Shoga gohan / steamed rice with ginger

What I usually say about dishes using ginger for cold seasons -- ginger warms up your body --  is still true in hot seasons. Overly chilling your body to beat the heat would numb its function. Ginger also has a refreshing taste and aroma, making steamed rice taste light, even served hot. Shoga gohan goes really well with dishes cooked with oil -- either grilled or deep-fried -- or even steamed dishes served with oil-based sauce.

1/3 of recipe:
187 calories; 3.1 g protein; 0.5 g fat; 39.7 g carbohydrate; 39.3 g net carbs; 67 mg sodium; 0 mg cholesterol; 0.4 g fiber

1/2 of recipe:
281 calories; 4.7 g protein; 0.7 g fat; 59.6 g carbohydrate; 59.0 g net carbs; 101 mg sodium; 0 mg cholesterol; 0.6 g fiber


<Ingredients>

(Serves 2-3)
1 180 cc* cup rice
1 medium knob ginger (6 g in photo)
Approx. 180 cc water (not in photo)
1 tsp sake
1/2 tsp shiokoji salted rice malt
1 small piece kombu kelp

2-3 stems of mitsuba (for garnish; optional)

*1 rice cooker cup = 180 cc

<Directions>
1.

Rinse rice, drain, and let sit for 30+ minutes.

2.

When ready to cook, add sake and shiokoji.

Add water to the 1-cup mark.

3.

Julienne ginger, add to rice, and mix well.

Put kombu, and cook.

4.

Cut mitsuba stems to fit in microwaveable container.
Microwave for 5-6 seconds, and immediately soak in cold water to stop cooking and discoloration.

When cool, gently squeeze out excess water, and cut into 2-3 cm.

5.

When done, remove kombu.
Cover, and wait 10 minutes.

Gently fluff.

6.

Serve in individual bowls, and top with mitsuba.

<Notes>

• In summer, shinshoga [lit. new ginger] or freshly harvested ginger with a pale, pinkish skin color appears at stores. Try this with shinshoga if you find some.
• If using regular ginger, use plump ones. Skinny, twiggy ones are very fibrous and tough (and for some reason are very common with organic ginger root at stores), and their taste tends to be somewhat harsh -- fibrous root is unsuitable for this dish. If only this type is available, grate it and use the juice only.
• If shiokoji is not at hand, salt works fine. In that case, first try 1/4 tsp or 1/3 tsp; the per-serving sodium content figure increases by 95 mg/142 mg or more, depending on type and brand of your salt. I use kosher salt from Diamond Crystal, which contains 280mg sodium per 1/4 tsp. 
• Kombu kelp adds some sodium to the dish. You can skip kombu when using shiokoji (another source of umami), which would reduce the overall sodium content by half. Skipping kombu is not recommended when using salt instead of shiokoji.

(Last updated: October 21, 2015)