Rice Cooked with Edamame

recipe adapted from Elizabeth Andoh's Washoku: Recipes from the Japanese Home Kitchen

Makes 4 cups cooked rice

1/2 cup shelled edamame beans
2 cups basic sea stock or dashi
1 tablspoon mirin
2 teaspoons light-colored soy sauce
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1-3/4 cups japanese style white rice, washed
1 teaspoon black sesame salt*

Combine stock, mirin and soy sauce in a smal saucepan and bring the mixture to a simmer. Add the beans and cook for 2 or 3 minutes to ensure they fully absorb the flavors of the saeasoned stock. Drain the beans, reserving the cooking liquid. Set aside the beans, removing any looose skins.

To cook the rice in a rice cooker, place the rice in the bowl of the appliance. Add water if needed, to the cooking liquid to bring it up to 2 cups, and then add it to the rice coker. Make sure the liquid is cool before pressing the start button. The cooker's thermostat will malfunction with a hot or very warm liquid. As soon as the active cooking cycle switches off, scatter the simmered beans on top of the rice and re-cover the pot immediately. Allow the rice to self-steam for at least 10 minutes, or up to several hours if your cooker has a warmer feature.

Just before serving, use a rice paddle to stir the rice and beans with a light cutting and tossing motions to distribute the beans evenly. The bottom surface develops a slightly caramelized crust, or okoge, that is especially tasty.

Serve the rice hot or at room temperature, sprinkle each serving with seasoned salt.


To make black sesame salt:
combine
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
2 teaspoons black sesame seeds, freshly dry-roasted.

Store in a tightly sealed glass jar for no more than a week.