With zesty julienned ginger and deep-fried tofu strips, fragrant Japanese Ginger Rice is delicately seasoned with soy sauce and mirin. This authentic recipe has a wonderful aroma and spicy kick that pairs well with many Japanese dishes.
Have you seen young ginger (新生姜) in recipes before and wondered what it is? Compared to “regular” ginger, young ginger has thin skin and some parts may be a little bit pinkish. As young ginger is juicier and has a mild taste, it is often used in pickled ginger/sushi ginger (Gari ガリ in Japanese) or in this delicious Ginger Rice.
What is Young Ginger?
Young ginger is in season during the summertime, usually between June and August in Japan. Young ginger and regular ginger that you normally see in the grocery store are actually the same. When you leave the young ginger under certain conditions for about 2 months, it turns into regular ginger.
During this 2 month period, the pink color turns into a golden color and the skin gets hardened as it matures. The ginger can actually last close to 1 year if you can control the moisture and temperature.
The Usage of Ginger in Recipes
Ginger adds a nice aroma, zest, and spicy kick to Asian cuisines. It tastes great with food, but it’s also very good for you and your body. Not only does ginger’s unique powers keep you warm, but it’s also an appetite stimulant and digestive aid. There are also other health benefits, and if you’re interested, continue reading here.
Young ginger can be found in Asian grocery stores during the summertime. If it’s out of season or you cannot find any, you can substitute it with regular ginger, as I did for this recipe. If you’re not a big fan of ginger, reduce the amount of ginger by 1/3 or half, especially if you’re not using young ginger. I use the same amount of ginger as young ginger and my family enjoyed it.
What Dish to Go with Ginger Rice
We recently ate Ginger Rice and Miso Salmon together and it was fantastic.
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Ginger Rice
Video
Ingredients
- 1½ cups uncooked Japanese short-grain white rice (2 rice cooker cups, 360 ml)
- 1 piece aburaage (deep-fried tofu pouch) (0.7 oz, 20 g; or substitute crispy fried tofu cubes from an Asian grocery store, blanched to remove excess oil)
- 2 inches ginger (preferably young ginger so it‘s less spicy; 1 oz or 30 g)
- 1⅓ cups water
For the Seasonings
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce
- 1 Tbsp sake
- 1 Tbsp mirin
- ¼ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients.
- Rinse 1½ cups uncooked Japanese short-grain white rice and drain well. For detailed instructions on rinsing and cooking Japanese rice, read my How to Make Rice post.
- Boil some water in a small saucepan and pour the boiling water onto 1 piece aburaage (deep-fried tofu pouch) set in a strainer in the sink. This step will rinse off the manufacturer’s oil and improve the flavor.
- Cut the aburaage in half lengthwise, then slice crosswise into thin strips.
- Peel 2 inches ginger and cut it into julienned pieces.
- In a 2-cup measuring cup, mix all the ingredients for the seasonings: 1 Tbsp soy sauce, 1 Tbsp sake, 1 Tbsp mirin, and ¼ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt. Then, add 1⅓ cups water to the seasonings so that the liquid totals 1½ cups or 360 ml (equal volume as the rice).
To Soak and Cook the Rice
- Place the well-drained rice into the rice cooker. No rice cooker? You can also make rice in a pot over the stove, Instant Pot, or donabe. Pour the measured liquid into the rice cooker and mix well. Then, scatter the ginger and aburaage on top of the rice. Do not mix. The rice will not cook evenly if mixed with other ingredients.
- Soak the rice for 20–30 minutes. Then, start cooking. Select the Mixed Rice option if you have it (see Notes below). When the rice cooker turns off, let the rice steam for another 10 minutes before opening the lid. Fluff the rice with a rice paddle and serve.
To Store
- You can keep the leftovers in an airtight container and store it n the freezer for up to a month.
Can I use instant pot?
Hi Kenya! Yes you can. Follow this recipe: https://www.justonecookbook.com/instant-pot-rice/
Hi Nami,
Do you use the mixed rice program on your rice cooker when making this?
We’re going to try it with the miso salmon tonight using some fresh NZ salmon we picked up today (Summer time down here). We usually have the salmon with a wafu soba salad with edamame but thought we would try the ginger rice instead this time.
Hi Alastair! I use a Mixed Rice setting because it will cook for a longer time and burn the rice on the bottom (called “Okoge”). It’s something we look for when we make mixed rice. If you use a regular setting, cook for 5 minutes longer.
Hope you enjoy the meal! 🙂
It was delicious, a nice change to the wafu dressed soba we usually have with it.
I saw in the video you had used the mixed rice setting so tired the same and we enjoyed the Okoge as well 🙂
https://photos.app.goo.gl/cDga1xTxTDkMWmdm8
Thank you for sharing the picture. Wow, how beautiful!!! I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe!
[…] Ginger Rice […]
[…] Ginger Rice […]
[…] you’re curious to try, I recommend trying my other mixed rice recipes like Takikomi Gohan, Ginger Rice, Sweet Onion Rice, and Gobo & Miso Takikomi […]
My friends and I usually dislike eating plain rice in a dish, so I used this rice recipe for a chicken katsudon, and we completely finished our bowls. Terrific zest and subtle flavors make for a much more interesting rice bowl.
Question: how might this dish work using pickled red ginger?
Hi Chris! I’m so happy to hear you liked the ginger taste in the rice! As for the pickled red ginger… do you mean the shredded one, or the thinly sliced one? Both taste slightly different, and I recommend to use a small amount (and drain the vinegar liquid well) and it should work fine. 🙂
Beni shoga, I believe, as opposed to sushi ginger. As strange as it might sound, the prospect of a pink ginger rice just sounds neat and visually interesting.
Some people mix that in Inari Sushi filling (rice + beni shoga), too. Yeah it will be pinkish rice with red dots. 😀
Very tasty rice dish. Couldn’t get my hands on any young ginger for last night – might just be out of season at this point. But I remember seeing it in the H-Mart over the summer, so I hope to try that in the future.
Question on the abura-age… I can only find those at the far-off, dedicated Japanese market. Nearer Asian markets only carry inari-age. But the nearer markets do carry fried tofu puffs in the fridge case. I figured those would be closer to the double-deep-fried abura-age than single-fried pouches (which are more dense) or the sweeter inari-age. I cut up the puffs into strips and that seemed to turn out well, but I never tasted the abura-age the one time I had them before cooking them into inari-age. Any thoughts on how puffs might differ from real abura-age?
Hi Todd! Thank you so much for trying this recipe and I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for letting me know that H-Mart sells young ginger when it’s in season.
Regarding the aburaage. I think, those crispy (deep fried) tofu cubes at Chinese grocery stores sell are similar but since the deep fried surface is more, maybe you can reduce the amount? Aburaage is much softer and tender while crispy tofus are more crisp texture. So cut smaller and should be ok. 🙂 Some JOC reader told me he LOVES adding Inari Age in this recipe (I think he left comments here and FB page). Hope that helps!
Can you put everything in the rice cooker early and let it sit there for a couple hours before cooking it?
Hi Amy! Yes you can. 🙂
To me, I think aburaage is a must. It really boosts the flavor of ginger rice. I cooked rice without aburaage since I couldn’t find it at the Local oriental market. But I just found out about another Japanese grocery store near my old house from Nami’s list, and now my rice is super delicious as much as I can eat it by itself 🙂
Hi Thuyen! I’m glad to hear you could try this recipe with Aburaage. I agree, the oil gives nice savory flavor to the rice. I’m also happy to know that my Japanese Grocery Store Around the World list helped you find a store! Yay! Thank you for your kind feedback!
Hi! I really want to try doing this for my family. Just wondering, is there substitute for sake? We don’t drink it and it’d be a waste to only use 1tbsp for this.
Hi Yvonne! If you have Chinese rice wine or dry sherry, you can use it – they are the best substitute. If not… you can use same amount of water (don’t skip since it relies on the diluting the soy sauce). Sake adds umami and sweetness from fermented rice so it won’t be same as water though. 🙂
Thank you so much! I have Chinese rice wine. Can’t wait.
Hope you enjoy the recipe! ox
How would you modify this recipe if using Brown (Genmai) Rice?
Hi Janet! I haven’t used brown rice with this recipe – but if you have a recipe for making good brown rice, you can definitely use it. At step, instead of 1 1/2 cup (this is for white rice), it should be the water amount from the recipe you’re using. I’ll try to share genmai recipe one day – I’ll need to work on it a little bit. 🙂
Confession: This recipe is really enjoyable with inariage instead of aburaage.
It’s a lot sweeter of course. This happened by mistake. I didn’t know the difference between the two for a while. I made several recipes the wrong way before I discovered this… I’m not complaining! 😀
Hi Lion! Ha ha ha. I hear you….. my favorite udon noodles have been always kitsune udon because I love inariage so much (I use it for my cold udon noodles too, and this is a must). Store-bought ones are a bit too sweet, but it’s guilty pleasure for me (but I must say homemade inari is very good, not just syrupy sweetness). 🙂
Hi, may I know if we can still bite into the ginger pieces after the rice is cooked? One of my boys don’t eat ginger. Thanks!
Hi Teo! If he doesn’t like ginger, maybe you can grind the ginger instead of chopping and reduce the amount? The fragrance and taste of ginger is there after cooked, so I’m not sure if he would enjoy.
Can I make homemade Aburaage? Or I can skip it?
Hi Minh! Aburaage has some good savory flavors so I like adding to mine, but you can definitely skip, if you can’t get it easily. 🙂
Dear Nami,
this young ginger you are talking about looks suspiciously similar to galangal, the thai ginger. Is it the same? Galangal also taltes much milder than the regular ginger… thanks for your answer!
Hi Alina! I checked online and it seems like they are slightly different:
http://www.thekitchn.com/ingredient-spotlight-what-is-g-43841
Nowhere mentioned online that you can substitute each other, so I don’t think we can use alternatively.
Hope this helps! 🙂
Thank you! you are right… it’s not the same….