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Takikomi Gohan is a Japanese rice dish typically seasoned with soy sauce. Although I’ve seen Takikomi Gohan on a menu at a high-end Japanese restaurant here in San Francisco Bay Area, most of you probably haven’t heard of this dish.
In Japan, depending on season, we add different kinds of vegetable, meat, and mushrooms so you enjoy the food each season offers and get extra nutrition instead of just plain white rice. People are always creative in regards to the ingredients they put in.
Today I added leftover fish cake called Chikuwa and Gobo root. I also added miso this time because both ingredients go really well with miso flavor. If you are tired of just plain rice, I hope you will add this recipe to your repertoire.
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- 3 rice cooker cups uncooked Japanese short-grain rice (3 rice cooker cups = 540 ml)
- 1 gobo (burdock root)
- 1 carrot
- 2 pieces Chikuwa (fish cake)
- 4 Tbsp soy sauce
- 4 Tbsp miso (I use Awase Miso, see Notes)
- 2 Tbsp mirin
- 1 Tbsp sake
- yuzu kosho (Japanese citrus chili paste) (optional)
- shredded nori seaweed (kizami nori) (to garnish)
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Gather all the ingredients.
- Rinse rice until water is almost clear (See How To Make Rice). Drain well in a fine mesh sieve and leave it for at least 30 minutes. Place rice in the rice cooker.
- Peel the gobo root and cut in half lengthwise and thinly slice diagonally.
- In a medium bowl, soak gobo root in water or vinegar water (2 cups water + 1 tsp. vinegar) for 15 minutes to prevent from changing color and drain well.
- Peel the carrot and cut in half lengthwise and slice thinly.
- Cut chikuwa into thin pieces.
- In a small bowl, combine soy sauce, Miso, Mirin, and sake and mix well.
- Pour the seasonings into the rice cooker and mix well.
- Then add water up to “3”, the specified level marked in the inner bowl.
- Add the gobo root, carrot, and chikuwa on top of the rice.
- Place in the rice cooker and start cooking. If you have a “Mixed Rice” option, use it (See Notes below).
- When rice is done cooking, wait 10 minutes before you open the rice cooker. Mix well and serve Takikomi Gohan with Yuzu Kosho for spicy taste and garnish with shredded nori sheet.
Miso: Some brands of miso can be saltier than others so please adjust accordingly.
Regular or Mixed Rice setting on rice cooker: The main difference is that Mixed Rice setting will create burnt rice called “Okoge” on the bottom of the rice cooker. Takikomi Gohan (mixed rice) always have the burnt rice from soy sauce in the seasoning, and many people enjoy the burnt charred rice. If your rice cooker doesn’t have the mixed rice option, steam extra 5 min longer at the end before opening the rice cooker.
Recipe by Namiko Chen of Just One Cookbook. All images and content on this site are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without my permission. If you’d like to share this recipe on your site, please re-write the recipe in your own words and link to this post as the original source. Thank you.
Hi Nami, I made this over the weekend and it was definitely a nice change to plain rice! I really liked the balance of salty, sweet and even slightly bitter from the burdock. And, I can’t possible complain about the extra nutrition :). Thanks!
Hi Janice!
Thank you so much for trying this recipe. I’ve been planning to update the horrible picture but I haven’t had the chance to replace it.
I appreciate your time to write me your feedback, and thank you so much!!!
Hey Nami, I can’t wait to try this recipe but I don’t think I can get my hands on any gobo root. I was wondering what other things you put in?
Thanks!
Hi Rachelle! There are many things you can add – almost anything. For meat, I like adding chopped chicken thigh pieces (cut smaller so you don’t have to eat big chunk). I like adding all kinds of mushrooms such as shiitake, shimeji, etc. For veggies, satsumaimo (japanese yam), green onions, onion, corn, green peas, anything that goes with miso flavor. Fish cakes and aburaage (deep fried tofu pouch) add nice flavor too. I’m not sure how easily these ingredients are accessible, but you can add your favorite ingredients that work with this flavor. No specific rule, but keep it simple with 2-3 (at most) ingredients. Make sure the ingredients compliment to each other. Depending on the ingredient, adjust the miso amount as you don’t want to overwhelm the plain flavored ingredients. Hope this helps. 🙂
Hi Nami, love your recipes and beautiful blog. I started my first Japanese cooking when I bumped into your blog few months back and now terriyaki salmon, pork rolls, Saba, miso soup are our family favourite dishes. Keep it up ! Can you let me know how to cook this takikomi gohan with chestnut ?
Hi Ann! Thank you for your comment! I’m so happy you started to cook Japanese food! 🙂 I’ve been waiting to buy nice chestnuts (I only see very small kinds, and they are not so good…). Every year I look for good quality ones but hard to find. :/ If I find them, I’ll make chestnut rice and hope to share it. It’s kind of hard to write a recipe in a comment. Wish me luck to get good chestnuts this year! 🙂
Hi, I don’t have this rice cooker. Can I use regular setting on a regular rice cooker?
Hi Clara! I apologize for my late response. Yes, that’s okay. 🙂
Hi Nami,
Will be the same if I just use regular jasmine rice, since I don’t have japanese short grain rice. Please post more takikomi gohan 🙂 its just make making lunch for the kids the nest day easier.
Hi Julie! Jasmine rice to me has certain fragrance and once it’s cooked, it has pretty obvious smell to it. It goes well with other cuisine, but to me, it doesn’t go with Japanese food so I don’t use it for Takikomi Gohan. Jasmine rice also separated and they don’t stick each other… and I think takikomi gohan works great with stickier Japanese rice (don’t get confused with “sticky rice” – that’s glutinous rice, not the same as steamed rice). 🙂
If I want to cook this on the stove without a rice cooker, is the water to rice ratio 1:1? If not, what is the rice to water ratio.? Thank you.
Hi Joyce,
We recommend using a 1:1.1 ratio, but 1.1 is the total amount of the liquid. So you have to subtract the number of liquid seasonings from this number to find the water amount.
For example, 3 rice cooker cups of rice (3 x 180 ml = 540 ml) needs 540 ml x 1.1 = 600 ml liquid (7 Tbsp of liquid seasoning x 15 ml + 495 ml water), and make sure to soak the rice in this liquid for 15~20 minutes before you start to cook over the stove.
We hope this helps!
Thank you for the water to rice ratio information. I want to try the stovetop method of cooking this time, as last time I made your takikomi gohan in my “old fashion” rice cooker and much of the seasoning was located on the bottom of my rice pot below the perforated plate. I have all the ingredients, so I will be making this very soon. I have tried many of your recipes and have enjoyed them all.
Hi Joyce,
It is our pleasure!
Please make sure to mix the water, liquid seasoning, and rice well when you soak the rice. And mix one more time before you place the vegetables on top of the rice.
Thank you for trying many of Nami’s recipes!🙂