Comments on: Gohan: Standard White Rice

By: Katie

Katie — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 19:14:44 +0000

It is. I made that mistake when I first started trying Eastern (I believe I actually started with Chinese) food. We would make a stir-fry, but cook normal American-style rice. I hated chopsticks for soooooooo long because the only way to eat that type of rice seems to be to use the chopsticks as a shovel!

By: kanako

kanako — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 13:44:34 +0000

Hi Bill, I know that Mr. Shizuo Tsuji’s cooking book is very famous. But I’ve never read the book, because he is known as a french cooking specialist in Japan and it seems that the book is not translated in Japanese…
Anyway “Hajime choro choro, Naka pappa” poem I learned at elementary school cooking class. I agree that it’s a simplest and perfect guide.

By: Bill Andersoot

Bill Andersoot — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 18:59:57 +0000

Thank you for this excellent instruction (and for the link to the washing video). My main “teacher” in the art of Japanese cuisine has been Mr. Shizuo Tsuji, author of “Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art”, and he is very careful to explain the importance of washing rice. It’s nice to see photos of the process, though, as it makes it much easier to understand. As for cooking, I was once taught this wonderful poem, which has been my rice cooking guide ever since:

Hajime’ choro choro
Naka pa ppa
Akago naite’ mo
Futa toro na.

Domo arigato gozaimasu.

By: w40nsk1

w40nsk1 — Mon, 14 May 2012 02:37:17 +0000

I’ve just cooked your gohan recipe today for my mom (it’s mother’s day), to go with a red-cooked pork belly (I wanted to do the Japanese counterpart to this Chinese recipe; but couldn’t find mirin in time). It worked great! Thanks for that.

Here in Brazil we use a longer-grained rice; and traditionally well-prepared rice is defined largely by its non-stickness (the secrets thereof having spawned quite a mythology). The rice is stir-fried with chopped or grated onions & garlic, and eaten with cooked beans.

By: kanako

kanako — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 14:50:38 +0000

Hello Vyvy,

I’m glad you like the blog…be sure to keep checking back for new recipes!

Listen, Japonica variety rice is usually marketed as “Sushi Rice” in the west. Whenever you see “Sushi Rice”, you can use that. Of course, if you start buying 200 gram packages at Loblaws it’s going to get extremely expensive very fast.

In Montreal, I find Kim Phat the best because you can buy rice in bulk and relatively cheaply.

Locations:
http://www.kimphat.com/outlets.html

It’s mostly a Chinese-Vietnamese store, so you won’t find the very fanciest, or the very freshest rice there. But then, very fancy Japonica rice is almost impossible to find in Canada.

We usually buy the big 20 kg. bags of Nishiki brand Japonica rice grown in California. It’s certainly good enough. Rice grown in Japan is way, way too expensive here. Not really worth it.

Enjoy!

By: Vyvy

Vyvy — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 04:12:38 +0000

Hello there! I’m so happy to have found your blog because I have always been interested in japanese cooking. I’m very interested in its “simple” and “healthy” part! The way you make the rice sure is complex compared the way I do it at home, but I would really like to try your method. I was wondering, where do you usually buy your japanese rice? Is it possible to get it at any asian grocery shop, or is it better to buy it at the korean/japanese grocery shop you mentionned in your other guide?

I just love your blog! Keep up the good work!

By: kanako

kanako — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 14:48:48 +0000

Intresting. Every rice culture has different way of cooking it. And eating styles are also different. I imagine that it’ll be quite difficult to eat non-sticky rice with chopsticks.

By: Mitchi

Mitchi — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 10:02:20 +0000

I never realized you had to soak short grain rice before you cooked it. In the Philippines, we generally eat longer grained rice, and there’s not really a need to soak it. Then again, people also use spoons or their hands and not chopsticks when eating.