Okayu

Recently we discovered some new functions on our (already so useful) rice cooker. We can now use it to make even more recipes in a very quick and easy way!
The recipe we want to share today is Okayu, or Japanese rice porridge. We found it is incredibly easy to make using the 'おかゆ'-setting (okayu), or porridge-setting for international cookers. This traditional Japanese recipe is usually made by parents to give to their children when they are sick. However, adults also make it for themselves when they feel under the weather. The porridge can also be eaten as a Japanese-style breakfast, and we have found it makes a very good start of the day.
Right now we are studying for our Japanese tests and we like to make this recipe to eat while studying. It makes for a nice, filling meal: gives you energy but easy to digest.

Ingredients (2p):
(for basic okayu, lots of variations possible!)

• 1 cup rice
• 5 cups water

Wash the rice thoroughly and put it in the rice cooker, then add 5 cups of water. Put the rice cooker on 'okayu'-setting and just turn on.
From our experience it takes our cooker approximately 1 hour to finish cooking. However for the best result and taste, it is better to let the rice (when the rice has finished cooking) stand for a while in the still warm rice cooker. When we make this recipe for breakfast, we turn the rice cooker on before we go to sleep, so when we wake up it is finished and ready to eat!
Then, just divide it into two cups and enjoy! This time we added a little sugar on top, to give it a little sweetness.

Japanese Okayu

There are lots of great variations possible for this recipe, we keep trying and experimenting with different ingredients and toppings, and will share our results later!

Simmered daikon

Daikon is a big white, but mildly flavoured, Japanese radish. It actually looks like a big, white carrot, and Daikon literary means 'big root' in Japanese. We had actually no experience at all cooking with radish, so even though we saw Daikon for sale at all supermarkets we had never bought one. We didn't know what to do with it. Eat it raw? cook, fry or broil? However, we were feeling experimental and wanted to try something new. So we bought a daikon and tried some daikon recipes we heard taste very good. And indeed, we have come to love daikon

One (very big) daikon

This time we want to share a favourite daikon recipe of ours, Japanese Simmered Daikon. This recipe makes for a great side dish, but is also nice to be enjoyed as a warm snack on cold winter days.

Daikon is apparently really healthy, and we heard it is even a great remedy against hangovers! We haven't tried it ourselves, but please let us know if you find this actually works.

Ingredients (2p):

1/2 daikon
1 tbsp dashi powder
1 tbsp mirin
2 tbsp soya sauce

First, peel the skin off the daikon and slice it to pieces of approximately 1 cm thickness. Then, cut these pieces to quarters.

 

Daikon cut to pieces

Fill a fry pan with approximately 0,75 cm water, and mix the water with the dashi powder (1 tbsp), mirin (1 tbsp) and soya sauce (2 tbsp). Put on the heat, and bring it to boil.
Then, add the daikon pieces to the pan, and divide evenly on the water. Lower the heat, and cover the pan with a lid and let it simmer for about 30 minutes. After 15 minutes you can turn the daikon pieces, so both sides simmer evenly.

Daikon pieces added to the pan

Simmer with lid

 After about 30 minutes (or when all the water in the pan is gone) your simmered daikon is ready!

Finished simmered daikon (no water left)

 Serve and enjoy!

Japanese simmered daikon

You can view the cooking process on our youtube channel!

Oyakodon (Chicken-and-egg rice)

 This time we made a dish with a really interesting name: Oyakodon. It means parent-child rice bowl because it uses both the chicken and the egg. Although the recipe sounds like something Hannibal Lecter would eat, it actually tastes really good!

The recipe comes from our Japanese language book 'Minna no Nihongo' and is used to show how you can say 'do this according to these instructions'. Good students as we are, we took that literally and started cooking straight away. Though the basics are still 'Minna no Nihongo'-style, we made some slight improvements in the ingredient ratios. This dish is really easy to make, very low in fat and super tasty. Kids love it and parents too ;). Oh, and it has the coolest name ever!

What do we need?

Ingredients (2p):

• Rice for 2 persons
• 250 ml water
• 1 tblsp dashi
• 3,5 tblsp soy sauce
• 2 tblsp mirin
• 1,5 tblsp sugar
• 1 chicken filet
• 1 onion
• 2 eggs

First cut the chicken in thin long strips. Then cut the onion in wedges. To make wedges you first cut the onion horizontally in half and then cut each half in quarters (or just chop the onion up :-P).

The chicken and onion cut into pieces

Then mix the water, dashi, soy sauce, mirin and sugar and pour the mixture into a preferably small fry pan. Bring to a boil and add the chicken and onion. Both should be covered in liquid. Now bring down the heat to a simmering. After 6-7 minutes your broth should be ready but make sure the chicken is thoroughly cooked.

The chicken and onion simmering in the dashi-mixture

Beat two eggs and pour them evenly over the simmering broth. Put a lid on the frying pan and let nature take its course for 2 minutes.

Two beaten eggs divided over the simmering broth, cover with lid

In the meanwhile you can put the rice in your bowls. Uncover the frying pan, divide the broth and onions onto the bowls and put the chicken with egg on top of the rice. You are now ready to go Hannibal Lecter!

Video review:

End result: