kashiwa-meshi

When I was learning Japanese, we learned the word for "chicken" to be "toriniku" ("tory-knee-coo"--literally bird meat).

Then while living here, I realized that it had a different name, "kashiwa". (I think even my Grandma used to call chicken, "kashiwa")

I had thought that most of Kyushu and the southern parts of Honshu called chicken, "kashiwa", but apparently, there are parts of Northern Honshu that call chicken, "kashiwa" too.

Anyway, since I had gobo and some leftover dashi in my fridge, I made some kashiwa-meshi for dinner last night.

I've made this once before and thought I posted about it, but couldn't find it on my blog...

Kashiwa-meshi adapted from "Bento no hon by Yorino Masami" makes 4 servings--more or less depending on your servings.

2 cups rice, washed
2 cups dashi (cold brewed stock)

150 grams chicken breast, cut into bite sized pieces
gobo (burdock root) 1 piece about 12 inches long, cleaned and whittled or peeled with peeler, soak in water after whittling/peeling for a couple of minutes
maitake (1 package), torn apart with hands

1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons mirin
1 tablespoon sake
2 tablespoons shoyu

Cook rice with dashi in rice cooker.
In a frying pan, heat sesame oil
Drain water from gobo
Add chicken and gobo, sauteeing in the oil
Add the maitake
Add the sugar, mirin, sake and shoyu, stir fry everything for about 5 minutes
When the rice is finished cooking, add the chicken mixture to the rice and mix gently without smooshing the rice.
Serve and enjoy!

NOTES: a bit tedious to make, but delicious. Plus, you can just add a salad like I did.
I actually made half the recipe of the rice (1 cup rice, 1 cup dashi) and the full recipe of the chicken mixture and am thinking to put the other half of the chicken mixture into oyakodon...