Ohan to Kayaku (Gardenia Rice with Fish and Vegetable Stew)
Quick answer
- Total time
- 75 min
- Level
- Hard
- Servings
- 5 servings
- Ingredients
- 15
About this dish
Gardenia fruit turns the rice a clear yellow, and a brothy stew of crumbled tofu, minced lizardfish and root vegetables is spooned over it.
Read more
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.
Ingredients
Instructions
- 1
Coarsely crush the gardenia fruits in a food processor.
Soak in 1 cup of the measured rice water for 10 minutes, strain through cloth or a fine sieve, and recombine the yellow liquid with the remaining rice water.
- 2
Rinse the rice, drain for 20 minutes, and cook it with the gardenia water using a standard white-rice setting.
When done, fold from top to bottom to distribute the yellow color evenly.
- 3
Press the tofu for 15 minutes.
Remove the lizardfish head, innards, and bones and mince the flesh. Shave and soak the burdock briefly; cut carrot and daikon into thick sticks, slice one onion diagonally, and cut the other into 1 cm pieces.
- 4
Heat the oil in a wide pot over medium heat, crumble in the tofu, and fry for 3 minutes.
Add the minced lizardfish, break it up, and cook until opaque. Add burdock, daikon, carrot, and diagonally sliced onion in that order and fry 4 minutes more.
- 5
Add the dashi, bring to a boil, and skim.
Stir in both soy sauces, mirin, and sake and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, until the roots are tender and the fish reaches at least 63°C. Add the 1 cm onion pieces 1 minute before turning off the heat.
- 6
Divide the gardenia rice among five bowls and ladle the kayaku solids and broth generously over it.
Serve hot so yellow rice, tofu, fish, and root vegetables can be eaten together in each spoonful.
References checked
These references were consulted when this page was prepared or corrected. A source check does not mean the recipe was independently kitchen-tested.
- 일본 농림수산성 うちの郷土料理
「次代に残したい大分の郷土料理」 · Checked: 2026-08-11
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