The other day, I went to the supermarket to buy some clams.

As usual, I bought extra clams so after cooking a pot of XO Sauce Chili Clams, I still had some clams to play around with.  

I have longed wanted to cook a one-pot meal using rice and clams and I figured this was as good a time as any to experiment.

I really like easy dishes because I get so busy on most days and since I believe that home-cooked meals are so much better than store-bought, I try to make sure that I have quite a few easy recipes I can fall back on on days that just are packed.

Before cooking, I had to hunt for my box of Japanese rice. To my dismay, I also found that apart from Jasmine rice and Japanese, I also have a collection of Basmati rice, brown rice and glutinous rice. 

Oh boy.

It looks like quite a few rice dishes will be cooked in the next few weeks.

Let me first show you how to cook this dish.

NOTE: Once you get home, place the clams in a bowl of cold water and add a couple of tablespoons of salt. Leave the clams in the water for a minimum of 2 hours to soak so that any grit would be pushed out of the clams. For a detailed guide on how to clean clams, see here.

Japanese rice is short-grained rice and when cooked it becomes sticky. Before you cook Japanese rice, it is best to soak the rice. So before I started cooking, I rinsed the rice to get rid of excess starch until the water ran clear, then soaked it for 30 minutes before draining the liquid.

Once the clams have been cleaned, put them into a saucepan and add sake.

Cover the saucepan with a lid and cook this over medium heat until the clams have opened. Discard any clams that do not open and separate the meat from the shells. Set the meat aside. Drain the cooking liquid through a sieve and add mirin, ginger juice and chicken stock (See here for my recipe for home made chicken stock) until you get the required amount of liquid needed. 

Into the bowl of a rice cooker, add the rice and the mushrooms.

Add the clam cooking liquid + mirin + ginger juice + stock.

NOTE: For one cup of rice, I added 3/4 cup liquid (total). As the mushrooms cook, some liquid will be released. Once the rice is done, I check the doneness. If it is not soft enough, I add a tablespoon of liquid, and hit the COOK button again. I repeat this until I get the desired doneness I want.

Once the rice is cooked, add the reserved clam meat and stir to combine.

Top with chopped spring onion and roasted sesame seeds and serve hot!

If you love clams, you will definitely love this dish! 

Japanese Clam Rice

2016-07-08 11:22:21

Serves 2

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Ingredients

1. 1 1/2 cups Japanese rice*
2. 500g clams, shells on**
3. 2 tablespoons (30ml) sake
4. 1 tablespoon (15ml) mirin
5. 100g Shimeiji Mushrooms, roots removed
6. 2 tablespoons (30ml) light soy sauce
7. 1 tablespoon ginger juice
8. 1 1/4 cups chicken or vegetable stock***

To garnish (optional)

1. Spring onion, chopped
2. Roasted sesame seeds

Instructions

1. Once the clams have been cleaned, put them into a saucepan and add sake.
2. Cover the saucepan with a lid and cook this over medium heat until the clams have opened. Discard any clams that do not open and separate the meat from the shells. Set the meat aside. Drain the cooking liquid through a sieve and add mirin, ginger juice and chicken or vegetable stock until you get the required amount of liquid needed.
3. Into the bowl of a rice cooker, add the rice and the mushrooms. Add the clam cooking liquid + mirin + ginger juice + stock.
4. Once the rice is cooked, add the reserved clam meat and stir to combine.
5. Top with chopped spring onion and roasted sesame seeds and serve hot!

Notes

1. *Rinse the rice to get rid of excess starch until the water ran clear, then soak it for 30 minutes before draining the liquid.
2. **Once you get home, place the clams in a bowl of cold water and add a couple of tablespoons of salt. Leave the clams in the water for a minimum of 2 hours to soak so that any grit would be pushed out of the clams.
3. ***Add mirin, clam cooking liquid and ginger juice then top with stock to make 1 1/4 cups in total.
4. For one cup of rice, I added 3/4 cup liquid (total). As the mushrooms cook, some liquid will be released. Once the rice is done, I check the doneness. If it is not soft enough, I add a tablespoon of liquid, and hit the COOK button again. I repeat this until I get the desired doneness I want.

By Diana Gale

Adapted from mitsuwa

Adapted from mitsuwa

The Domestic Goddess Wannabe http://thedomesticgoddesswannabe.com/