Japan · 70 min · Vegan · Main course · For beginners
Mame Gohan
In German: Erbsenreis · In English: Green pea rice
For 4 servings · US units
Japanese short-grain rice steamed with fresh green peas, sake and kombu
When the first fresh peas of spring show up still in their pods, the simplest thing to do in Japan is to cook them straight into the rice pot. Short-grain rice steams with a piece of kombu, a little salt and sake, and the peas lend it a gentle sweetness and flecks of green. It works as a bowl at dinner just as well as it does shaped into triangular onigiri for a bento box.
Ingredients
- 15¾ ozriceJapanese short-grain rice, washed and drained
- 2⅓ cupswaterfor cooking the rice, standard ratio
- 3½ ozGreen peasfresh, shelled
- 1 tspsaltfor the rice, some for blanching the peas
- 2 tbspcooking sake, added before cookingJapanese rice wine, used in cooking mainly to round out flavours, tame fishy notes and add umami.Substitute: Dry sherry or Chinese Shaoxing wine come closest but bring their own stronger flavour; mirin is not a substitute because it is distinctly sweet.Read more
- ⅛ ozone piece, removed after cookingCaution: Kombu is very high in iodine, so it is best used mainly for making stock rather than eaten in large amounts, especially by people with thyroid conditions.Dried kelp, a brown seaweed sold in stiff, dark green sheets; the foundation of the Japanese stock dashi.Substitute: There is no true substitute. A pinch of MSG supplies the savouriness but not the taste of the sea or the depth; instant dashi granules come close in flavour but usually contain fish, which rules them out for vegetarian dishes.Read more
- 1 tbspfor a lightly seasoned version (optional)Sweet Japanese rice wine for cooking that gives sauces and glazes a mild sweetness and shine.Substitute: Sake or dry sherry with some sugar, about one teaspoon per tablespoon, comes close; sweetness and shine are roughly right, but the rounded, slightly malty depth of mirin is missing.Read more
- 1 tbspsoy sauceusukuchi, barely colours the rice (optional)
- Pea podsyoung tender pods cooked along for colour and aroma, removed afterwards (optional)
- 12for wrapping the shaped rice triangles (optional)Large, scalloped leaves of the Japanese daimyo oak, used to wrap rice cakes. They lend a faint, slightly astringent fragrance and are not eaten.Substitute: There is no true substitute, because the leaf's particular fragrance cannot be reproduced with anything else. If you only need a wrapper for handling, bamboo or banana leaves will do, but the dish loses its characteristic aroma. Local oak leaves gathered outdoors are not suitable, as they have not been prepared for food use.Read more
Method
- Shell and rinse the peasShell the peas from their pods and rinse them briefly. If the pods are young and tender, set a few aside to cook along with the rice.
- Wash and soak the riceWash the rice until the water runs more or less clear, drain it well, then let it soak in the measured water for about 30 minutes.
- Season the water, add kombuAdd the salt and sake to the rice water, along with the mirin and light soy sauce if you're using them, and stir briefly. Lay the piece of kombu on top of the rice.
- Add the peas to the riceEither scatter the peas raw over the rice, or boil them first in lightly salted water until just tender, drain them and lay them on top. Add the reserved pods now if you have them.
- Cook the riceCook the rice in a rice cooker, or in a covered pot over medium heat for about 12 minutes; for a crust on the bottom, turn the heat up for the last 2 minutes.
- Let it steam off the heatTake the pot off the heat and let the rice steam, still covered, for 10 to 15 minutes without lifting the lid.
- Remove kombu, fold the riceRemove the kombu and any pods, then fold the rice through gently with a rice paddle so the peas are evenly distributed.
- Shape and wrap onigiriIf you like, shape the still-warm rice into triangular onigiri and wrap each one in a kashiwa oak leaf.
Tips and variations
Colour comes down to timing: boil the peas separately in salted water, cool them in cold water and stir them in only after the rice is cooked, and they stay bright green. Cooked raw with the rice they turn duller, but more pea flavour goes into the grains. If you want it plain, season with salt alone; sake, mirin and light soy sauce add a bit more depth without colouring the rice. Cooked in a pot rather than a rice cooker, you get a crisp crust on the bottom. Instead of ordinary green peas, you can cook the rice with the purple "Tutankhamun" variety, which tints it a faint wine red, and add salted broad beans to it. Serve the rice warm in bowls, or as oak-leaf-wrapped onigiri for a bento.
Allergens
May contain if you use the optional ingredients: Cereals containing gluten, Soybeans
These notes follow from this recipe's ingredient list. Ready-made products and brands may contain further allergens — please check the packaging yourself.
Something not right?
This recipe was put together from independent sources and checked before publishing. Even so, a mistake can slip through — an amount that does not add up, a step that does not work as written. If you spot something, write to us: we will look into it and put it right.
