Find quickly the taste of Japan at home with these 10 side dishes that the Japanese associate with white rice. For those who don’t know how to make Japanese rice, here is our Japanese white rice recipe.
- 1. Tamago gohan : rice with a raw egg
- 2. Corn gohan : rice with corn and butter
- 3. Rice and Umeboshi : rice and Japanese salted plum
- 4. Rice and Tsukemono : rice and pickled vegetables
- 5. Rice and Furikake : rice with seasonings
- 6. Rice and black or white sesame
- 7. Rice and Japanese seaweed like aji nori
- 8. Rice and Natto: rice and fermented soy beans
- 9. Rice and Katsuobushi : rice and dried bonito flakes
- 10. Kuri Gohan : rice with chestnuts
1. Tamago gohan : rice with a raw egg
Tamago Gohan is one of the classic Japanese breakfasts. You just have to put on your white rice a raw egg yolk and mix it with japanese chopsticks. You can also add some shoyu soy sauce.
2. Corn gohan : rice with corn and butter
Corn Gohan is a popular recipe in Japan. It consists of grilling corn with butter in a pan in which you add soy sauce and sake (optional). For the rice, you can cook it with the corn cobs directly in the pressure cooker if you have a fresh one. Mix the corn with the rice and sprinkle with parsley and a little pepper.
3. Umeboshi, salted plum
One of the tsukemono popular on white rice in Japan is the umeboshi. Indeed, this salty and tangy plum sits in the center of the white rice, reminiscent of the Japanese flag. The rice helps to soften the acidity of theumeboshi. It is excellent for taste and health! A Japanese proverb says that one umeboshi plum eaten every day keeps doctor’s appointments away.
4. Tsukemono, pickled vegetables
Tsukemono is often served with white rice to add crunch, acidity and flavor to the dish. You can find our recipe for Chinese cabbage and carrot tsukemono and our recipe for marinated garlic with soy sauce.
5. Furikake, seasoning for rice
Furikake are very popular in Japan. They are Japanese condiments that are sprinkled on rice. It is a mixture of sesame seeds, kelp, salt, sugar, glutamate and sometimes are added katsuobushieggs, small vegetables… This allows to give a lot of flavor to your rice. Personally, we like it a lot!
6. Black or white sesame
You can also put on the rice some black sesame and/or white sesame simply. It allows to season quickly your Japanese white rice.
7. Japanese seaweed like aji nori
One of the classic accompaniments of white rice in Japan are aji nori. Small sheets of nori seaweed that are often grilled with sesame oil and salted. Just take one, put it on your rice and with the help of chopsticks wrap it around a bite. It is really delicious and has nothing to do with the classic nori that we find around maki for example.
In general, you can accompany your rice with japanese seaweed such as hijiki the konbu the wakame which you place in the cooking water. The rice will be fragrant and more tender.
8. Natto, fermented soy beans
The natto is eaten in Japan with white rice, soy sauce and karashi Japanese mustard. Its very strong taste balances very well with white rice.
9. Katsuobushi, dried bonito flakes
You can sprinkle on the rice katsuobushi You can sprinkle dried bonito flakes on the rice, which can be found on okonomiyaki in particular. These flakes can be used to season the rice to salt it and give it a light taste of smoked fish.
10. Kuri Gohan, rice with chestnuts
In autumn you can cook your rice with chestnuts called “kuri” in Japanese. This will flavor the rice and make it more delicious. To finish you can add black or white sesame seeds on top.
