Jump to Recipe Jump to Video Print Recipe

Spring is my favorite season to cook in

And we only have one more week of it left! I feel like this year has been flying by and I didn’t get to fully take advantage of the seasonal Spring vegetables this year. This donabe rice dish is filled with my favorite spring vegetables including asparagus, peas, sugar snap peas, and green onions.

Donabe is a Japanese clay pot used for making many dishes like stews, braises, noodles, proteins, and rice. Plain rice can be made in the donabe and this recipe is an elevated more flavorful version of it. Cooked with dashi stock and topped with fresh vegetables, swap out this spring-inspired donabe rice for your plain rice!

Some tips from the kitchen

Wash and soak your rice! I like to soak my rice for about 30 minutes to an hour before cooking but you can also soak overnight as well. This will speed up cooking time, prevent mushy overcooked rice, and create a stronger nutty aroma of the rice.

Donabe is a Japanese style clay pot used for many different dishes. They are great for stews, braises, and making rice since they retain heat evenly and for long periods of time. If you don’t have a donabe, use a rice cooker or an instant pot. A stainless steel pot can be used as well but it will be much harder to control the heat. I found my donabe pot on Amazon.

For short-grain white rice, the rice to cooking liquid ratio is 1:1 (1 cup of rice to 1 cup of cooking liquid). To prevent mushy rice, remove a few tablespoons of dashi stock before adding soy sauce and mirin for displacement.

I made my dashi stock from scratch but using Hondashi (dashi powder) is a great substitute.

Use your favorite vegetables! I’m using peas, asparagus, sugar snap peas, and green onions but feel free to use whatever vegetables you like. Mushrooms, carrots, corn, cabbage work well with this recipe.

Ingredients

2 cups Short-Grain White Rice, washed
1 3/4 cups Dashi Stock
2 tbsp. Soy Sauce
1 tbsp. Mirin
1/4 cup Asparagus Stalks, chopped
1/4 cup Sugar Snap Peas, chopped

1/4 cup English Peas
2 Green Onions, chopped

Dashi Stock

2 cups Water
1 piece Dried Kelp (Kombu), 3 inch x 3 inch
1 slice Ginger, 2 inch
2 Dried Shiitake Mushrooms
1/4 cup Bonito Flakes

Instructions

1. Prepare dashi stock. Combine water, dried kelp, and ginger in a pot and bring it up to a boil. Simmer for 5 minutes. Turn off heat and add bonito flakes. Steep for 30 minutes and strain. Reserve shiitake mushrooms and kelp.

2. Wash your rice until the water runs clear. Soak rice in cold water for a minimum of 30 minutes to 1 hour or overnight.

3. Add soak rice to a donabe (clay pot), rice cooker, or instant pot. Add in dashi stock, soy sauce, and mirin. Mix to evenly distribute seasonings. Cover with lid.

4. Cook on medium high until steam begins to escape from the lid (~5 minutes). Drop to the lowest heat setting on your stove and cook for an additional 10-12 minutes.

5. Chop vegetables including reserved shiitake mushrooms and kelp.

6. Turn off heat and sprinkle the chopped vegetables on the rice. Close the lid and let the rice rest for 5-10 minutes. The residual heat will cook the vegetables.

7. Fluff the rice and mix in the vegetables.

Print Recipe