IMBB? - Gomoku Takikomi Gohan

Is My Blog Burning?  This month's theme is "Around the World in a Bowl of Rice" and is being hosted by Pim.  So what do I have in store this time?  To celebrate my Japanese ancestry, I thought why not cook something Japanese.  After all, rice is eaten with almost every meal in almost all Japanese households. 

The dish that I decided to make is a fairly simple one and can be made in a variety of ways.  It's called gomoku takikomi gohan.  Gomoku means "5 ingredients" (although you can use any amount of ingredients that you wish), takikomi means "boiled with", and gohan is Japanese for rice.  Therefore, this dish includes "5 ingredients" that are "boiled together with rice" in a seasoned stock called dashi.

First, I start by making the dashi or stock for this dish.  It's fairly simple and straightforward.

You start by taking a piece of kombu (dried kelp) which is about 4 inches square and add it to 2 quarts of water.  Heat the water until almost the boiling point, but be careful not to let the water actually boil.  Let the kombu simmer in the water for about 15 - 20 minutes before turning off the heat.  At this time, add approximately 3 cups katsuo-bushi (dried bonito flakes) to the pot. 

When the flakes sink to the bottom (approximately 2-3 minutes), strain the mixture into a glass bowl using cheesecloth that has been placed inside a collander.  The resulting dashi should be pale yellow in color and free from any particles. 

Set aside.

Then start preparing the vegetables and other ingredients that you may want to add.  Common additions to the rice include fish (firm white meat is preferred), chicken, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, peas, etc.  The rule of thumb is to use any ingredients which you feel might go well together. 

Today, I used the following ingredients:  gobo (burdock root), carrots, shiitake mushrooms, kuro konnyaku (dark devil's tongue jelly) and hasu or renkon (lotus root).  Take the vegetables and slice them all into thin strips.  The exception is the lotus root which should be sliced then divided into smaller pieces (I cut them into 3 fan shaped pieces per slice).

Wash 2 1/2 cups of medium grain Japanese rice until rinse water is clear.  Add 2 1/4 cups dashi, 2 tablespoons each of shoyu (soy sauce), mirin (sweet rice wine) and sake (rice wine) to the rice and set aside for about 30 minutes.

Add your vegetables/ingredients to the pot of soaking rice and then cook.  Now if you're using a rice cooker like I am, just turn on the rice cooker.  The normal cooking cycle should be enough time to cook all of the ingredients.  If you're cooking over the stove, bring the dashi to a boil, then turn down to a simmer.  Simmer with the cover on the pot for about 20 minutes or until the rice looks done. Once the cooking is complete, let the rice stand covered for about 15 - 20 minutes before mixing thoroughly.

Now you can serve...I normally like to top it off with some kizami nori (dried seaweed strips)...

and serve with a couple of side dishes like tsubo zuke (yellow pickled radish) and seasoned iriko (dried anchovies).

Comments

[umami]

Hi Reid, your rice looks really yummy, I can just imagine the wonderful meld of flavours from the seasonings and the crunch from the vegetables. And I thought you only eat out.

Just a thought, the leftover (if there are any) can be grilled and sprinkled with sesame seeds.

[Renee]

nice! must have tasted really good!
I used to make something similar (haven't for a long time, don't know why)... a sort of one-pot or one-rice-cooker dish... rice, chicken stock, diced chicken, chinese mushrooms, carrots, chinese sausage (lap cheong)... and it was delicious.
I've never considered using lotus root to cook rice, now that's a fab idea!
I think I'll try out this rice dish soon : )

[pim]

Gorgeous photos. I could almost taste the rice from your pictures. Thanks so much for the recipe.

cheers,
Pim

[jcheng]

That's great! How timely - I just ate something like that at a Japanese restaurant on Friday and was wondering how to cook it. It is basically the same as your version, but the version I had had sliced unagi on top of the rice before the nori went on top of the unagi. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

[Reid]

Umami,

I do normally eat out. I did want to participate in this month's event so I had to cook! =) It wouldn't have been nice if I didn't make a dish... This rice is normally used for obento (box lunch). I like to eat it cold, and you could most certainly fry it until it gets crispy. I'm sure it would taste nice.

Renee,

Thank you! =) Actually, if you'd like you can use chicken in this dish. Many people actually do. Another way to cook this would be to use the same stock, but instead to use chicken, bamboo shoots, mushrooms and carrots. I like the lotus root as it give the dish some noticeable crunch!

Pim,

Thanks for the compliment. I only wish the photos in my blog looked as good as yours...not to mention the food! Everytime I visit your blog, it makes my mouth water!

jcheng,

You're very welcome. This dish is very easy to prepare. The recipe that I gave is a bit bland (I omitted the required salt). If you'd like you can add salt to give it a bit more flavor. I normally prefer to add more soy sauce to compensate as I sometimes prefer the dish to be bland...don't ask me why! I've also prepared this with unagi (my favorite way to eat it), but unfortunately for me, I didn't have any available. =(

[Min]

Gorgeous!!I knew you could cook well!Will definitely try out this recipe:)

[Reid]

Min,

I appreciate the compliment. =) I guess I still have a few tricks up my sleeve. I just have to pull them out from time to time. Hope you enjoy making this!

[Min]

Yup please pull them out regularly hah hah..I'm very sure your readers will appreciate it!Oh and i should also add that i'm highly fascinated by the japanese culture so much so that i bought a couple of books online hoping to pick up the language.Still at a, i, u, e, o though:D

[Reid]

Min,

Good luck with studying Japanese. I took 12 years of lessons and to be really honest, I can't hold a decent conversation with anyone! =( I guess it's because I don't have anyone to practice speaking it with.

I'll try to feature home cooking more often if it's at all possible. =) I still love to eat out and have others do the cooking! That way, I'm guaranteed to get more variety into my diet.

[paula]

Lovely pictures - Question about the seasoned iriko. I enjoyed them recently in Japan in a dish which included walnuts - I have several bags of the tiny dried fish and want to turn it into the seasoned fish -somehow I must cook them with soy sauce, something a bit spicy and probably mirin and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Any suggestions on how to proceed from dried fish to seasoned fish?

[Reid]

Hi Paula,

Welcome to my blog.

I haven't prepared it before myself only because it's so much easier to purchase ready made. I will ask my grandmother what is the best way and will get back to you.

Thanks for stopping by.