Sometimes it’s hard to modernize traditional dishes successfully, but this is a good example of it. Even though this isn’t a typical chirashi, it manages to keep the essence and spirit of the original dish. I picked this recipe only because the ingredients were accessible, so I was surprised at how much I liked it. This dish would go well with miso soup and a simple nimono (stewed or braised dish). I hope you have a chance to make it!

Tuna Chirashi with Snow Peas | Tsuna Soboro to Kinusaya no Chirashizushi
Adapted from きょうの料理ビギナーズ（2010年３月号）
Makes 2 servings

15 snow peas
1 can solid tuna packed in oil, drained
1/2 tsp. curry powder
1 tsp. shoyu
pinch of salt
pinch of finely ground pepper
14 oz. sushi rice (recipe below)

Blanch the snow peas by cooking in boiling water for 1 minute, drain, then shock them in a bowl of ice water. Drain well and pat dry with a paper towel. Trim ends and cut diagonally into 1/2″ pieces.

In a small pan, cook the tuna over medium heat. With the back of a wooden spoon, break up the pieces of tuna into small flakes. Add the curry powder, shoyu, salt, and pepper. Mix until well combined and then turn the heat off and set aside.

In a large bowl, add the sushi rice (you can use the bowl you were using to mix and cool the vinegared rice) and the tuna. Mix until well incorporated, then add the snow peas and fold in.

Sushi Rice
14 oz. cooked short-grain rice
2 Tbsp. rice vinegar
1 2/3 tsp. sugar
2/3 tsp. salt

Heat the vinegar, sugar, and salt in a small pan over low heat and whisk until the sugar and salt is dissolved. Set aside to cool.

Put the hot rice in a large bowl. Take the rice scoop and hold it over the bowl with the flat side parallel to the counter. Slowly pour the vinegar mixture onto the scoop and rotate around so the vinegar mixture pours evenly around the rice. Mix the rice quickly to combine, then fan the rice to cool. Don’t mix the rice too much at this point, otherwise the rice will become mushy. I mixed the rice a total of 2-3 times when fanning, just to make sure the rice was completely cool. When you mix, do it in a folding/cutting motion, being careful not to crush the rice. The rice is ready once it has completely cooled.

You can see in the photo below that this was supposed to be like a crispy rice pancake cut into neat wedges. But, you can judge how things went when I tried this at home. Disaster. I tried it a couple of times, but my version was not holding together. Maybe the variety of rice I’m using isn’t sticky enough? In any case, I’m not going to dwell on my shortcomings, but embrace them!

If we overlook the difficulty of flipping this baby in the skillet, the recipe uses simple ingredients and is easy to prepare. The combination of miso, sake, and mirin creates a complex flavor that is punctuated with the soft leeks. I recommend eating this right away as it doesn’t reheat well.

Crispy Miso Rice with Leeks | Negimiso iri Okoge Gohan
Adapted from きょうの料理ビギナーズ（2010年３月号）
Makes 2 servings

1 1/2 cups cooked short-grain rice
1 large egg
1/2 leek
2 Tbsp. miso
1 tsp. sake
1 tsp. mirin
canola oil

Trim the leek and cut in half lengthwise. Slice leeks crosswise in 1/4 inch thick half moons. Place in a bowl, rise with water, and dry with towels or spin dry.

In a large bowl, combine miso, sake, and mirin and whisk until smooth. Add the egg and whisk until well mixed. Add rice and mix well with a rice paddle or spatula. Finally, add leeks and fold into the rice mixture.

Heat a 1 tsp. of oil in a 10 inch non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add the rice mixture, shape into a round disc, and flatten with a rice paddle. Keep pressing the rice and cook for about 3 minutes.

Flip as best you can by placing a plate over the skillet and flipping the rice onto the plate. (I wasn’t very successful at this, but do the best you can!) Add 1 tsp. of oil to the skillet, then slide the rice back onto the skillet to cook the other side. Again, press the rice and cook for 3 minutes.

If you’ve managed to keep the rice in a pancake shape, bravo! Transfer to a cutting board and cut into 6 wedges. If not, take my lead and don’t sweat it. Serve it up like that’s how it’s suppose to be—it might not look as pretty, but it’ll taste the same.

But reading about Sukiyaki Don in Harumi Kurihara’s Your Japanese Kitchen 1, I was surprised how quickly and easily this comes together. The eating experience is different of course, but the recipe is great for a fast but hearty and satisfying one-bowl meal.

I love the bitterness of shungiku (garland chrysanthemum) in hot pots and dishes like this sukiyaki. The market didn’t carry it, so I had to make due with napa cabbage and chard. If you find it, use it and you’ll see how great it tastes alongside a piece of sweet meat. I know people have a strong dislike for beni shoga, but if you use it in moderation, I think it punctuates the dish nicely, making the flavors more layered. Also, I cooked this in two batches because it didn’t all fit in my 12″ skillet.

Sukiyaki Don (Sukiyaki on Rice)
Adapted from Your Japanese Kitchen
Makes 4 servings

canola oil
200 g. thinly sliced beef
2 Japanese leeks (I used 2 small American leeks)
200 g. konnyaku noodles
1 package grilled tofu
1 package enoki
1/3 bunch shungiku (I used 1/4 napa cabbage and a couple of leaves of chard)
100 ml mirin
100 ml sake
100 ml shoyu
2 Tbsp. sugar
4 eggs
beni shoga

Bring a small pot of water to boil. Meanwhile, cut leeks into 1/2 inch pieces diagonally. Drain the tofu and cut into 8 pieces. Cut the shungiku (or napa cabbage and chard) into bite-sized pieces. When the water comes to a boil, blanch the konnyaku noodles and drain. When the noodles are cooled, cut into bite-sized pieces.

Make the sauce by combining the mirin, sake, shoyu, and sugar in a bowl and whisk.

In a large skillet, over medium heat, add a small amount of oil and fry the leeks (and the thick parts of the napa cabbage, if using), and beef until browned. Add the noodles, tofu, and enoki (and leafy parts of the napa cabbage and chard, if using). Immediately pour the sauce mixture over the entire pan and let simmer for a couple of minutes. Turn pieces of tofu and other ingredients, lower the heat, cover and continue to simmer until the vegetables are cooked, about 5 minutes. In the sukiyaki pot, add the shungiku and cook until heated through. In a separate pot, poach the eggs.

Put rice in a serving bowl and top with sukiyaki, poached egg, and garnish with shoga.

I took liberties in making some adjustments. He gently sautes leeks, but I combined a wedge of yellow onion and stalks of green onion because that’s what I had in the fridge. Also, I added the shoyu in the pan instead of drizzling it over the rice after it’s been served. Cooking the shoyu gives it more intensity and a bit of a burnt flavor, which I like. I used brown rice, but I think this would taste more interesting with white rice because the crispy garlic and ginger would stand out against a smoother grain. This is such a simple dish—and I very much liked it—but I think it would be better as an accompaniment to a main dish.

Fried Rice with Crispy Garlic and Ginger
Adapted from The New York Times
Makes 4 servings

1/2 cup canola oil
2 Tbsp. garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. ginger, minced
Salt
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
2 stalks green onion, chopped
4 cups day-old cooked rice (I used short-grain brown rice)
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons sesame oil
4 teaspoons soy sauce

In a large skillet, heat 1/4 cup oil over medium heat. Add garlic and ginger. Cook, stirring occasionally, until crisp and brown. With a slotted spoon, transfer to paper towels and salt lightly.

Reduce heat under skillet to medium-low and add 2 tablespoons oil and yellow onions. Cook about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until very tender but not browned. Season lightly with salt. Raise heat to medium and add rice and green onions. Cook and stir to combine. Pour shoyu around the perimeter of the pan and add the sesame oil. Stir to combine.

In a nonstick skillet, fry eggs in remaining oil, sunny-side-up, until edges are set but yolk is still runny.

Serve rice topped with fried egg and a sprinkle of crisped garlic and ginger.

This time I made it from scratch. The rice is cooked in dashi instead of water and the chicken (with the marinade) gets tossed in along with carrots, shiitake mushrooms, gobo (burdock root), and konnyaku. The flavor is earthy and mild—I like to eat it with a side of Japanese pickles and soup.

Just like baking something divine, takikomi gohan will tease you by filling your kitchen with delicious smells. You’ll think it’s torture as you wait for the rice to finish cooking. But no matter how good it smells, keep my mom’s word of caution: do NOT inhale the wonderful aroma after opening your rice cooker. The steam will burn the edges of your nostrils, which will later turn into scabs. My mom got really excited one time and learned the hard way.

Takikomi Gohan with Chicken
Adapted from 和食の基本
Makes 4 servings

1 3/4 cups white short-grain rice
1 3/4 cups dashi
4.25 oz. chicken thighs
1 Tbsp. sake
2 Tbsp. shoyu
2 dried shiitake mushrooms
1.5 oz. gobo (burdock root)
1 small carrot
1/4 piece konnyaku

Wash the rice and let drain in a collander. Add the rice and dashi to the rice cooker and let sit for at least 30 minutes.

Rehydrate the shiitake mushrooms in warm water. Remove the stems and slice as thin as possible—for large mushrooms, cut in half then slice.

Dice chicken into half inch cubes and let it marinate in a small bowl with the sake and shoyu.

Peel the skin of the gobo (burdock root). I use the back of a kitchen knife and scrape off the skin under running water. Then, have a medium bowl of water standing by and shave the gobo into a sharp point (like sharpening a pencil with a knife), letting the shavings fly off into the water.

Julienne the carrots into 1 1/4 inch matchsticks. Next, slice the konnyaku in half lengthwise and horizontally through the center so it isn’t as thick. Slice the konnyaku thinly. Boil the konnyaku in a small pot for 1 minute and drain.

Add the chicken and marinade into the rice cooker and stir well to incorporate. Add all the remaining vegetables evenly on top of the rice and chicken. Do not stir the vegetables into the rice.

Turn on the cooker and once the rice has finished, let it steam for 10 minutes then fold to incorporate.

But this recipe isn’t about kabocha, but about two of my favorite things: bacon and shiso! Oh, and let me tell you—it was as delicious as it sounds. Shiso is wonderfully fragrant. Sometimes used in sushi as an accent, fried in tempura batter, or pickled, shiso’s distinctively bright flavor makes it one of my favorite herbs. Add bacon and how can you go wrong?

We’ve started eating brown rice, but I have to admit I don’t like it with certain traditional dishes. Surprisingly, I prefer brown rice in this dish because it gives a nice hearty chew. Remember to use rice that’s been cooked and refrigerated for 2 days. Fresh rice will be too sticky and make it hard to incorporate the ingredients. For me, 2 days in the fridge is optimal because the rice has the right firmness.

I’m disregarding any past attempt at fried rice. This one’s a keeper.

Bacon and Shiso Fried Rice
Adapted from きょうの料理 2000年9月号
Makes 2 servings

8 ounces cooked rice, refrigerated for 2 days
2 strips of bacon, sliced thinly
10 shiso leaves, halved lengthwise, then sliced in thin strips
1 large egg
1/4 onion, chopped
1/2 tsp fresh ginger, minced
1 Tbsp. oil
1 tsp. sake
3/4 tsp. shoyu

Crack the egg in a small bowl and add a pinch of salt, pepper, a dash of sesame oil, and whisk well. Set aside.

Heat a wok or large pan over medium heat and add bacon. Fry until almost crispy and let cool on a paper towel-lined plate.

Clean the wok with a paper towel, heat the oil over medium heat, and coat the bottom and sides well. Turn down the heat to low and add the ginger and onion and cook until fragrant. Increase the heat to high and add the rice, breaking up clumps with the back of a wooden spoon and continue stirring until everything is incorporated. Add the bacon and toss to mix. Make a well at the center and pour the egg and scramble. Toss to combine.

Add the sake and shoyu, then salt and pepper to taste. Toss until combined. Turn off the heat, mix in the shiso leaves and serve.

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I usually buy the Trader Joe’s brand albacore tuna in water because it’s relatively inexpensive and the meat is nice and dense. Recently, we bought Chicken of the Sea, and though it’s cheaper, the meat was mush. For this recipe, you want to end up with a very dry and flaky tuna, and it took this brand a lot longer to cook the moisture off.

I finished it off with shichimi, but next time pickled ginger would give it a more appropriate punch… oh, and some tobiko would be divine.

Tuna Avocado Donburi
Makes 2 servings

½ tsp oil
1 can tuna, drained
1 tsp shoyu
1¼ tsp sugar
1 tsp sake
½ sheet nori, cut into thin strips with kitchen shears
1 avocado, mashed
steamed rice
shichimi

Heat the oil over medium high heat. Fry the tuna in the pan for a couple of minutes until the moisture has evaporated. Add the shoyu, sugar, and sake and continue to cook until the liquid has cooked off and you’re left with dry, flaky tuna.

Assemble the donburi with hot rice on the bottom, then add nori, tuna, and avocado. Sprinkle with shichimi and serve.

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