Gohan Nabe: Earthenware Pot for Cooking Rice
Rice cooked in a gohan nabe is noticeably tastier than in an electric rice cooker. Of course electric rice cookers are the norm in modern Japan. But there is a lot interest in gohan nabe recently, especially among the younger generation. The gohan nabe is different from a regular donabe in that it has an inner and outer lid. Any donabe needs to be seasoned before its first use.

I have noticed from comments and search access keywords that there is a fair amount in interest in donabe and gohan nabe among foodies abroad now. We have a good discussion going on in our Kyoto Support forum about how to season a donabe.

I thought that it would be useful to make a demonstration video on how to season a donabe as well.

Video: How to Season a New Donabe

Steps to Season a Donabe
Seasoning is done by boiling cooked rice in the donabe until it becomes a thick porridge. This fills microscopic pores in the donabe and will help to prevent breakage and damage by heat.

• Fill the donabe to about 80% with water then add cooked rice.
• The amount of cooked rice should equal about 1/5 of the volume of water. A little more rice is said to be better than less.
• Simmer gently over until the rice forms a thick porridge. This took me about an hour. Be careful not to cook it down so much that it burns.
• Allow donabe and porridge to cool to room temperature and then discard. Don’t leave to porridge in for more than a few hours.
• Wash and wipe well. Allow to dry overnight before first use.

Donabe Maintenance

• All donabe accumulate hairline cracks with use.
• When not in use never cover a dobane if it is not completely dry inside.
• Avoid mold developing inside the donabe.

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This is a rendition of the ever popular Uni-Ikura Donburi, here we serve it on soba-gohan (rice with soba kernels).

Uni is the roe of sea urchin and ikura the roe of salmon. Combined and served on rice, this delectable combination makes Uni-Ikura Donburi. Our rendition here uses soba-gohan and makes this donburi dish decidedly nouveau. Soba is buckwheat, the same that is used to make soba noodles.

Main Ingredients: uni, ikura, rice (1 1/2 cups short grain white rice, 10 – 20% *soba kernels), *dried kombu or sake
(*optional)

Rice: If you can obtain soba kernels try making soba-gohan. Cook as usual for white rice. Add dried kombu or sake for additional flavor. (White rice is fine too, try to use Japanese-style short grain rice, ‘California rice’ is just fine.)

Serve: Serve the rice in a large ‘donburi‘ style bowl with generous portions of uni and ikura. A splash of high quality shoyu on the uni is recommended. Ikuradon is often served with chopped shiso leaves, add shiso leaves if you like.

The Ingredients

ikura, uni, rice, soba and sake

Tsukemono

nukazuke – before

Tsukemono

nukazuke – after (washed and cut)

Nakazuke is tsukemono pickled in rice bran and salt. We had scarlet turnip nukazuke and it was amazing. Nukazuke tsukemono retains the crispness of fresh vegetables and has the pungent qualities of something fermented.

Buri-daikon with Yuzu

buri (yellowtail) simmered with daikon

Soba Gohan

buckwheat (soba) kernels cooked with short grain white rice

Uni-ikura Donburi

Uni-ikura Donburi

Uni-ikura Donburi with Buri-daikon and Nukazuke Tsukemono

With champagne, this makes quite a New Year’s breakfast!