Gohan (ご飯, plain steamed rice)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Rice cooker (suihanki), or a heavy pot with a tight-fitting lid
• •Fine-mesh strainer
• •Rice paddle (shamoji)

Instructions

1. 1

   Measure the rice

   Measure the rice level, not heaped, into a bowl. Use Japanese short-grain rice, not long-grain rice. Its starch is what gives gohan the gentle cling we want, each grain separate enough to see but tender enough to hold together.

2. 2

   Wash the rice

   Cover the rice with cold water, stir once with your hand, and pour the cloudy water away quickly. Add fresh water and wash the grains with a light rubbing motion, turning them against each other without crushing them. Repeat until the water runs almost clear, usually three or four changes. You're washing away loose surface starch and bran dust, which would make the finished rice gummy and dull. Almost clear is enough. Rice is not laundry, though it sometimes suffers from our enthusiasm.

   Pour off the first water quickly because dry rice drinks fast, and that first cloudy water carries the least pleasant flavors.
3. 3

   Soak the rice

   Drain the washed rice well, then put it in the rice cooker bowl or a heavy pot with 2 cups fresh water. Let it soak for 30 minutes. Soaking lets water reach the center of each grain before heat begins, so the rice cooks evenly instead of turning soft outside and chalky within.

4. 4

   Cook the rice

   For a rice cooker, close the lid and start the regular white-rice setting. For a pot, cover tightly, bring to a boil over medium heat, then lower the heat to the gentlest flame and cook 12 minutes without lifting the lid. The sealed pot traps the water the rice needs. Peek too often and you let the cooking water escape as vapor, then blame the rice for your curiosity.

5. 5

   Rest and fluff

   Turn off the heat and let the rice rest, covered, for 10 minutes. This pause finishes the cooking and lets moisture settle evenly through the grains. Fluff with a shamoji, a flat rice paddle, using cutting and folding motions rather than stirring hard. You want to release extra moisture and separate the grains without mashing them.

6. 6

   Serve plainly

   Serve the rice in small bowls, mounded gently and never packed down. Gohan should look glossy, white, and calm, with a faint sweetness when you taste it. This is the quiet center of the meal, the thing that receives the soup, the grilled fish, the pickles, and the season beside it.

Chef Tips

• •Buy Japanese short-grain white rice from a shop with good turnover. Rice grows tired, and old rice needs more water and still tastes flat. The bag should smell clean and faintly sweet, never dusty.
• •A suihanki, a Japanese rice cooker, is the right tool if you make rice often. A heavy pot with a tight lid works well too, but keep the lid closed once cooking begins.
• •Do not skip the rest after cooking. Those ten quiet minutes even out the moisture and make the difference between rice that eats as one bowl and rice that feels wet on top, firm below.
• •Leftover rice keeps best wrapped while still warm, then frozen in portions. Reheat it covered so the trapped moisture wakes the grains again.

Advance Preparation

• •Rice can be washed and soaked up to 1 hour before cooking at room temperature, or soaked in the refrigerator for several hours if your kitchen is warm.
• •Cooked rice is best served the same day, but portions can be wrapped while warm and frozen for up to 1 month. Reheat covered until the grains are tender again.
• •For meal prep, cook the rice fully before storing. Half-cooked rice does not wait politely.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 210g)