About the Recipe
The Japanese name for this recipe - Kashiwa Meshi - can be translated literally as Chicken Rice. But Kashiwa is also the name of the leaf of the oak tree. So what's the connection? Eating meat was banned for many centuries in Japan but the locals ate meat in spite of the ban. To hide this from officials and law enforcement, they used the names of various flora and fauna as code names for meat. Thus chicken with rice became known as Kashiwa Meshi!
My collaborator Yumiko Nikaido in Tokyo has created and showed me how you make this recipe.
Ingredients
2 cups, fresh Japanese rice (150g x 2 dry weight)*
60g / 2.1oz burdock root
60g / 2.1oz carrot, peeled
200g / 7oz skinless and boneless chicken thighs (or chicken breast if preferred)
2 spring onions, rinsed
2 tbsp walnuts
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tsp Japanese sake
1/2 tbsp sugar
50ml / 1.7floz soy sauce
50ml / 1.7floz mirin
toasted white sesame seeds
* this equates to approx 600g / 21oz cooked Japanese rice if you already have some prepared
Preparation
Rinse or rice well and cook using your preferred method. I used my rice cooker for this recipe but it also works well if you cook your rice in a saucepan.
To prepare the vegetables, scrape off a thin layer of the skin of the burdock root. I use the back of my kitchen knife to do this. Next, cut the root into about 3cm / 1 inch pieces. Set each piece on its end and cut into slices then cut the slices into matchsticks. Burdock root can taste a little bitter and to reduce this, put the matchsticks into a bowl of water for 5 - 10 minutes, then drain.
Next, cut the peeled carrot into 2 or 3 pieces depending on the length of the carrot, then slice thinly and cut into matchstickes like you did with the burdock root.
Finely slice the rinsed spring onion. Set this aside for a topping.
Next, remove any fat from the chicken thighs. Cut into small bite size pieces.
Heat the sesame oil in a medium frying pan. Add the chicken, burdock root and carrot. Fry over a medium heat until the chicken has coloured.
Meanwhile, lightly crush the walnuts.
Returning to the frying pan, add the Japanese sake, sugar, soy sauce and mirin to the chicken and vegetables. Simmer over a low / medium heat for 7 - 8 minutes or until the liquid has almost evaporated.
Add the crushed walnuts and stir well, before turning off the heat.
Add the fried chicken and vegetable mixture to the rice. Gently mix everything together until the rice has coloured.
To serve, heap generously into serving bowls, top with sliced spring onion and sprinkle the sesame.