Rika's TOKYO CUISINE: Soboro Donburi

Dining With The Chef!

Hello, I'm Rika Yukimasa.

Welcome to Dining with the Chef.

Today, I'd like to focus on "donburi," or rice bowls.

A "donburi" is a one-dish meal consisting of a large bowl of rice with a variety of toppings.

They're delicious, easy to make and very satisfying.

So, I hope you'll try making my "donburi" at home.

Tokyo, an Asian city with the largest metropolitan population in the world, the boundaries between old Japan and futuristic Japan are blurred in this metropolis.

The food here is a fusion of cuisine, not just from around Asia, but around the globe.

In this program, Tokyo-based culinary artist, Rika Yukimasa demonstrates the current trends from her own kitchen near Tokyo Bay.

Our co-host is Patrick Harlan, widely known in Japan as Pakkun.

Rika's Tokyo Cuisine.

Today, Rika's original "donburi," or rice bowl dishes.

Donburi dishes, consist of a large bowl of rice with various toppings.

They are a part of everyday life, and a popular fast food.

The dish originated around 600 years ago, when it was common to pour soup over rice.

This practice gradually evolved into what we now refer to as "donburi."

Although the best-known toppings are savory beef or tempura, the possibilities are endless, including local specialties that can only be eaten in certain parts of Japan.

Some popular toppings feature a Japanese twist on foreign cuisines, such as "chop-suey" and "mabotofu."

- Hello, Chef Rica.
- Hello.

- I understand we're making "domburi" today.
- Yes.

Which is great because I love "domburi."

And, "domburi" just basically anything sitting on a bowl of rice.

Right.

"Domburi" consists of rice and topping.

Okay.

And where are we going to start today?

- We start from the rice.
- Okay.

Rice basically falls into two main categories.

Rika will use Japonica rice, a short grained rice, which is what Japanese people are used to eating.

I hope I can show you the difference.

See, it's different.

It's small.

This one is shorter. This one is longer. And then...

- And it's thinner in a way.
- Right.

And the indica mai.

- That looks like what I used to eat growing up in America.
- Right.

So in America or Thailand or other India, most countries use this long, thin, indica rice.

And this Japanese rice. I think it's grown in the water.

So it contains more moisture.

And it looks lustrous.

- And when you cook it, it's very sweet.
- Very sweet.

- And it sticks together.
- Yeah.

Which makes it perfect for things like sushi or and in this case, "domburi," I guess.

Which one are you using?

We are using "Koshihikari" today.

- This might be the most famous.
- Yes.

So main purpose of rinsing the rice, it actually is to kind of let it give the water into the rice.

- And it's important to rinse the rice with quality water first.
- Really?

- If you are outside of Japan, you have to at least to filter the water.
- Okay.

- Or you can boil the water.
- Okay.

And what would be best is if you use soft water instead of hard water...

- Not too many minerals.
- Yeah.

Right.

- It makes a big difference.
- Okay.

The minerals in hard water stick to the grains and inhibit the absorption of water, making the rice taste dry and brittle.

Rice absorbs water during the rinsing process, so it's important to use the right kind.

Most Japanese households have a rice cooker.

- Electric one.
- Yes, a big one.

- But I don't use it. I prefer using this thick "nabe."
- Right.

You can cook with "donabe", an earthenware pot, or just a really thick, this kind of pot.

Sure.

I think it contains the heat well.

Thick pot! So it radiates heat from all angles onto your food, including from the lid.

So your food cooks, like more evenly without burning on the bottom, like you get with thinner pots.

- So today I'm using about three cups. Japanese three cups.
- All right.

And I soaked in water.

And then 1.2 times water to the pot.

And then put the lid.

From here, it's really easy. Turn the heat to high.

And once it starts to boil, turn the heat to low and cook for 13 minutes.

Okay.

Turn on high. Wait till it boils. Put on low. Cook for 13 minutes.

- That's all there is to it.
- Yes.

Whoa.

Wow! Look at that.

Smell amazing.

And I love how freshly cooked rice glistens.

It's like it's got light bulbs inside. So bright.

Gently fluff the rice to allow the evaporation of excess moisture.

The rice is very delicious on its own.

- But I want to introduce the toppings to enjoy this fresh cooked rice.
- Perfect.

Today, I'm going to make two kinds of "soboro" to make colorful "domburi."

- We're going to cook shrimp and egg "soboro."
- Woo sounds great.

"Soboro" refers to any kind of seasoned meat, fish, or eggs, cooked down into a fine crumbly texture.

So first, you need to preheat the pan over medium high.

Okay.

And while it's warming up, I'm going to crack the eggs.

Nice.

What's really important is for you to know how much salt you should put in.

Okay.

- Because salt plays extremely important role in cooking.
- True.

Then I told you I will add one pinch of salt per egg.

- And "a pinch" means usually with three fingers.
- Okay.

So with the three fingers.

- A thumb and two fingers, right?
- Yes.

- That's a pinch of salt.
- Interesting.

A pinch is about one gram. One gram of salt.

And then for eggs, I usually use a pinch of salt, yet with two fingers.

- Oh, so a little less than a gram.
- Little less.

- So maybe like 0.5 grams.
- Okay. Half a gram or so?

- Per egg?
- Per egg.

So if you're using four eggs, you do four single finger pinches?

- Yes.
- Okay.

- Three...
- One finger and thumb.

Four.

All right.

And then you have to mix the eggs well.

Okay.

Now, add the sugar and "mirin."

The "mirin" is just sweet sake.

It's wonderful. It goes so good in anything.

And if you don't have "mirin," you don't need to worry about it.

Just forget about it.

And if you're making scrambled eggs, you would add butter and you gently scramble... usually I use a spatula.

- But this time, you want to make it a little bit dry and flaky.
- Okay.

- So you don't add anything.
- Right.

Pour the eggs into the pan and use several chopsticks to stir until finely scrambled.

You need to stir continuously.

So what's important is you have to heat the pan a medium heat first, then turn the heat to very low.

And in the end, you cook with residual heat.

"Soboro" means, I think, small, small, tiny particles.

- Right. Sort of like pebbles.
- Yes.

If the heat is too high, the eggs will set right away, making them difficult to crumble.

So stir continuously over very low heat.

Japanese mothers, they have to do so much.

Many people work, but at the same time, they have to cook bento box every morning.

And when they are out of ideas, they cook this.

Once all the liquid has evaporated, remove the "soboro" before it burns.

Oh, nice. Look at that.

Beautiful.

Oh, so beautiful. Well done.

- And I can use the spatula to cook it.
- Yes.

- I don't necessarily to have to have cooking chopsticks.
- Right.

That's lord of my mind.

The beginning, it seems like... you know, nothing is working.

- But you have to be patient.
- Be patient.

Very important in cooking.

- Now you have another repertoire for your children's bento box.
- Exactly.

I make bento for my kids pretty much every day.

And I run out of ideas because that's, you know, 200 some odd meals a year.

I love "soboro." I never imagined it'd take this much stirring to make.

It's a lot of stirring.

I can sort of cut down the big clumps with the edge of the spatula if I need.

Even if you had bigger clumps, it would taste the same.

Yet, we want to go this rigorous training or process to make it fine version.

- Hey, this looks pretty close, huh?
- Pretty good.

Not too bad for my very first "soboro."

- Well done.
- Thank you.

So what's next?

We are going to make different colored "soboro" using shrimp.

Great.

So I've never done or actually eaten shrimp "soboro."

Is it common?

Oh, it's not that common.

But you can use shrimp or sea breams or cod... you can use any kind of seafood to make "soboro."

Really? Okay.

When I think of "soboro," I think, obviously of egg, but also of chicken or beef or sometimes pork, which is just ground up and made into "soboro," with the same sort of flavors, right?

Right.

So as long as you have egg and one other color, you're good, right?

- Yes.
- Okay.

But today we're going to use shrimp.

Peel the shrimp, then chop into fine pieces.

So instead of using a food processor, which is fast and easy, but a pain to clean up after.

You just whip out your knife and cut your shrimp by hand.

- That makes sense.
- It's much easier.

And if you have two knives, you can also do this.

For pounding or chopping.

- That looks like fun.
- Yeah.

Okay. Should be done.

So we're trying to get it down to the same sort of consistency as the egg.

- Right.
- Okay.

So then I'm going to season it with one teaspoon of salt.

- A teaspoon of salt.
- Yes.

And a teaspoon of sugar.

- A teaspoon of "mirin."
- Okay.

- So the flavoring is basically the same amount.
- Yes.

- A teaspoon of sake.
- Oh, sake too.

- And a little bit of water.
- Really? What's the water for?

Oh, water. You don't want to make it too dry.

So you just mix in the water, and from here, it's the same preparation.

Turn the heat to medium first.

Turn the heat to low again.

You want to slowly cook.

The kids love shrimp since it's gallops. So this would be a very good way.

You can add a little bit of soy sauce if you want.

Like if you're cooking for ground beef or ground meat.

You can add soy sauce.

- Because it's brown to begin with.
- Sure.

But I want to keep the pink color.

Therefore, instead of adding soy sauce here, I would probably give my children, the girls, the separate little portion of soy sauce.

- We have soy sauce packets now in bentos, it's very useful.
- Yeah.

So kind of for Japanese cuisine. Keeping five colors.

It's very important when you have, like, bento box.

You want to have rice, white, yellow, egg, pink, this one and a little bit of green on top.

That's already four colors.

If you add like a piece of...

- Paprika maybe?
- Paprika or whatever.

- Then it's five colors.
- Sure.

- So this is what we call; "We eat with our eyes."
- Yes.

As with the eggs, cook slowly over very low heat to reduce the liquid without burning the shrimp.

Wow. That looks great.

You probably can't smell it from where you are.

It smells great, too.

That is beautiful. Well done.

So we are ready to make these two colored toppings.

- Perfect.
- Yes.

And either you can put two colors.

This way egg, and this way shrimp.

Or you can just do what I do.

Arrange the "soboro" whatever way you like, making the most of the contrasting colors.

The green beans add a nice accent.

I could tell the difference in our personalities.

I've used all my shrimp.

No way I'm leaving this in the bowl.

The "soboro domburi" is done.

Very nice.

So much fun too.

I'd like to show you another "domburi" topping using pork and "sansho."

- Ooh, "sansho!"
- Yes.

Wow.

"Sansho" pepper is great. It's got a strong little sting in it.

"Sansho" pepper is made from the berries of a citrus tree.

It has a tangy aroma and a spicy kick.

Rika is going to make a healthy "donburi" of tofu and ground meat seasoned with "sansho."

So let's start cooking.

- Turning the pan to medium.
- Okay.

And I am using ground pork.

But you can use ground chicken or ground beef, whatever you prefer.

Excellent. I see that I have ground chicken.

- So I'll be doing chicken. You do the pork?
- Yes.

And it's very easy.

- You can either use spring onion or the onion.
- Okay.

- Anything to give a little bit of crunchy texture.
- Okay.

And to this isn't a saute, you're not sauteing. You're almost, like, simmering.

Okay. What's the difference?

Well, sauteing, you kind of like brown the face surface.

Simmering, you don't. It's not your purpose to brown the surface. You want to just cook.

Just cook it. Okay.

Season with equal parts of sugar, soy sauce, sake, and "mirin."

Rika likes to keep things simple.

This is Rika's famous recipe.

Three as in, one out. And just one of each.

- Super easy to remember.
- Yeah.

Rika's easy recipe can be used to season all kinds of Japanese dishes, including simmered fish.

Oh, that looks good.

And then you gently cook. You know, just as eggs.

- When we cooked eggs, actually, we didn't turn the heat too high.
- Right.

So this one, too.

- Keep the heat a little bit relatively low.
- Okay.

So if the clumps are too big, just cut them in half with your special or whatever.

- And can you see the water coming out?
- Mm-hmm.

That's the water from the ingredients.

From the "negi," right?

- And you want to sort of evaporate.
- Okay.

And while you're doing that, you can also cut...

You can add a little bit of "sansho" pepper.

Oh, excellent.

It's powdered and it's really easy to use.

But It's just an interesting flavor, isn't it?

It numbs your tongue.

Yeah. It's tingling, and it's got that sort of...

It's a pepper. So it's got that strong pepper flavor, but it's also got a little citrus flavor.

And it has this ability to, like, tingle your tongue.

- Really crazy.
- Yeah.

So how much did you add?

- Well, I put about a teaspoon.
- About a teaspoon?

When you add the "sansho," check out the smell of the aroma. It's just incredible and so fun.

Add tofu cut into 1 cm cubes.

Stir gently to prevent crumbling.

There are two basic kinds of tofu in Japan - firm "momendofu," and custard-like "kinudofu."

For this dish, it's best to use "momendofu," since we want it to keep its shape.

- It's sort of like... looks like "mabotofu" of China.
- Mm-hmm.

In Chinese "mabotofu," you also add Chinese miso called "tenmenjian" and also "tobanjian," which is a red pepper.

And in the end, you mix the cornstarch with water and pour over it.

- So, it will have sticky texture.
- Right.

But this one, we don't. We don't need to do that.

Right. You don't want it sticky.

- You want it crumbly. That's what makes a "soboro."
- Yes.

Okay. This should be done.

- Oh, looks beautiful.
- Okay.

Smells so wonderful.

So let's pour over on top of the rice.

- The start of the show.
- So much "domburi."

Look at that.

Looks beautiful.

Okay. Difference in personality once again.

When I add food to my bowl, I add food to my bowl.

Garnish with shredded "shiso" leaves or basil for a nice touch of color.

- So the grand pork "soboro" is done.
- Perfect.

And now for the grand finale.

Itadakimasu!

- This looks beautiful.
- Thank you.

I can't believe I made it.

All right, I'm going to try the "tamago soboro," the egg soboro, first.

Oh, look how beautiful.

Oh, it's so good.

It's sweet. And not overcooked.

The eggs are still juicy, which is how I like them for my scrambled eggs as well.

And the "mirin" is so lovely, so sweet, go so well with rice.

Let me try the shrimp.

Wow!

I didn't expect it to be so savory.

And it's also sweet savory.

And you can tell when you bite into the "ebi," the shrimp, that the juices sort of squirt out it with every bite, which means it's perfectly well cooked.

Not dry.

I've never had this combination, but the "ebi" and the egg together, the shrimp and the egg together are also a nice complement.

Not just the beautiful coloring.

The flavors go well together as well.

- You can sprinkle a little bit of soy sauce or red pepper or the black pepper.
- Right.

And you can arrange that taste.

- Sure. If you had a little bit of soy sauce, this will taste a lot like sushi.
- Yes.

Even though it's not sushi. It doesn't have "sumeshi," the vinegar rice.

It has that feeling probably because of the shrimp in the "mirin."

- Sumeshi would work perfectly, too.
- Sure.

- You can make a "sumeshi domburi."
- Yes.

Well, that was amazing.

But now I'm going to try this tofu in "sansho domburi," chicken version.

Itadakimasu!

Oh, this is amazing. I could eat this all day.

It's so good!

The chicken, even though it's just little, tiny pieces, once again, it still has that nice chicken, flesh, texture and flavor.

And the "sansho" a little kick with the "syoga" just wakes your taste buds up.

So there's more good stuff coming.

It's always nice to have, like, small "donburi" at the end of the meal.

- And we call it "shime" in Japan.
- Right.

- And it, you know, just finishes up your meal.
- Right.

Instead of having dessert, you have rice, which is also sweet.

And you end up feeling so full and happy and content.

You want to go sit on the sofa and sleep for a couple hours.

This is fantastic.

And now the tofu and "sansho domburi," pork version.

- Totally different.
- Yeah.

Oh, this is a little bit more.

What's the word... creamy than the chicken version.

But they're both just fantastic.

I hope you enjoyed today's "donburi" recipes.

A "donburi" is a perfect one dish meal that's easy and quick to make.

It's simply a bowl of rice with your toppings of choice.

But the possibilities are infinite.

Start with something simple, then try creating something original!

And thank you all for joining us on Dining with the Chef.

Try these recipes at home and then let us know how they turned out.

We'll be waiting to hear from you and we'll see you back here on Dining with the Chef very soon.

Bye bye.

I don't know which one to keep eating.

I guess I'm going back to the "tamago."

Okay, quick look at today's "donburi" recipes.

First, the colorful "soboro donburi."

Beat the eggs and season with salt, sugar, and "mirin."

Place a pan over low heat and scramble the eggs.

The key is to scramble them slowly over very low heat so that they don't burn.

Likewise, slowly cook the chopped shrimp over low heat.

Arrange the "soboro" on top of a bowl of rice to create a colorful "soboro donburi."

Now for the Tofu and Ground Meat "Donburi."

Stir-fry the ground meat and vegetables and season with equal parts sugar, soy sauce, sake, and "mirin."

Once the ingredients are cooked through, add the "sansho" and cubed tofu, and stir gently.

Serve and garnish and you are done.

A mouth-watering "donburi."

Why not create these or your own original "donburi" with your favorite toppings.

You'll be glad you did.