Maze Gohan 混ぜご飯 Mixed Rice

I also made a selection of maze gohan to accompany the onigiri (rice balls) for our outing. As the name suggests plain Japanese rice is mixed with various seasonings. In her book Harumi's Japanese Home Cooking, the Japanese home cooking guru turned her maze gohan into little rice balls and here's my version. 

While the onigiri might look plain and serious, meza gohan on the other hand is colourful and fun. Again I have prepared 3 seasonings but please play around with what takes you fancy. 

These morsel size treats are equally at home in your lunch boxes or in a picnic basket.

makes 6 each

you'll need;

6 cups of warm cooked Japanese rice

toasted sesame seeds

seasoning 1;

10 g of dried bonito shavings

2 to 3 tbs of soy

1/2 tbs of toasted sesame seeds

seasoning 2;

1 karashi mentaiko, removed eggs from membrane

a little chopped chives

1/2 tbs of toasted sesame seeds

seasoning 3;

shiso fumi furikake (shiso flavoured rice seasoning) or furikake of your choice

To prepare the seasonings - mix ingredients for all 3 seasonings in separate bowls.

Loosen the freshly cooked rice and allow the rice to cool slightly before handling.

Mix mentaiko seasoning with 1/3 of the rice, reserving some as topping. This can be serve in a little bowl.

Or you may use a mould to make little rice balls as you would with onigiri.

Or form into rice ball using wet hands.

My trio of maze gohan.

Served alongside onigiri.

Onigiri お握り Japanese Rice Balls

I recently made some onigiri for our trip to the Dendenongs. Just to refresh your memory, this popular picnic fare also featured in the bento boxes I mentioned before (see here).

Though the number of sushi takeaway shops could easily rival that of the 7-11 in Melbourne, very few actually have them on offer except for the few Japanese run ones (unfortunately the majority are run by Chinese... go figure).

They are dead easy to make especially if you have one of those plastic moulds. But before you rush out to get one of them, check out your local Japanese or Korean grocers first as they are often free with the purchase of furikake (rice seasonings)

I have prepared 3 different fillings for my latest batch of onigiri. Grilled eel, tinned salmon and mushrooms are just a few delicious alternatives you might want to consider.

makes 5 each
you'll need;
3 cups of cooked rice, keep warm
2 sheets of nori

filling 1; 
meat from one roasted chicken maryland, chopped
3 tbs of chopped cucumber
1 spring onion, chopped
3 tbs of kewpie mayonnaise
salt and pepper to taste

filling 2;
10 g of dried bonito shavings
2 to 3 tbs of soy
1/2 tbs of toasted sesame seeds

filling 3;
1 karashi mentaiko, removed eggs from membrane
a little chopped chives
1/2 tbs of toasted sesame seeds
                                  

To prepare the fillings - mix ingredients for all 3 fillings in separate bowls.

Loosen the freshly cooked rice and allow the rice to cool slightly before handling.

If using a onigiri mould, place some rice into the mould, make a little hole and fill with about a tablespoon of a particular filling, top with a little more rice and flatten with the second part of the mould.

Alternatively one may form the rice balls using wet hands.

Fold a small sheet of nori seaweed over just before serving.

They might not look like much but it doesn't take long to discover the hidden treasures.

Seen here with some meza gohan (mixed rice), please come back for the recipe tomorrow.

Karashi Mentaiko Supagetti 辛子明太子スパゲッティ Spaghetti With Mentaiko And My 600th Post

Do not judge a book by its cover and it is appropriate to use the saying to describe this rather ordinary looking pasta dish. What it lacks in the look department is aptly compensated by the unique and addictive flavour that will have you ask for more, a reason why I have chosen this to be my 600th post.

Apart from the furikake (rice seasoning) and shredded nori which are used as garnishes, everything else is of foreign origins. Despite that, this quirky and very tasty dish is quintessential Japanese, the willingness of the Japanese to experiment with non Japanese ingredients is why there are always surprises awaiting when one visits a Japanese eatery.

The star of the dish is of course the karashi mentaiko (marinated spicy pollock roe) or known as myeongranjeot in Korean. Though it was only introduced to Japan over a century ago, it is now considered a common ingredient in Japanese cooking. It is difficult to describe the taste of mentaiko; it is salty, savoury, fishy , a little spicy and utterly delicious! ... words failed me really so do make it one of the ingredients you must try before you die.

P.S My dear friend A had started a lunch group at work with 5 of her colleagues (each contribute a  fixed amount of money and each would take turn making lunch etc etc.) and I was quick to say yes when she asked me for my assistance when it was her turn to cook. This formed one of the components of her bento boxes.

recipe from the tummies' kitchen

serves 3 as part of a Japanese meal or bento

you'll need;

250g spaghetti, cooked until al dente

65g of karashi mentaiko (marinated spicy pollock roe), separated from the membranes and set aside

3 heap tbs of pure cream

4 heap tbs of kewpie mayonnaise (Japanese mayonnaise)

pepper to taste

shiso fumi furikake (shiso rice seasoning) or finely shredded fresh shiso leaves

shredded nori seaweed

You can find mentaiko at all Japanese and Korean grocers (ask for myeongranjeot) and this is the packaging of the one we used.

And this is how the marinated pollock roes look like. Remove the the tiny eggs simply by making an incision on one end of the roe and squeeze out the tiny eggs from the very thin membrane.

Shiso fumi furikake (shiso rice seasoning) and we used pure jersey cream from South Australia, available at La Latteria in Carlton.

Place mentaiko, cream, cupie mayonnaise in a large seasoning bowl and whisk until well combined, season with pepper. Meanwhile cook spaghetti with a large pot of salted water.

Place drain spaghetti into the bowl with the mentaiko cream mixture and mix well.

Sprinkle with shiso fumi furikake (or fresh shiso) and shredded nori seaweed.

Or seen here as part of the offerings in a bento. Please check out my tori no karaage (fried chicken) and recipe for origini (rice balls) and maze gohan (mixed rice balls) will be posted next so please stay tuned!