Cooking Japanese in Jamaica - Takikomi Gohan

The life expectancy of Japanese, both male and female, is the longest in the world. The obesity rate is also the lowest among developed countries at three per cent compared to 32 per cent in the Americans, according to the International Obesity Task Force.

Some people argue that it is in our genes, but I disagree. I believe it is largely due to a healthy diet that consists of very little fat, appropriate intake of protein consisting of similar amounts between animal and vegetable proteins.

But the younger generation of Japanese, who are eating more fast-food have more chance of getting obese, and having heart disease and other health problems. So I won't be surprised, if, in 10 to 20 years, Japanese life expectancy drops and obesity rate increases.

Japanese food is almost perfectly balanced, filling and lower in calorie and very delicious. They manage to pack so many different ingredients onto their tiny plates to make each dining experience such a delight.

When my husband, who is Jamaican, sits around a dining table in Japan, he is overwhelmed by the amount of food that is served. But it is not really a lot of food. It is because Japanese, traditionally, serve food in many small plates each in small quantity. You will find rice, loads of different types of vegetables, fish, other meats, soy products and soup all at one breakfast, lunch or dinner. And they all look and taste great!

Today, I am going to introduce Takikomi Gohan which is packed full of healthy ingredients. It requires no cooking oil and, apart from a lot of chopping, is very easy to prepare. As usual, you can be more creative with ingredients of your choice. Use your favourite Jamaican ingredients like ackee, calalloo, salt fish etc, instead of those that are used in my recipe here.

Cooking time - 60 minutes

Serves 4 persons

Ingredients:

2 cups Japanese rice

2 cups water

1/4 cup of Mirin

1/2 Japanese soy sauce (Kikkoman brand preferably)

3 cubes of Age (Fried tofu)

3 mushrooms

1 large carrot

2 stems of scallion

1/2 tin tuna with oil or 50gms of chicken breast fillet

5 thin slices of ginger, peeled

1 Dashi pack or 1 tablespoon Dashi powder (if you do not have access to Dashi, you can do without it)

Cooking Instructions:

Wash rice thoroughly and drain. Put rice, water, Mirin and soy sauce in rice cooker and soak for half hour. (I like using a rice cooker when I am cooking Japanese rice simply because it is easy. But if you do not have a rice cooker, you can use a non-stick cooking pan. Just make sure it is not too big or too small. Do not use a Dutch pot as the rice may burn.

While rice is soaking chop Age, mushrooms, carrot and scallion into tiny pieces. If you are using tin tuna, drain before use. If you are using chicken breast, cut them into 1/4 inch cubes. Peel ginger and slice very thin. We are going to use five slices only. Put all of these ingredients on top of rice but do not mix.

Let rice cook until ready.

This recipe will go well with Katsu and Potato Salad, which I introduced a couple weeks ago: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20120809/cook/cook2.html and our classic recipe Miso Soup.

Itadakimasu!

Ai Irisawa-Coney managed a Japanese restaurant in Soho, London. She is also a founder of Epiphany Media Solutions and ACI Consultancy www.aci-consultancy in Kingston.

Japanese food is almost perfectly balanced, filling and lower in calorie and very delicious ... Today, I am going to introduce Takikomi Gohan, which is packed full of healthy ingredients and requires no cooking oil