Japanese Rice Salad

5 (1)

I had been trying (and failing) to replicate the umami style rice that a local Yakitori bar makes, when I stumbled upon a very authentic tasting Japanese rice salad dish of my own creation. This side dish is a great accompaniment to any non-rice based main dish. It’s also pretty simple.

Ingredients

• Rice
• Leafy salad greens
• Sesame salad dressing
• Mirin
• Rice vinegar
• Aioli mayo (though Japanese apple cidar mayo would also work well)
• Spring onion

Directions

1. Cook the rice in your rice cooker with a sploosh of mirin (please accept my apologies ahead of time – the addition of mirin to your rice cooker will cause it to burn a little and stick to the bowl. Let this happen, it won’t taste burnt)
2. Mix the salad greens with the sesame salad dressing in a bowl for each person you are cooking for
3. Chop the spring onion finely and set aside
4. When the rice is cooked, mix in a splash of rice vinegar (note that a splash is a plentiful measure, but less than a sploosh)
5. Put the rice in the bowl, covering up the salad, then zigzag the mayo over the rice, then sprinkle spring onions over the top and serve