly burnt smell.
1. Rinse rice thoroughly followingntheninstructions in the book. Also follow the important soaking and drying instructions.
2. Add the rice to the donabe pot. Add the kelp stock and sea salt.
3. Sprinkle the corn kernels and ginger over the rice. Cover the donabe pot with a lid.
4. Cook the rice over high heat for 4 -5 M, or until the inside stock starts to boil. Then, reduce the heat to medium and cook about 6 minutes or so, or until the water is reduced to the level of the rice. 5. Then, reduce the heat to low and cook for 10 M. At the end of cooking I turn the heat to full strength and count 30. This helps to produce nice lightly burnt rice crust (okoge) on the bottom of the rice, and also to help to expel extra steam in the pot.
6. Follow the instructions on shoyu and butter in the book, and enjoy as is, or as an accompaniment to your fish, chicken or meat plate.
You will see here (photo) the delicious Beef! Takikomigohan which we enjoyed during my Curinary Tour To Japan 2013 with Hiroko Shimbo. Chef Tanaka of Shun no Aji Ichi served this rice dish to us after delicious seafood and vegetable course. He cooks his takikomigohan in traditional donabe. A grand dish to finish our memorable dinner.