Japanese Masago Rice—With Step-by-Step Pictorial

Many years ago, when I was still in college, I frequently visit this casual Japanese restaurant in Little Tokyo in Los Angeles called 花の島 (literally translated to Island of Flower).  They mainly serve set lunch and dinner on their menu.  They have tasty noodles and many varieties of rice bowl dishes.  Very tasty, homey and affordable, perfect for college students on a budget.  One of the items on the menu was Japanese Masago Rice and it’s always been my favorite ever since my first order.  And please do not ask me how many years ago that was, I’ve lost count!



After moving away further from that part of town, I seldom visited this restaurant anymore.  I still crave this Japanese Masago Rice from time to time.  So, I’ve been making this at home for the longest time.  This is one of my favorite recipes from the “restaurant dish recreated at home” category, especially in the hot summer because it’s served at room temperature.  Think about it, who needs a bowl of hot rice when the temperature hits triple digits, right!?  Definitely not me. 



Imagine flavorful, slightly tangy and sweet sushi rice packed with slightly salty and sweet Masago eggs (Smelt Eggs); mixed all in with tender egg stripes, sweet and umami crab (imitation crab meat it is, remember we’re on a budget here); top with crispy, earthy seaweed and crunchy and spicy radish sprouts.  Each bite is heavenly.  If you wonder what the imitation crab meat is made from, it’s fish.  Different brand might use different type of fish.  I’ll show you my favorite brand to use in the pictorial below.



Ready to come into the kitchen with me to learn how to make this?  Come on over.

1) Place the cooked sushi rice into a large bowl and season with rice vinegar, sugar and salt.
2) Fold the rice to evenly distribute the seasoning and cool off the rice a bit.  Loosely cover the rice with a plastic wrap so it won’t dry out while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
3) Fry the eggs on a skillet until fully cooked.  Remove from heat and let it cool on a plate.
4) This is my favorite brand of imitation crab meat.  They are so good that I can eat them straight out of the bag!  And I did…and please don’t ask me how many either.  You probably know by now that I’m not too good with counting numbers.



5) The imitation crab meats are individually wrapped, so make sure you remove the plastic wraps.
6) With your hands, pull them apart into thin strips. 
7) Cut the cooked and cooled eggs into thin strips.
8) This is the package of radish sprouts, as instructed on the package, use a pair of scissors to cut whatever amount you needed.



9) This is the seaweed that I used.  Toast it in the toaster oven for 30 seconds at the lowest setting to crisp it up if you like.
10) With a pair of kitchen scissors, cut the seaweed into thin strips, 1 1/2-inch length.
11) Fold in the masago eggs into the cooled sushi rice.
12) Gently fold in the imitation crab meat, eggs and top with the seaweed, radish sprouts and serve.



Here’s a close up of the finished dish.  Don’t you just love the colors?



Hope you enjoy today’s recipe and pictorial.  Until next time, take care and let’s enjoy more summer dishes before it ends! 

Zojirushi Rice Cooker--Product Review

We’ve been using this “new” rice cooker, almost every day, for more than 12 months now.  Before we purchased this new baby, we used an older model of Zojirushi rice cooker for more than a decade!  Yes, they do last that long!  That’s why I love Zojirushi’s products.  Luckily Unfortunately, the non-stick coating of the inner cooking pan of the old cooker started to come off.  That’s why we have to consider getting a new cooker.  Another option was to replace the inner cooking pan of the old one, which would only costs $35 to $40.  Why did we spend that extra $250 or so?  There are a few reasons, and I’m telling you, it’s worth every single penny! 

First of all, we’ve been eating brown rice for a few years now.  However, the texture of the brown rice varies quite a bit with different brands.  Some could be quite rough and chewy (especially true for the cheap brands).  This new rice cooker features 2 options for brown rice, a regular brown and GABA Brown (aka germinated brown rice).  It cooks the rice to a perfect consistency and texture every single time.  For the GABA Brown option, it takes a lot longer to cook though and here’s the explanation why.  If you’re interested to learn more about GABA rice’s health benefits, simply click here.
 





Another reason that convinced me to get this new cooker was because my daughter started to eat solid food, and this cooker has the porridge option!  Cooking porridge on the stove top is time consuming and needs a lots of attentions to prevent the rice from 'burning,' or to prevent the ingredients from sticking to the bottom of the pot.  With this rice cooker, making porridge is a breeze.  Simply chop and dump all the ingredient into the cooking pan, press a button, and you're all set!  It’s that simple! 










Also, this rice cooker comes with sushi rice, mixed rice and sweet rice cooking options.  There are quite a few recipes that come along with the user menu for reference as well. 

Last but not least, you’ll hear the twinkle twinkle little star melody when you press the “cooking” button!  Of course, I didn’t know about this feature until the first time I cook with it.  My kids just love the melody whenever I cook rice!  hahahaha….