Recipes with short grain rice

Prep 10min Cook 40min 2 servings

Korean Kimchi Porridge (Fermented Kimchi Pork Rice Porridge)

Ground pork and chopped kimchi are fried in sesame oil until the oil turns red before the rice is added, which gives this porridge a meatier backbone than kimchi alone. Over a 30-minute simmer the chili's sharp edge fades and the fermented tang spreads evenly through the pot. Chop the kimchi smaller than bite size, since big leaves stay stringy in soft porridge. Cubes of tofu stirred in make a soft, filling addition.

Prep 35min Cook 35min 2 servings

Korean Sesame Porridge (Toasted Sesame Silky Rice Porridge)

Finely ground toasted sesame and a splash of milk turn plain rice porridge creamy and nutty, and a spoonful of honey on each bowl leaves a gentle sweetness at the end. The seeds are ground very fine in a mortar or blender, since coarse bits make the porridge gritty. Because the rice soaks for 30 minutes first, this is not a last-minute porridge. Once the milk is added, the bottom catches easily and needs steady stirring.

Prep 20min Cook 15min 2 servings

Korean Cockle & Water Parsley Mixed Rice

In spring, when cockles are in season, their meat goes into this bowl with raw water parsley (minari) and a gochujang dressing. The cockles come out of the boiling water after 30 seconds; any longer and they shrink and turn rubbery.

Prep 20min Cook 35min 4 servings

Korean Blue Crab Doenjang Pot Rice

Cleaned blue crab sits on the rice, which cooks in anchovy-kelp stock with doenjang dissolved in it, and the crab's sweetness and the earthy paste soak down into every grain. After the rice has rested, one more minute over low heat builds a layer of nurungji (scorched rice) on the bottom. Doenjang varies in saltiness from brand to brand, so start with a tablespoon and taste the stock.

Prep 20min Cook 35min 4 servings

Korean Blue Crab Porridge

Blue crab starts in cold water and boils for 12 minutes to make the stock behind this porridge, releasing a natural sweetness from the shells and meat. Once the crab cools, picking the meat from the legs as well as the body gives the porridge plenty of sweet flakes to bite into.

Prep 10min Cook 25min 2 servings

Korean Bean Sprout Rice (Pot-Steamed Rice with Soy Sprouts)

Piling bean sprouts high on the soaked rice and cooking them together lets their moisture seep into the grains, while the sprouts turn slightly translucent and still keep a little crunch. The rice itself is unseasoned; a soy sauce dressing with sesame oil, chili flakes, green onion and sesame seeds does all the work when spooned on and mixed in. Some cooks add julienned radish to soften the beany smell of the sprouts.

Prep 45min Cook 45min 3 servings

Mehari-zushi, Takana-Wrapped Rice Balls

Salt-pickled takana mustard leaves wrap each large rice ball completely, and every bite brings the salty leaf and soy-seasoned rice together. In southern Wakayama these were a portable meal for forestry workers in the mountains and fishers at sea, easy to hold because of the leaf wrapper. Several explanations for the name survive: the mouth opening wide for a big bite, eyes widening at the taste, or the rice sealed with no gaps. Even the thick stems are used, chopped, seasoned, and mixed into the rice.

🍱 Lunchbox

Prep 20min Cook 25min 2 servings

Korean Beef and Water Parsley Pot Rice

Bulgogi-cut beef is seared in the pot just until it changes color, then the soaked rice and water go in on top and cook with it. Water parsley and the last of the soy sauce are laid over after the heat is off, and the parsley is still green when everything is stirred together. A heavy-bottomed pot leaves a layer of scorched rice as well.

Prep 15min Cook 30min 2 servings

Korean Seaweed Rice Porridge

The seaweed and garlic are fried in sesame oil before the rice ever goes in. That step takes the fishy edge off the seaweed, and the nutty smell stays in the porridge through the long simmer. Soup soy sauce is used sparingly so it does not cover the seaweed.

Prep 15min Cook 25min 2 servings

Korean Radish Rice (Julienned Radish Steamed with Short-Grain Rice)

Julienned radish is laid on top of the rice, not mixed in, and as it cooks its water and sweetness work down into the grains, leaving them moister and sweeter than plain rice. The soy sauce dressing waits until just before eating; stirred in early, it turns the rice mushy. Winter radish makes it noticeably sweeter.

Prep 15min Cook 25min 2 servings

Korean Octopus Pot Rice (Chewy Octopus Ocean-Scented Grain Pot)

The rice cooks in plain water, and the salt and heat come later from a soy sauce with cheongyang chili and green onion that is mixed in at the table. Octopus tentacles steam on top of the rice so their sea aroma works into the grains, while thin radish slices covering the bottom of the pot stop the rice from sticking and add a little sweetness. The scorched rice at the bottom gets scraped up and eaten too.

Prep 45min Cook 24min 2 servings

Korean Shepherd's Purse Doenjang Pot Rice

Naengi (shepherd's purse, a spring green) is spread over doenjang-seasoned rice to steam, and when the lid comes off its earthy spring scent rushes out. The doenjang is first fried in perilla oil with zucchini and onion, so every grain picks up its savory depth.

Prep 50min Cook 50min 4 servings

Nara Chameshi (Hojicha Rice with Soybeans)

Rice cooked in cooled hojicha instead of water takes on a quiet roasted aroma, and dry-roasted soybeans add a nutty bite. Its early form is said to be the rice served with tea porridge to monks taking part in Omizutori at Todaiji. Travelers later carried it to Edo, where shops near Sensoji made it widely known. The beans and salt are scattered over the soaked rice and left unstirred while it cooks.

Prep 35min Cook 25min 4 servings

Nezushi (Koji-Fermented Trout and Rice)

Rice koji and cooked rice slowly develop a mild sweet-sour character in the cold, and that flavor seasons pieces of salted trout, shredded daikon, and carrot. This fermented New Year sushi comes from the Hida and Chuno areas of Gifu, especially around Gero, where it was traditionally started in December. The packed container rests for 14 to 20 days somewhere consistently cold, and the pace changes with the weather and the ingredients.

Prep 20min Cook 35min 2 servings

Nasi Kandar (Penang Indian-Muslim Rice with Mixed Curries)

In Penang, nasi kandar usually means rice flooded with several curry gravies mixed together, a style called kuah campur. This version keeps it to a single coconut chicken curry with halved boiled eggs. The curry is deliberately left thin so it seeps between the grains, and the rice is cooked a little drier than usual so it can soak up that gravy without going soft.

Prep 25min Cook 25min 2 servings

Nasi Kerabu (Malaysian Coconut Rice with Mackerel)

Nasi kerabu, a Malaysian rice dish, can be made with rice tinted by flowers; this one uses plain white rice cooked with coconut milk and lemongrass. Flaked grilled mackerel, cucumber, blanched bean sprouts and sambal are set around it separately and mixed in only at the table.

Prep 20min Cook 30min 4 servings

Nasi Lemak (Malaysian Coconut Pandan Rice with Anchovy Sambal)

Rice cooked in coconut milk with pandan leaves makes a rich, fragrant base for the fiery sambal served beside it. Around it go crisp dried anchovies, roasted peanuts, boiled egg and cucumber, and each bite can be salty, crunchy, cooling or hot.

Prep 10min Cook 30min 4 servings

Nasi Uduk (Jakartan Coconut Lemongrass Pandan Steamed Rice)

Compared with Malaysian nasi lemak, this Jakarta coconut rice has a lighter coconut note, with lemongrass and pandan adding a soft herbal layer. The rice itself is salted, and fried shallot flakes on top give it crunch. It is meant as a base for side dishes such as fried tempeh, chicken or thin egg omelet strips.

Prep 480min Cook 150min 20 servings

Obaku Soft Barley Rice with Beans and Root Vegetables

Whole hulled barley keeps a gentle pop inside a thick pot of softened rice, kidney beans, and three kinds of potato. In Yamanashi mountain villages where paddy rice was hard to grow, rice was saved for celebrations and barley carried everyday meals. Nothing is seasoned in the pot; each diner stirs in negi miso, a mix of scallion, miso, bonito flakes, and a little sugar.

Prep 30min Cook 45min 5 servings

Ohan to Kayaku (Gardenia Rice with Fish and Vegetable Stew)

Gardenia fruit turns the rice a clear yellow, and a brothy stew of crumbled tofu, minced lizardfish and root vegetables is spooned over it. The dish comes from Usuki in Oita. One story credits the frugal local domain, which used yellow rice in place of costly red bean rice; another ties the color to paella seen through Nanban trade. Merchant households cooked a large pot of kayaku on New Year's Eve and reheated it through the first three days of the year.

Prep 10min Cook 22min 2 servings

Korean Corn Cheese Pot Rice

Mozzarella goes over rice cooked with butter-sautéed corn, the lid goes back on, and the heat of resting melts it so it stretches in long strands when you lift the paddle. A little milk in the cooking liquid makes the rice soft and creamy, and the corn kernels pop as you bite.

Prep 90min Cook 60min 12 servings

Oshinuki-Zushi (Kagawa Pressed Sushi with Spring Toppings)

From late April through June, when Spanish mackerel entered the Seto Inland Sea and broad beans ripened, farming families in Sanuki made this pressed sushi for Haruio, a spring gathering where relatives shared fish, food, and sake. The mackerel on top must be sold for raw consumption, because the vinegar cure does not kill parasites or pathogens.