Dining with the Chef!

Today, I'd like to show you two delicious ways to enjoy rice.

Rice goes well with practically everything, so it would be a shame not to use it in your cooking.

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.

Our host is culinary expert, Rika Yukimasa.

And our co-host is Patrick Harlan, also known as Pakkun.

Rika's Tokyo Cuisine.

Today, two of her favorite rice recipes.

Rice is more than just a staple.

It's deeply embedded in Japanese history and culture.

It's hugely important.

It is. It's so important.

We can't do or live without it.

Right.

And Japanese rice is sort of unusual compared to other rices, right?

Exactly. It contains more moisture.

So, it's fluffy and sweet.

So, when you chew it, it becomes almost like a cake.

Right. That's a good way to put it.

You know, if you remember, we don't eat too much dessert.

- True.
- After the meal.

Okay.

It sort of fills your craving for sweet things.

- Exactly.
- Great.

So, in Japan, we have a special cup for measuring rice.

A little smaller than American Cup.

It's about 150 grams of rice.

It's called "Ichi Go," or one Go of rice.

One rice cup holds 180 mililitres or 150 grams of rice.

This amount will give you 300 to 350 grams of cooked rice.

So, one cup of rice is enough for two people.

You have two daughters.

How much do you usually cook?

I cook five cups.

- Wow. That's a lot.
- Five Go.

- It's like a one and a half kilos of rice.
- Yes.

Wow.

Well, instead of cooking, you know, every time I'm busy,

you know, you don't want to rinse the rice, absorb water.

So I just cook five cups, and then store it in the refrigerator.

Rice in the refrigerator is good for how long? A week?

A week in the fridge.

And then a month in the freezer.

- It's amazing.
- Yes.

- Great!
- This allows you to save time and you can cook various different dishes with the leftover rice.

Oh, and today we are?

We are going to show you two kinds of recipes.

One is stir-fried rice and the other one is Japanese-style Doria.

Ooh, sounds great.

Let's go.

Today's first dish is Japanese-style fried rice.

It's a quick and easy dish, that you can make with whatever you have in the fridge.

So, you'd be surprised.

But fried rice is a huge part of the Japanese menu.

You can find it on every Chinese restaurants' menu, but people make it at home all the time.

- Yes.
- And it's called "Cha-han," you should remember that.

I actually cook for breakfast or sometimes for dinner, any time when I have time.

The great part of it is you don't need a fancy ingredient.

You can find something in the fridge, in frozen rice, and you get to go.

- You're good to go.
- Right.

Today we're going to use bacon and scallions and ginger.

- And, I love using eggs because it adds beautiful color.
- Sure.

Plus, we have coarse salt and soy sauce,

granulated chicken soup for a little chicken flavor and sesame oil.

Right.

So, we have the leftover rice, which we pulled out of the refrigerator.

It's still kind of cold.

Are we going to use it cold?

- No, unless you heat up the rice, it takes longer time to cook stir-fried rice.
- Right. Okay.

Cooling changes the structure of the rice starch, so the rice grains stick together.

Heating the rice in a microwave set at 700 watts for about two and a half minutes

softens the starch and helps loosen up the grains.

Of course you could also steam the rice.

So, let's mince the scallions.

Great.

We're going to cut the end of it.

And then you want to actually use the fresh part for as a garnish.

And then kind of old part as sort of like for cooking.

Okay.

We're not just going to throw it all in the fry pan?

- Nope.
- Okay.

Next, we're going to slice and mince the ginger.

So, when you mince, when you slice - first cut vertically.

And then turn 90 degrees.

Then slice, mince.

Right.

In this way, you can mince them.

Now we're going to mince the bacon.

All right.

You have bacon in the fridge most of the time, right?

- Oh, I'm an American.
- Yeah.

It's like, I don't know.

Water?

- Can't live without bacon.
- Yes.

Next, we?

We... Let's crack the eggs.

Okay.

And you want to add one pinch with two fingers of salt per egg.

Really? Okay.

This is just about the right amount of salt.

Interesting.

Is that just for Cha-han, for stir-fried rice,

or do we do that for other dishes which need fluffy eggs as well?

Well, any kind of egg dishes such as omelette or Tamagoyaki or egg Domburi.

- I use this rule.
- Interesting.

Yes.

Okay. So, the ingredients are ready.

It's a nice color combination.

Perfect.

Before you start cooking, make sure you have everything you need, close at hand.

Today's dish calls for a frying pan and spatula,

plus a small bowl and plate for serving the food.

So, let's give it a shot.

Okay.

So first, heat the frying pan to high and then lower the heat.

Okay.

With the Japanese Cha-Han, you don't need much of oil.

So first. And what I'm doing is mixing sesame oil with bacon.

So, it kind of like renders out the oil from the bacon.

Okay. You've got both bacon flavor and sesame flavor.

Nice.

Then I would add this, heated rice.

This is important.

Okay.

Is there anything we should be careful of when we're preparing our rice like this?

Okay. First of all, it's very important to heat up the rice so they don't have lumps.

And then, you have to kind of, like, use that cut and fold motion.

You don't want to break the grain.

So, you do, kind of like a gentle motion.

So, you don't need to hurry up.

You know, you just use the lower heat.

And then you just work gently.

Take your time.

Yes.

And here, you add as much ginger as you want.

I put a lot today.

Nice.

Put it all.

Oh, that's beautiful.

Just leave some for garnish.

Okay.

Once everything is combined,

add the granulated chicken soup, salt, and soy sauce and continue to stir-fry.

The chicken soup adds umami, but you can leave it out if you prefer.

From here, I just put the rice aside.

And add a little bit of Sesame oil.

And then cook the eggs.

Interesting.

In just, half of the frying pan.

That's fun.

So, you see, I am using this part.

This part of the fire.

- Oh, so you're not cooking the rice anymore?
- Nope.

You've shifted your pan so that only the egg part is over the fire.

Makes sense.

So, you can still keep these runny eggs, then mix with the rice.

Turn off the heat.

Nice, fluffy eggs.

Look at that.

So fluffy eggs in the Cha-Han.

- Okay, so it's done.
- Beautiful.

Put it in a bowl.

You can use Cafe au lait bowl.

Anything.

You gently press.

Okay.

And then you place the plate on top of the bowl.

Then turn around.

And then.

- Beautiful.
- Beautiful!

Then sprinkle some scallions on top.

The dark green part, which you saved just for this decoration.

- Exactly.
- Perfect.

Now I get to try.

"Itadakimasu."

Woo! Smells so good.

Oh, it's amazing.

Thank you.

So Japanese-style fried rice is different from Chinese fried rice,

where the rice is crisp and not dry necessarily, but sort of sharp.

Japanese-style fried rice, the rice is still fluffy and sweet and moist and wonderful.

I love them both.

But you've got to try this if you've never had it.

And it's not oily.

It's not heavy.

It's light and wonderful.

- Thank you so much.
- Thank you.

Our next dish is another Japanese favorite: a rice gratin Doria.

Bechamel or white sauce, is poured over rice and baked in the oven.

Rika adds miso or fermented soybean paste to the sauce to give it a Japanese flavor.

Another great way to turn your leftover rice to a great dish is Doria.

Doria.

Doria is a Japanese word for a gratin.

It's sort of like a macaroni gratin, au gratin.

And invented in Japan like a century ago.

Yes. Used to be one of my favorite things to eat when I was a child.

I believe it.

My kids love it, too.

So, you're going to teach us how to make it?

Yes. First, I'm going to show how to make a really easy, easy-to-make white sauce or bechamel sauce.

Oh, Bechamel!

And I see for your bechamel sauce, you use butter, flour, milk, salt and miso.

Miso is, of course, fermented soy bean paste.

I wanted to give a little bit of the Japanese touch to it.

It gives you that little bit of complexity to the white sauce.

Check to make sure you have everything you need close at hand:

a bowl, whisk, and a spatula or spoon to scoop up the miso.

And, of course, we need a knife and a cutting board and a microwave oven.

- Yes.
- If you got these things, you're ready to fire away.

- Yes.
- Let's give it a shot.

Okay, so first you place the butter.

Okay.

Then place the flour.

Okay.

- And then can you put in the microwave for one minute?
- Sure.

So, we're going to microwave our flour and butter.

I don't know what we have.

700 watts for one minute.

Yeah, one minute.

- All right.
- Around one minute until it melts.

Okay.

We're not using a frying pan today?

- Why not?
- No.

Well, I've done it with frying pan.

But then you kind of like the -

The bottom part gets kind of burnt.

If you use a microwave, then it doesn't get burned.

It's mistake free.

Yes.

Ooh.

Freshly melted butter.

Okay.

- Great. Thank you.
- Here you go.

And then from here, you just mix thoroughly and try not to make any lumps.

You add a little bit of milk at a time,

and it's very important to add little by little when you're mixing things that has different viscosities.

It's important to kind of mix it very slowly.

Once the milk is incorporated, add the salt and miso and continue whisking.

Microwave at 700 watts for about two minutes.

So, how's our bechamel, white sauce with miso going?

It's seems good. It's heated up enough.

And then from here, you mix it.

First, gently, then vigorously.

Whisk for about 30 seconds until it starts to thicken, and it's done.

This seems pretty good.

I didn't do anything.

That's amazing.

All you did was whisk.

Microwave.

Whisk.

Microwave.

Whisk.

And you're done!

So easy to make.

So, this is done.

Okay, so we have our white sauce ready to go,

and the rest of the ingredients we're using today, we have lined up,

ready to go, no hassle, and we make sure we have everything first.

So, we have rice, turnips, scallops, cheese, parmesan cheese and olive oil.

Yes.

You have all these things ready; you can cook like a pro.

Yes.

Now, let's cut up the ingredients.

I'm going to use the leaf part, too.

- Nice.
- Yes.

For turnips, you don't need to peel if it's just too much hassle.

But it's easier to boil if you peel the turnip.

Okay.

Cut in six.

All right.

And then this leaves - it adds bitterness to your gratin.

So, if you open the bottle of Chardonnay and it goes really well with this.

Oh, I believe it.

Add a couple of pinches of salt, to a pot of boiling water and cook the turnips.

After about three minutes, add the leaves and boil for about 20 seconds.

Then what you want to do is get rid of fishiness.

So, I would turn off the heat.

How long should we plan on cooking the scallops?

If you're using really fresh scallops, I would say like, it's like 10 seconds.

- Really?
- Yeah.

Because you're going to cook in the oven for 15 minutes, right? In the end.

So, you have to think ahead of time.

It's going to give the heat in the scallops during different stage.

Oh, okay.

Okay. From here, it's very easy.

First, you layer the olive oil.

All right.

At the bottom.

You need this because you don't want to have the rice sticking at the bottom.

Okay.

Can we use butter if we prefer?

Yes, of course.

Okay.

And then put this heated rice here.

We're using refrigerated rice, heated up in a microwave.

Cover the rice with scallops and turnips.

So, what are your favorite ingredients for Doria?

A lot of people use shrimp.

Shrimp is my favorite.

And also, I like chicken using chicken breast.

Oh.

And sometimes boiled eggs.

- Really?
- Boiled eggs are very good.

In a Doria? Interesting.

And then from here, you just pour over.

This sauce.

Ooh, look at that. Thick and creamy.

So, if you have any shredded cheese, it would add extra flavor.

Any cheese would do. Like Comté cheese would work really well.

Finally, drizzle with aromatic olive oil and bake at 200 degrees Celsius for 15 minutes.

Here you go.

You have Japanese Doria: gratin with miso sauce.

- Wow.
- Yeah.

Looks amazing and smells even better.

Wow.

Beautiful.

Oh, it's amazing.

It melts in your mouth.

So creamy.

And the scallops.

Like you said, not dried at all, juicy.

And the bitterness of the leaves.

That's a nice complement to the sweetness of the creamy sauce,

and the cheese and the rice, which is sweet, too.

This could easily be my favorite dish.

- Thank you.
- It's so good.

I love macaroni au gratin as well.

But rice in gratin, especially Japonica rice...

Japan's rice, makes it sort of fluffy and sweet as well.

Right.

So that the chewy texture of Japonica rice goes really well with the white sauce.

That's what makes this dish, Doria, so special.

So, what is the best way to cook Japonica rice?

Let's find out.

The ratio of rice to water is crucial.

Use a rice measuring cup to measure the amount you need, leveling off the rice.

Give it a quick rinse, to remove the surface bran and impurities.

Dry rice is quick to absorb water.

To prevent the absorption of the bran, discard the first rinse, immediately.

Add clean water and rinse again.

Be careful not to rub and bruise the grains,

and lose the umami flavor.

Stir it around gently, around 10 times.

Discard the water and rinse again.

Repeat four to five times.

It's still slightly cloudy but there's no need for further rinsing.

You don't want to lose all the umami and nutrients.

Once you've finished rinsing, the rest is easy.

After the final rinse, drain thoroughly.

You don't want to let it sit in the colander for too long; this will cause the grains to crack.

Place in a pot and add the correct amount of water.

Add 1.2 times the volume of the rice.

Soak for at least 30 minutes or as much as two hours to allow the water to seep in.

I highly recommend to use soft water for absorbing.

If you use hard water, the minerals in the water will prevents the rice from absorbing the water,

so the rice will end up being slightly dry.

Also, try to buy freshly milled rice.

Rice tastes best when fresh.

Now, all you need to do is cook the rice.

If you're using a pot, place it on high heat and bring to a boil.

Then, reduce the heat to very low and simmer for about 13 minutes.

Turn off the heat and let the rice steam for around 10 minutes.

After steaming, fluff the rice immediately to separate the grains.

Otherwise, the steam will condense and make the rice mushy.

It's now ready to serve,

but it'll taste even better if you transfer it to a wooden cypress rice tub.

The fragrance of the cypress is transferred to the rice,

and the wood absorbs the excess moisture, so the rice is more fluffy, tender and slightly chewy.

If you're not going to eat the rice right away,

divide into individual servings and wrap loosely in plastic wrap.

It'll keep in the fridge for about a week.

If you want to store the rice for more than a week, it's best to freeze it.

The environment inside the freezer is dry, so the rice will inevitably lose some of its moisture.

So, you add the moisture before heating it up, it'll become fluffy again.

It works like magic.

I hope you'll give it a try.

The recipes I shared with you today are quite flexible.

You can create numerous rice dish variations just by using different ingredients.

Use whatever you happen to have on hand and have fun cooking with rice.

I look forward to sharing many more of my rice recipes with you,

so I hope you'll continue to join us and incorporate rice into your cooking.

I hope you enjoyed today's program and look forward to seeing you again.

Bye for now.

Now for a recap of today's main points.

First, the fried rice.

Mince the ingredients and stir-fry together with the rice.

If using refrigerated rice, heat it to body temperature before stir-frying.

Gently break up any lumps, using a cutting motion.

Finally, scramble the eggs and mix into the fried rice.

For the rice gratin, remember to add miso to the white sauce.

This will add depth to the flavor.

Parboil the scallops and turnips and place over the rice.

Cover with the white sauce and sprinkle with cheese to taste and bake.

That's it!

Two great ways to transform leftover rice into a magical meal.

No one will know, it will be our secret.