Edamame Gohan (枝豆ご飯, summer soybean rice)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Rice cooker, donabe rice pot, or heavy saucepan with a tight lid
• •Bamboo colander (zaru), or any colander
• •Rice paddle (shamoji), or a broad spatula

Instructions

1. 1

   Wash the rice

   Put the rice in a bowl, cover it with cold water, stir quickly with your hand, and pour the water off right away. That first water turns cloudy fast and carries the loose starch and bran scent you don't want the rice to drink. Rinse three or four more times, until the water is only lightly cloudy, then soak the rice in fresh water for 30 minutes and drain it for 10 minutes.

   Soaking lets short-grain rice hydrate to the center. Draining makes the cooking water measurement honest instead of a guess.
2. 2

   Cook the rice

   Combine the drained rice, 400ml cold water, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a rice cooker, donabe, or heavy saucepan. Use the normal white-rice setting, or bring the pot to a lively simmer, cover, lower the heat, and cook for 12 minutes. Turn off the heat and let it rest, still covered, for 10 minutes. Don't lift the lid. The trapped heat finishes the center of each grain.

   Salt goes in with the cooking water because rice seasons most evenly as it cooks. Salt added only at the end sits on the surface.
3. 3

   Salt the pods

   While the rice cooks, put the edamame pods in a bowl and rub them with 1 teaspoon salt until the pods darken slightly and feel damp. The salt scuffs the fine fuzz and starts seasoning through the pod. It is not decoration, though it looks rather pleased with itself.

4. 4

   Boil the edamame

   Bring 1 liter water to a boil and add the remaining 1 teaspoon salt. Add the salted pods and boil for 3 to 4 minutes, until the pods are bright green and a bean tastes tender with a little bite. Drain and spread them out on a tray. Don't rinse them, or you'll wash away the salt and the clean bean scent you just worked for.

   Stop before the beans go soft. Edamame should taste sweet and green, not starchy and tired.
5. 5

   Shell the beans

   When the pods are cool enough to handle, pop the beans out and discard the pods. Keep the beans uncovered until the rice is ready. Covered beans continue to cook in their own heat, and that is how bright green turns dull while no one is looking.

6. 6

   Fold and rest

   When the rice has rested, open the lid and loosen it with a shamoji, using a cutting and lifting motion rather than mashing. Scatter the edamame over the rice and fold from the edges toward the center. Close the lid for 5 minutes. The hot rice wakes the bean aroma and warms the edamame without cooking the color away. Taste one spoonful and add a small pinch of salt only if it tastes flat.

7. 7

   Serve simply

   Spoon the rice into small bowls, keeping it loose rather than pressed. Place a few beans on top if they have hidden themselves in the rice. Serve warm or at room temperature, with miso soup and pickles for a quiet meal, or beside grilled fish when you want the method, not the menu, to carry the table.

Chef Tips

• •Buy fresh edamame in pods during high summer, ideally with a few stems still attached. The pods should be plump, green, and faintly fuzzy, not yellow or flat. If the beans look tired, change the dish. Nothing good happens by arguing with shun.
• •Use Japanese short-grain rice. The grains cling lightly and carry the salt and bean aroma; long-grain rice stays separate in the wrong way for this bowl.
• •Don't cook shelled edamame from the start unless color doesn't matter to you. The flavor will be there, but the beans turn dull, and this is a summer dish. Let summer stay green.
• •Frozen shelled edamame is a sensible stand-in outside the season. Blanch it for one minute, salt it, and fold it into hot rice. Call it useful, not the same as pods at their prime.
• •Serve in smaller bowls than you think. Rice swells in the eye as much as in the pot; a modest mound with space around it feels calmer and tastes better.

Advance Preparation

• •The rice can be washed and soaked up to 1 hour before cooking. Drain it just before it goes into the pot so the water measurement stays clean.
• •Fresh edamame can be boiled and shelled up to 4 hours ahead. Cool it, refrigerate it, then fold it into hot rice and rest the rice for 10 minutes instead of 5.
• •Cooked edamame gohan is best the same day. Cool leftovers quickly, refrigerate within 1 hour, and use within 24 hours; reheat covered with a few drops of water or shape into onigiri rice balls.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 215g)