Autumn Salmon Rice (鮭の炊き込みご飯, Sake no Takikomi Gohan)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Rice cooker, or a donabe rice pot
• •Fine-mesh strainer lined with a clean cloth
• •Rice paddle (shamoji)

Instructions

1. 1

   Salt the salmon

   Sprinkle the salmon on both sides with the salt and let it stand for 15 minutes. Moisture will bead on the surface. Wipe it dry with paper towel, because that moisture carries rough fishiness into the rice if you leave it there.

2. 2

   Make the dashi

   Wipe the konbu with a damp cloth, but don't wash it. Put it in the cold water and bring it up slowly over low heat. Pull the konbu just before the water boils, when small bubbles climb the sides. Add the katsuobushi all at once, take the pot off the heat, and let the flakes sink for 2 minutes. Strain through a cloth or fine sieve and let it drip without squeezing.

   Boiled konbu turns the stock bitter and slick. Squeezed bonito flakes press out strong, oily flavors. Both mistakes cloud the clean dashi you want in the rice.
3. 3

   Wash the rice

   Put the rice in a bowl, cover with water, and stir quickly with your fingers. Pour off the cloudy water and repeat until the water is only lightly cloudy, then drain the rice in a sieve for 10 minutes. Washing removes loose surface starch, so the finished grains cook glossy instead of clinging together in a paste.

4. 4

   Measure the liquid

   In the rice cooker pot, combine the drained rice with 1 3/4 cups of the dashi, the soy sauce, sake, mirin, and grated ginger. The liquid should come to the normal 2-cup rice line in the pot. If it falls short, add a little more dashi. If it rises above the line, remove some. The seasonings count as liquid here, and that is how the rice stays light.

5. 5

   Add the salmon

   Scatter the shimeji mushrooms over the rice if using, then lay the salmon fillet on top in one piece. Do not stir it into the grains. The fish seasons the rice as it cooks, and keeping it whole lets you remove the skin and any hidden bones cleanly at the end.

6. 6

   Cook and rest

   Cook on the standard white rice setting. When the cycle finishes, leave the lid closed for 10 minutes. That rest matters. The moisture settles back through the pot, the bottom loosens, and the grains finish firming without being handled.

7. 7

   Flake and fold

   Lift the salmon onto a plate. Remove and discard the skin, then check once more for bones. Flake the fish into large pieces and fold it back through the rice with a shamoji, cutting down and turning rather than mashing. Fold in the sesame seeds, scallions, and mitsuba if using. Serve in small bowls while the grains are glossy.

Chef Tips

• •Ask for salmon that arrived fresh that day, with firm flesh and a clean smell. If it smells strongly fishy, cook a different dish. Sourcing first, always.
• •A rice cooker is the plainest good tool for this. A donabe, an earthenware rice pot, gives a lovely bottom crust if you know your flame, but the method should serve the rice, not your pride.
• •Do not skip the short salting of the salmon. It is not to make the fish salty. It draws out surface moisture so the finished rice tastes clean.
• •For a meatless table, keep the same method and make the dashi with konbu and dried shiitake, then use mushrooms, burdock, carrot, and aburaage instead of salmon. That is temple-kitchen logic, honmono in its own lane.

Advance Preparation

• •The dashi can be made up to 2 days ahead and kept refrigerated.
• •The salmon can be salted and wiped dry up to 4 hours ahead, then kept covered in the refrigerator.
• •Leftover rice keeps 2 days refrigerated. Reheat gently with a splash of water, or shape it into onigiri and toast the outside.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 275g)