Sansai Okowa Recipe：Wild vegetable rice with a chewy texture

Sansai Okowa （山菜おこわ）

What kind of dish is Sansai Okowa??

Sansai okowa is a type of takikomi gohan made by mixing rice and glutinous rice with wild vegetables. The texture and bitterness of wild vegetables are the secret to its deliciousness.

Wild vegetables are in season in spring, so in Japan they have been considered a dish that signals the arrival of spring.

However, cooking wild vegetables takes some effort. In addition, in the past, people used to collect wild vegetables that grew naturally in the mountains, but they are a little expensive if you buy them at a supermarket.

For this reason, most households use a commercially available product called “sansai mix = wild vegetable mix.” Using this, anyone can easily make wild vegetable rice at home.

Sansai mix contains butterbur, Elatostema involucratum, bracken, nameko, bamboo shoot, wood ear mushroom, enoki mushroom, etc.

Okowa, which has a chewier texture than white rice, is a familiar food to us Japanese people. This texture is created by using glutinous rice rice.

The representative dish of okowa is sekihan, which is served at celebrations. There are many other types of okowa, including those made with wild vegetables, chestnuts, and chicken.

Wild vegetables can be picked from the mountains, but they require a lot of preparation. We use a commercially available mixture of several wild vegetables called “sansai mix.” Using this, anyone can easily make sansai okowa at home.

What is glutinous rice (sticky rice) ??

Non-glutinous rice, which is commonly eaten as white rice, has a ratio of 2 parts amylose to 8 parts amylopectin.

On the other hand, ”glutinous rice” does not contain amylose in its starch, but only amylopectin. Therefore, glutinous rice rice has the characteristic of becoming highly viscous when heated.

Glutinous rice is fragile, so wash it gently and for a short time, and cook it with slightly less water than when using non-glutinous rice.

Usually, the amount of water used is 1.2-1.4 times the weight of rice, and the amount of water is 1.2times the weight of glutinous rice. (If rice is 150g, water is 180-210g; if glutinous rice is 150g, water is 180g)

In the past, it was common to use a steamer to make okowa, but this recipe uses a rice cooker. When cooking glutinous rice in a rice cooker, one thing to keep in mind is the soaking time of the rice.

When cooking white rice, it is said that soaking it in water will make it more delicious.

However, glutinous rice has a high water absorption rate, so if it is soaked in water, there will not be enough water when cooking. If you add water to it, it will become watery when cooked.

To prevent this from happening, I soak the white rice in water for about an hour before mixing it with the glutinous rice.

⋈*If using a steamer, use only glutinous rice without mixing white rice. At this time, soak the glutinous rice overnight before using it.

NUTRITION FACTS of Sansai Okowa Recipe：Wild vegetable rice with a chewy texture

TOTAL NUTRITION VALUE 1286 kcal Protein 28.6 g Fat 12.3 g Carb 259.1 g Salt Equivalent 8.4 g

Nutritional value for 1 serving 321 kcal Protein 7.1 g Fat 3.1 g Carb 64.8 g Salt Equivalent 2.1 g

INGREDIENTS for Sansai Okowa Recipe：Wild vegetable rice with a chewy texture (4SERVINGS)

• Rice 160g
• Glutinous rice 160g
• Wild vegetable mix (Sansai min) 1P…Solid amount80～120g
• Deep-fried tofu (aburaage) 25g
• Carrots 20g
• Dark soy sauce 24g
• Salt 2g
• Water 390g
• Sake 40g

Sansai Okowa Recipe：Wild vegetable rice with a chewy texture　COOKING INSTRUCTIONS

1. After washing the rice, soak it in water for about an hour. (If you don’t have time, you can skip this step. If you are using pre-rinsed rice, soaking it in water is the best option.)
2. Wash the glutinous rice briefly and gently.
3. Depending on the product, you may not need to wash the wild vegetable mix, but I tend to be a bit concerned about the smell, so I put it in a colander and rinse it once under running water.
4. Cut the fried tofu and carrots into strips.
5. Put light soy sauce, salt, sake, rice, and glutinous rice in the rice cooker.
6. Add water to the rice cooker.
7. Put the wild vegetable mix on top of the rice.
8. Cook the rice. There are many rice cooker modes, but I use the normal mode.
9. When the rice is done, put a rice scoop into the bottom and lift it up to mix the whole thing. Be careful not to crush or knead the rice grains.

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