Kuromame gohan / steamed rice with black soybeans

<Ingredients>

3/4 cup regular rice
1/4 cup mochigome sweet rice
Small handful boiled black soybeans, with liquid from boiling beans
1 tbsp sake
1/4-1/3 tsp salt
1 small piece kombu kelp


<Directions>
1.

Wash rice with cold water.

First pour water and discard.
Squeeze rice with palm to lightly polish surface, and rinse a few times.

Drain, and set aside for at least 30 minutes.










2.

When ready to cook, put sake, liquid from boiled black soybeans, and water to slightly below marked line.

3.

Add black soybeans and salt, and mix.

Put kombu on top, and cook.









4. When done, wait 10 minutes, remove kombu and gently turn rice and mix.


<Notes>

• Prep cooking for dried black soybeans: Soak beans in water overnight. Put beans in a pot with water several centimeters higher than the beans' level and bring to boil at high heat. When boiling, reduce heat to medium low, skim foam from liquid surface, and simmer until somewhat tender.