Fuki no mazegohan / rice mixed with Japanese butterbur

A variation to enjoy fuki cooked in broth. Cut into small pieces, fuki gives a succulent soft crunch to lightly salted sweet rice.

<Ingredients>

Small handful fuki from fuki no sattoni (quick-simmered Japanese butterbur in light broth; the amount shown in photo is maximum; 60-70% of this should be fine)
4/5 cup* regular rice
1/5 cup* sweet rice
1 tbsp sake
1/4 tsp salt
1 small piece (3 cm square) kombu kelp
Approx 190 cc water (not in photo)
*180 cc rice cooker cup


<Directions>
1.

Wash regular and sweet rice together, drain, and let sit for 1 hour (at least 30 minutes).

2.

When ready to cook, add sake and water to slightly below 1-cup mark, salt, and mix.

Put kombu, and cook.

3.

Meanwhile, cut fuki into 5 mm thick pieces

4.

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

Mix in fuki, and gently turn.

Ready to serve.

<Notes>

• The fuki used above is from Day 4 of fuki no sattoni.
• When sweet rice is mixed in, add slightly less water than when cooking regular rice only. Otherwise, the rice gets mushy.
• The above proportion of sweet rice is enough for a clear contrast with the sweet taste of salt. More sweet rice can be used, such as 1/4 cup. If too much sweet rice is added, the outcome is rather heavy to pair with the light flavor of fuki.