• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

the non-japanese cook

notes from my kitchen

  • about
  • contact
  • home
You are here: Home / full recipes / rice and corn recipe (corn maze-gohan)

rice and corn recipe (corn maze-gohan)

13/08/2018 by Chris

What to do if you love white carbs, but still want your food to look interesting? Bread-lovers have rustic multigrain baguettes to scatter across their flour-smudged blue linen tablecloths… but what about rice-lovers?

Enter mixed rice. It’s a lot quicker than homemade sourdough and much more colourful.

Mixed rice starts with white rice and simply incorporates other variously-coloured ingredients and seasonings. Beans, grains and vegetable bits are all acceptable. Not only does this look fancy, it also adds a lot of the fibre and nutrients that white rice sadly lacks.

In Japanese cooking, there are two ways of making mixed rice. The first, takikomi-gohan (炊き込みご飯), translates to something like ‘steamed-all-together rice’. The second, maze-gohan 混ぜご飯, translates literally to ‘mixed rice’, in which everything is added to the rice after it’s cooked. What I’m about to offer is a maze-gohan with black-and-yellow grilled sweetcorn.

rice and beans, yes, but sweetcorn?

Admittedly, corn isn’t something I’ve always associated with Japanese food. Although it sometimes appears bobbing around in ramen, I always thought of that as a sort of aberration. Later, thanks to the internet, I discovered that ramen topped with corn and butter is actually a speciality of Hokkaido. Japan’s snowy northern island produces plenty of both – along with soy beans, wheat, potatoes, beef, and of course seafood.

In recognition of the fact that I have much to learn about Japan’s regions, I’m half-dedicating this recipe to Hokkaido. Hopefully I’ll be able to visit one day. UPDATE: I did, and have been dreaming about it since!

before we start…

Please follow this link if you’re new to cooking Japanese rice.

the recipe: corn maze-gohan

Simple but luxurious mixed rice with corn, soy sauce and butter.

ingredients

  • 300 g Japanese rice
  • 2 cobs corn
  • 50 g butter
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce

method

  1. Wash the rice and prepare to cook (either using a rice cooker or according to the instructions linked to above). Set your grill to a medium heat.
  2. Melt the butter and combine with the soy sauce. Roll the corn cobs in the mixture and place under the grill. Reserve the spare mixture.
  3. Rotate the corn every so often until cooked. Allow to blacken in places. When done, remove from the grill and allow to cool.
  4. Take one of the cooled cobs and, using a sturdy knife, cut a disc 3-4 kernels wide for each serving. Cut each disc into two semicircles.
  5. Remove the rest of the kernels from the cobs. When the rice is ready, mix in the corn and the remaining butter and soy sauce.
  6. Serve bowls of mixed rice as usual, standing two semicircles of corn on top of each in a V formation. (These can be eaten easily using chopsticks.)

alternative method

If you don’t want to bother with the aesthetic grilling, you can steam the corn cobs whole by placing them on top of your rice inside the cooker. When the cooking time is done, remove the cobs with tongs and proceed from step 4.

Related

Filed Under: full recipes Tagged With: corn, rice

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy

Primary Sidebar

  • Instagram
  • Pinterest

recent posts

  • things I ate in Japan in 2018
  • Japan in autumn
  • rice and corn recipe (corn maze-gohan)
  • haiku of the month 08.2018
  • OZEKI junmai sake
  • about
  • contact
© 2022 the non-japanese cook