I cook rice almost everyday. Thanks to the rice cooker, it is easy to do. When I cook rice with beans, most beans need to be pre-cooked. Even ‘Auzuki’ Red Beans, that are very small, need to be pre-cooked when cooked with rice such as ‘Sekihan’. However, Lentils don’t require pre-cooking as they can be …
‘Sekihan’, steamed short grain Glutinous Rice cooked with Azuki (Red Beans), is sometimes cooked with Chestnuts as well. But Chestnuts are not commonly available where I live. I looked for a substitute for Chestnuts and I tried some different nuts. Now I can tell you that the best substitute is Cashew Nuts. This ‘Auzki & …
This is one fo the traditionally popular ‘Takikomigohan’ dishes in Japan, but I didn’t cooked it for a long time. Because it was too hard to find Abura-age (Fried Thin Tofu) in Australia. Not any more! If you like traditional Japanese cuisine’s delicate flavour, you will enjoy this dish. Makes 4 Servings Ingredients 2 cups …
My ‘Salmon Takikomigohan’ is very popular. But, on the other day, I found a bone in the dish even though I had checked Salmon fillets carefully. Many years ago, when my son was very young, he has got a fish bone stuck in his throat for three days, and it was a nightmare for us. …
‘Takikomigohan’ is one of my favourite dishes. It’s a dish of rice that is cooked in seasoned stock with other ingredients. It can be any flavour. Ingredients can be vegetables, mushrooms, seafood, meat, etc. This is a new one inspired by an Italian dish, Asparagus Risotto. Makes 4 Servings Ingredients 200g Asparagus *trimmed, cut into …
My son was a very fussy eater when he was young. He hated most vegetables. Luckily he loved curry and if vegetables were in curry, he ate anything. But I couldn’t cook curry every day, so I needed to be creative. This ‘Carrot Rice’ was one of my creations to make him eat vegetables. I …
This is another ‘Takikomigohan’ dish that can be cooked using a canned fish. This time I used a Canned Red Salmon. I wanted to add some Hijiki, but Hijiki is quite hard to find where I live. So, I added Dried Chopped Wakame as they are, without rehydrating it. Wow… I was amazed at how …
‘Mackerel’ is my favourite fish, but it is hard to find fresh Mackerel in Australia. That’s why I always stock Canned Mackerel in the pantry and I use it for this dish. If you are lucky to have fresh Mackerel fillets, season with some salt and grill or pan-fry them first. That would make a …
One of my favourite ‘Takikomigohan’ is ‘Asian Mushroom Takikomigohan’ and I sometimes crave the dish. One day I really wanted to cook it but had no fresh Asian mushrooms. Fortunately I had a pack of Assorted Dried Mushroom Mix. Mostly Asian mushrooms but Flat Mushrooms were also included, and some were already sliced. I cooked …
Recently I suffered from Sciatica pain and I still can’t keep standing up for long. I am lucky because, when I am not well, I can benefit from electric cooking tools such as ‘Rice Cooker’. These days rice cookers are so smart and they can do many things. My rice cooker has ‘Quick Cook’ mode …
I love ‘Takikomigohan’ which is seasoned rice cooked with vegetables, mushrooms, seafood or chicken. Probably it is my absolute favourite Japanese food. You can find quite a few recipes on this site and I cook them often, and I think this is the easiest ‘Takikomigohan’ recipe. You need 3 main ingredients, and they are Rice, …
In Japan, shucked Oysters are sold in plastic containers in the same way as meat. They are often quite large and not particularly expensive. Here in Melbourne, Oysters are fancy food. Shucked Oysters are always sold on the half-shell and they are often rather small and quite expensive. This is very disappointing because I like …