Japanese Short Grain Rice
It’s hard to imagine food in Japan without rice, Japanese cuisine actually developed around it.  Rice has been a favorite here in Japan since prehistoric times and why not - it’s nutritious and delicious, stores well, is easy to cook and is very flexible.

While most of the world uses long-grained rice, the Japanese have developed short-grained rice - because of the climate, as well as the taste.  In general, short-grained rice has a slightly sweet flavor, and hold lots of moisture, making it tender and moist without getting squishy. 

Pictured Right: Perfect Japanese rice in a Kyoto - be sure to see Kinkaju and Himeji Castle!

Rice is not only the staple of the diet; it is the key ingredient in many other important ingredients that are use constantly in the Japanese kitchen - such as sake, shoju, mirin, vinegar, and miso.

Sake (rice wine) and shoju (rice ‘vodka’) are used repeatedly in sauces and marinades, in combination with shoyu (soy sauce), mirin (a mild, slightly sweet vinegar) and seasoned vinegar – all of these ingredients are available at Tony’s (Sake at Tony B's Wine List).  An excellent example of this simply delicious sauce is Yakitori – get the recipe now…

Pictured Right: Yakitori in Cial Food Plaza. Below:Japanese Rice cooked with red beans - yum!

To properly cook Japanese rice, use approximately ¾ cup of rice to 1 cup of water – but you can adjust with more or less water to taste.  Brown rice needs about 2 parts of water to each part of rice.  It is important that your rinse white rice well to remove any ‘rice flour’ that develops; it will just make your rice overly sticky, brown rice just needs a quick rinse.  White rice is also popular for breakfast cooked into porridge, but I can’t imagine too many American’s would care for it.

A rice cooker is the ultimate device for cooking rice – developed here in Japan; they cook perfect rice every time, assuming you measure and rinse well.  You can get a simple rice cooker starting at about $15 – and it’s the best investment a rice lover could ever make!