One of my favorite summer ingredients,"Shin Shoga", or young ginger, is in season now. The flavor is fresh, juicy, and the fibers are very delicate (not chewy like regular ginger). You don't even need to peel the skin, because it's so fresh.
I made a very summery donabe rice dish with the young ginger and edamame. The dish is cooked with the double-lid donabe rice cooker, "Kamado-san". So the rice was so fluffy and shiny.
I could taste "summer" in this bowl of rice. So nice.
Young Ginger and Edamame Rice
Ingredients
1 rice-cup (180 ml, or 3/4 US cup) of each white rice and partially-polished brown rice
400 ml water (replace 2 tablespoons of which with sake, if you like)
2 tablespoons sakura ebi (dry baby shrimp)
3 oz young ginger, scrubbed and sliced into thin shreds
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 cup blanched shelled edamame
some sliced shiso leaves for garnish
Procedure
1. Combine the rice, water (with sake), and sea salt in Kamado-san. Spread the dry baby shrimp on the top. Let the rice soak in water for 20 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, soak the ginger in water for 2-3 minutes. Drain.
3. Once the rice was soaked for 20 minutes, spread the ginger on top of the rice.
4. Cover Kamado-san with both lids and cook over medium+ heat for 15 minutes.
5. Turn off the heat and let stand Kamado-san for 20 minutes.
6. Open the lids and add the edamame and toss with the rice.
7. Serve into individual bowls and garnish with shiso leaves.
I served the rice with very rustic "Iri Okara" (soy pulp and vegetable saute), which is made with "okara" (soy pulp) from making the soymilk for tofu a night before. Although "okara" is a leftover from making soymilk, it retains more than 20% of soy protein and is also rich in fibers. I will post "Iri Okara" recipe on another time.
Happy donabe life.
