Tender Japanese Sweet Potatoes with earthy shiitake mushrooms, all cooked cooked on top of flavourful fluffy rice. Filling and comforting, this rice is perfect as an on-the-go onigiri or a side dish to a mid week meal. This recipe uses an instant pot, but it’s suitable for rice cookers and stove top too!
Sweet potato in rice may sound odd, but don’t knock it till you try it. Japanese sweet potato has a chest-nutty flavour, so that, combined with the earthy shiitake goodness – so tasty.
This recipe is a variation of Japanese mixed rice, or Takikomi Gohan in Japanese. It’s one of my favourite ways to cook rice, so much so, I decided to write a blog post on it. Check it out if you want to learn how to make up your own variations!
Frequently Asked Questions
Japanese sweet potato originate from Central/South America. It’s a white flesh sweet potato and is dense, velvety and has an almost chest-nutty flavour.
You can use any sweet potato you fancy but Japanese sweet potatoes have a very distinct flavour. Also some potatoes take more or less time to cook, so watch out for that.
Yes. This dish can be frozen for up to a month in the freezer.
Tips for cooking Japanese Rice
- Wash the rice before cooking. Gently rinse the rice 2-3 times, so that the water runs mostly clear.
- Soak rice for about 30 minutes before cooking. Most rice cookers have a built in soaking time so check the guide to see if yours does.
- Slice the potatoes into small, evenly sized chunks. This will help everything cook evenly.
Ingredients List
- 1.5 cups of Japanese rice
- approx 250g of Japanese sweet potato
- 4 re-hydrated shiitake mushrooms (can use fresh too)
- 1.25 cups of dashi stock
- approx 15 g grated ginger
- 2 tablespoons of soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons of mirin
- 2 tablespoons of cooking sake
Nutritional Information of Japanese Sweet Potato Rice (per serving)
- Energy: 320.5 kcal
- Fat: 0.6 g
- Saturates: 0.2 g
- Carbohydrate: 68.5 g
- Sugars: 15.9 g
- Fibre: 1.9 g
- Protein: 6.4 g
- Salt: 1.2 g
Nutrition information is an estimate generated using Cronometer and is intended for guidance only.
Japanese Sweet Potato Rice
Equipment
- 1 rice/pressure cooker
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups Japanese rice
- 250 g Japanese sweet potato (approximately)
- 4 dried shiitake mushrooms (re-hydrated)
Stock
- 1.25 cups dashi stock
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp mirin
- 2 tbsp cooking sake
- 15 g grated ginger
Instructions
- Prepare the rice by rinsing it approximately 3 times, until it runs mostly clear. Re-fill and soak for 30 minutes.
- Combine all the ingredients together for the stock and set aside.
- Slice the re-hydrated shiitake into thin slices and the sweet potato into evenly sized chunks.
- Once rice has finished soaking, drain and add in the seasoned stock. Layer in the rest of the ingredients on top. Don't mix at this point, or else it won't cook properly.
- For the Instant pot – seal the valve and cook it on high pressure for 2 minutes, then naturally release for 10. See notes if you're using a rice cooker or the stovetop.
- Mix the rice, serve and enjoy!
