Okowa is seasoned sweet rice cooked with meat and vegetables. Okowa by itself can be a main dish in a meal because of the abundance of ingredients mixed in with the sticky rice. With Miso or some other soups, you can have a great meal with minimal cooking.
Sweet rice is a kind of rice that is often steamed and pounded to make Mochi cakes. It is very sticky, even stickier than regular Japanese rice, which is already described as sticky rice. Sweet rice needs to be soaked in water longer than regular rice before cooking, but sweet rice need less water to cook, only the same weight of water as the sweet rice you use. If Okowa made with 100% sweet rice is too sticky for you, you can substitute with regular rice by 1/3 or so, although it is the whole point for Okowa to be sticky. If you have a rice cooker that has a function to make mixed rice, you may not have to worry much about the amount of water, because the amount is indicated in the bowl of the cooker. If you like Okowa and are thinking about buying a new rice cooker, find one with a mixed rice mode. Once you prep the ingredients and put together in the rice cooker, it will take care of the rest.
We cooked with chicken and Shimeji mushroom here, but the combinations of ingredients are not limited to that. Chestnut is a very popular ingredient as well as mushrooms for Okowa in fall, oysters in winter, or thinly sliced carrots, Gobo burdock root, and Aburaage fried thin Tofu can be used all year around.
Okowa is obviously more savory, and more filling, than regular white rice, and you may not eat it every day, but it is a great and fancier option for your meal along with other side dishes. Try making it a couple of times to find the perfect softness (or hardness) of rice for you and adjust the water amount. Okowa is a wonderful rice dish to serve to a crowd too. Next time you have guests over, try this tasty Okowa with ingredients of your choice!
Okowa (Mixed Sweet Rice) Recipe
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Ingredients
Instructions
- Wash sweet rice, and set aside leaving it in a strainer.
- Cut Mitsuba leaves into 1/2" length pieces. Cut chicken thigh into bite-size pieces. Pull apart Shimeji mushroom.
- Put the rice in a bowl of the rice cooker, add Soy Sauce, Sake, Mirin, and salt, add enough water to reach the line for 2-cups rice (or mixed rice), and stir. Top with chicken and mushroom.
- Change the mode on the rice cooker to sweet rice or mixed rice, then turn on.
- When the rice is done cooking, mix with a spatula. Serve rice topped with Mitsuba leaves.
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