Edamame beans are green soybeans that are usually cooked in their pods and eaten as a snack with beer in Japan. Here, I use the bean and other greens to make edamame rice cooked in a dashi and soy saucebased broth. A fragrant, springtime dish.
Ingredients
- 10½oz/1½ cups (300 g) short-grain rice
- 7 oz/1¾ cups (200 g) frozen edamame, shelled
- 1¾ oz (50 g) mangetout
- 2 tbsp finely sliced spring onions (scallions)
- 2 tbsp finely chopped chives
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
- 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
- 1 tbsp toasted white sesame seeds
For the Cooking Broth
- 10 fl oz/1¼ cups (300 ml) Primary Dashior 300ml (10 fl oz/ 1¼ cups) dashi prepared from a good-quality dashi infusion bag, or lastly from 1 tsp instant dashi powder dissolved in 300 ml (10 fl oz/1¼ cups) hot water
- 2 tbsp mirin
- 2 tbsp light soy sauce (usukuchi shoyu)
How to Make It
- Wash the rice in a bowl with plenty of fresh water using a circular motion with your hand. Drain the water and repeat 3 or 4 times until the water runs clear. Transfer the rice to a sieve (strainer) and let it drain for 15 minutes. Make the Primary Dashi or dashi stock with a dashi infusion bag or instant powder.
- Prepare the cooking broth by combining the dashi stock, mirin and soy sauce in a bowl and set aside until it has completely cooled down. Next, transfer the rice to the bowl with the cooking broth and soak the rice for 30 minutes.
- Rice cooker method: when the soaking time is up, add the rice and soaking liquid to the rice cooker, close the lid and turn it on. It should take approximately 15-20 minutes to cook. Once the rice cooker’s alarm beeps, let the rice rest in the unopened rice cooker for at least 15 minutes before serving.
- Pan and hob (stove) method: choose a pan with a tightly fitting lid (preferably of glass) and with a ventilation hole for some of the steam to escape. When the soaking time is up, add the rice and soaking liquid to the pan, place the lid on and bring to the boil (a glass lid will allow you to see when the water comes to a boil). As soon as it boils, turn the heat to its lowest setting and simmer gently for 15 minutes. Do not remove the lid at any stage during cooking or resting. Take off the heat and let the rice rest for a further 15 minutes before serving.
- While the rice is cooking, prepare the remaining ingredients. Bring a pan filled with water to the boil, add the edamame and simmer for 5 minutes until tender, then remove from the pan. Blanch the mangetout in the same boiling water for 30 seconds, then plunge into a bowl of cold water to stop them from cooking further. Slice half the mangetout into 1-cm (½-inch) thick diagonal slices and the other half into very fine slices. Set aside the thin slices.
- Once the rice has rested, open the rice cooker or pan, add the edamame, thick mangetout slices, spring onions (scallions), chives, butter and sesame oil and mix thoroughly.
- Place the edamame rice in a serving bowl, top with the thinly sliced mangetout and a sprinkle of toasted white sesame seeds and serve.