Easy way to try takikomi gohan (Japanese mixed rice): MUJI’s pre-packaged takikomi
Takikomi gohan is a Japanese rice dish. “Taku” in means “cook rice,” and “takikomi” means cook rice with other ingredients. Like Italian risotto or Spanish paelleja, you can add a variety of ingredients as far as you follow the basic rules. For takikomi gohan, the rule is to use good dashi/broth. Other than that, you can add the ingredients of your chaise. Popular takikomi gohan ingredients that produce good broth are chicken, mushroom and seafood. While you can add whatever you want, additional ingredients better be the ones that absorb dashi broth well, give additional flavors and/or crunchiness.
Takikomi gohan is home-cooking with no frills, so you won’t see it at restaurants. If you want to try it first, try pre-packaged takikomi gohan. Several brands offer takikomi gohan no moto (pre-packaged dashi and ingredients you just have to add when when you cook rice).
My favorite is MUJI’s takikomi gohan.
MUJI’s takikomi gohan 帆立と昆布 (scallop and kombu seaweed)
It comes with two bags: one for dashi, and the other for ingredients.
There is nothing really complicated to make takikomi gohan. You add dashi to water when you prepare rice, and then add ingredients. Ingredients should NOT be mixed with rice. I think it’s to prevent rice to be cooked unevenly.
If you are using a rice cooker, you add water along the lines inside the inner pot. It will not change for takikomi gohan. If you are making two cups of takikomi gohan, the amount of water + dashi should be for 2 cup, not more than that. The time you need to cook takikomi gohan should be the same as usual.
If you are making it on your own, the ingredients should be minced and pre-cooked so that they won’t affect cooking time.
Seafood has lots of umami flavor, and it becomes very noticeable when it’s steamed with rice. You might want to choose not so seafood-intense flavors if it’s your first time just in case. This MUJI takikomi gohan with scallops and kombu has intense seafood flavors.
