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Japanese-Style Rice Salad
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- Total Time
- 30 to 60 minutes, depending on the type of rice
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- 1½ to 2cups short-grain brown or white rice
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- ½cup chopped scallion
- 1small or ½ large red or yellow bell pepper, cored, seeded and chopped
- ¼cup finely chopped or shredded celery
- ¼cup finely chopped or shredded carrot
- 1cup firm tofu, preferably baked, optional
- 6tablespoons miso paste
- ¾cup warm water or sake
- 1teaspoon sugar
- 1tablespoon mirin or honey
- 1tablespoon rice vinegar, or more to taste
- 2sheets of nori, lightly toasted
- 2tablespoons black or white sesame seeds, toasted
Preparation
- Step 1
Cook rice in abundant salted water, as you would pasta, until it’s just done; white rice will take 10 to 15 minutes, brown 30 or a little longer. Drain, rinse in cold water, drain again, then combine with vegetables and tofu in a large bowl.
- Step 2
Put black pepper, miso, water or sake, sugar, mirin or honey, and vinegar in a small bowl, and whisk together. Taste, and add more vinegar and a pinch of salt, if needed.
- Step 3
Combine rice mixture with miso dressing with 2 big forks, fluffing rice and tossing gently to separate grains.
- Step 4
Crumble nori over salad and sprinkle with sesame seeds, taste, and adjust seasoning or moisten with a little more dressing. Serve at room temperature, or refrigerate for up to a day, bringing salad back to room temperature before serving.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
I just made this, and it's GREAT! I used a lot more veggies than the recipe suggested; and as I had no mirin, I used the honey. I made this with brown basmati rice and a splash of sesame oil. it is just wonderful! It is now a "keeper"! Thanks!
We liked this very much. I used short-grain brown rice. I had my doubts that "cooking it like pasta" would work, but it did and it took only 30 minutes, much less time than steaming. So, just finding that out was a treat. I used a small cucumber instead of celery and used mirin instead of honey, which I think helps the flavor. I didn't use nori, because I was too lazy to toast it, and didn't bother to "bake" the tofu (not that I knew how to do that). A lovely, cooling lunch. Thanks, Mark!
This is my kind of dish-- anything with miso in it. I wonder about trying it with black rice and smoked tofu. (I buy the tofu at Whole Foods.)
It's still hot like summer in LA and this was the perfect dinner! My one comment is that I found the yellow bell pepper to be a bit over-powering and will reduce by half next time and go generous on the other veggies. I also used honey. One for the recipe file.
Soupy and oddly, both bland and overflavored at the same time. My family stopped eating and had me order dinner from Panera.
Because I did not have any sake on hand I made this with water, which I don’t think I would do again as it came out rather flat. The sake apparently adds an essential flavor.
Added more vinegar, more sugar, less water. Very good.
Not sure if I did something wrong, but this was very bland. Maybe because I didn’t have same and used water? Or should have used brown miso paste instead of white? But really disappointed. Had very little flavor. I thought maybe I had skipped some ingredients, but didn’t.
6 tablespoons of miso was a tad much. I think our miso paste was quite potent, as it overwhelmed the dish. Other than that, quite nice!
Delicious!! Only add was soy sauce and a bit of sesame oil and substituted ramen noodles for the rice. Perfect hot summer meal.
Loved this. I followed the advice of other reviewers- less water, more vegetables, add sesame oil. I added a squeeze of lemon to see if that helped the dressing- it did, though I didn’t think it was really lackluster to begin with. I just googled baked tofu and made the first recipe- turned out great. Definitely making this more often!
I found that I only needed half of the dressing that the recipe specified.
Made this today, and added massaged kale and edamame beans. A complete meal! Delicious.
What is the best way to bake tofu?
I was so excited to try this recipe sure that it would be one of my favorites, but I was disappointed in the outcome. I didn't have mirin so I used honey, but think mirin would have been better. I baked the tofu using a korean bbq marinade for more flavor. The dressing was too much for the amount of rice and vegetables I used (1 1/2 cups rice and vegetables as per the recipe) and the salad ended up "soupy". I would try it again but would add ginger and more vegetables.
Nice flavor, but the sauce was too watery. Next time I'll use a half-cup of water instead of 3/4 c.
Would arborio rice work for this?
I made this with more celery, carrots & Quinoa instead of rice, & followed dressing recipe exactly but I would call this drunken salad! 3/4 cup of sake was a bit much as I tasted it after all finished & felt it immediately!
QUESTION: Would this work with leftover rice cooked in a more conventional way? I tend to fire up Ye Old Zojirushi and make rice for 4 or 5 meals for one at a time.
Hi Jen - I don't see why not. I use a rice cooker to make the rice for this and it comes out great.
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