Doria Recipe

Doria is a Japanese western-style rice casserole dish with a creamy white sauce.  It looks very similar to baked Gratin. It doesn’t seem to be much like a Japanese food, but Doria was created in Japan, and it is a very popular dish loved by the young and old there for a long time.

Doria was invented by a Swiss chef who worked at a hotel restaurant in Japan in the 1930s, it’s said.  It was a rice casserole with seafood (shrimp), covered with bechamel sauce and cheese, then baked in the oven. The name Doria doesn’t sound like Japanese at all. It came from a famous Italian navy general (association of sea and shrimp?).  Not many Japanese people know where the name is from, or they may care less about it as long as they can taste this delicious dish.  We’ve also been eating Doria since we were young without the knowledge.  And now we know thanks to the power of internet searching!

Doria has been often served for years at many old-fashioned cafes called Kissaten that also have dishes like Macaroni Gratin and Spaghetti Neapolitan on their menus.  It has been a favorite food for students who go to Kissaten after school or for working people at lunch. Before massive coffee shop chains hijacked every city in Japan, Kissaten culture along with Doria prospered in 1970s and 1980s.  Today Doria is still a popular and staple item at many places like family restaurants.  It is good for lunch as well as for dinner.

There are a lot of variations of Doria, and there is no one right recipe for it.  Some use just steamed rice with creamy sauce, others use Pilaf as rice.  Chicken or ground beef can be used in the dish instead of seafood.  We made it with fried rice flavored with ketchup here, another popular kind. You can experiment what you like when making it at home.  Cheese can be mozzarella, parmesan, a combination, or any other melting cheese of your choice.

You may not see Doria often at restaurants outside Japan.  But it is very Japanese, and you can easily make it at home.  If a Japanese restaurant nearby doesn’t serve Doria, try making it for yourself!

Print Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Doria Recipe

Japanese western-style rice casserole dish with a creamy white sauce

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Japanese

Keyword: gratin

Servings: 2

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Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp butter
• 1/4 lb shrimp cut into bite size pieces
• 1/4 brown onion coarsely chopped
• 6 mushrooms sliced thinly
• 2 cups Steamed Rice
• 1/4 tsp salt
• white pepper
• 1/4 cup ketchup

Bechamel Sauce

• 3 Tbsp butter
• 3 Tbsp flour
• 1 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 tsp salt or more or less to taste
• white pepper
• 1/4 cup Mozzarella cheese shredded

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 425 F (215 C) and move the rack to the top. Butter inside of two gratin dishes (not in the measurement).
• Heat a frying pan with 1Tbsp butter. Cook shrimp, onion, and mushrooms at medium heat for a minute. Add rice and cook for a couple of minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Make room in the frying pan and add ketchup, without mixing. Cook for 30 seconds to cook the ketchup down. Mix rice and ketchup and fry together for 1-2 minutes. Divide the rice into baking dishes.
• Make Bechamel Sauce. In a new pan, melt 3 Tbsp butter, and add flour. Cook flour well. Add milk and whisk until thick and smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Pour 1/2 of the sauce over rice in each dish.
• Sprinkle cheese over the sauce. Bake in the oven for 7-8 minutes until browned.

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