April 8, 2010

Koshihikari Rice Produced in Minami Uonuma/南魚沼産コシヒカリ

This is the rice I posted about previously. See the April 3, 2010 post below for a photo of the bag of rice.
私が以前に話したお米です。お米の袋の写真は、2010年4月3日の投稿をご参照下さい。

Koshihikari is the variety of rice best loved by the Japanese, and the Koshihikari rice produced in the Minami Uonuma region of Niigata prefecture is regarded as the very best in Japan.
コシヒカリは日本人に最も愛されている米の品種で、新潟県南魚沼地域で生産されたコシヒカリが日本一と見なされています。

I usually buy Koshiibuki rice because it is cheaper than Koshihikari but is almost as good.
私は通常、コシイブキを買っています。コシヒカリより安く、コシヒカリと同じくらい美味しいからです。

I am of the opinion that good rice is bad for your health because you can't get enough of it and you won't need much okazu to have good rice. If the rice is good, I can have three bowls of it with only some salt, soy sauce, tsukudani, pickle, or furikake!
私は、美味しいご飯は健康に良くないと思っています。食べ飽きないし、美味しいご飯を食べるには、おかずはあまり要らないからです。私は、ご飯が美味しければ、塩、醤油、佃煮、漬物、ふりかけを少しだけで3杯食べれます!

7 comments:

Lexi said...

I am trying to find an alternate to rice. Polished rice doesn't have a lot of nutrition, and a lot of calories. Brown rice is very expensive. Do you have any other suggestions for starch? How about barley (mugi)? Is that cheap, and available like rice do you think?

Hiroyuki said...

Lexi: I don't think brown rice is very expensive, at least in a rural area like mine. When milled, brown rice turns into white rice, and reduces by 1/10 in weight, so that 10 kg of brown rice, for example, results in 9 kg of white rice. You probably think that brown rice is very expensive because in urban areas, brown rice is sold in small quantities, say, 1-2 kg.

Oshi mugi or 押し麦(lit. pressed barley) is readily available at any supermarket, but it's not cheap (sold for about the same price as rice).

How about making bread from scratch (laugh)?!

Lexi said...

Actually...I have made bread, but I'm not a good enough bread maker to use it for sandwiches. :(

Amato said...

Yes, you are right , since I know Koshihikari rice, I always eat a lot.
Germans are a potato nation, but I buy every month 5 kg rice.
I like haigamai rice, this has more nutrition than white rice.
Maybe this would be an alternative for Lexi?

Right now I try brown rice, but have problems with the cooking of it, it is sometimes very dry.
Any suggestions?

Hiroyuki said...

Amato: Sorry, I can't give you any suggestions because I don't care for brown rice. I know how nutrious brown rice is, but like many other Japanese, I just can't like it.
Maybe you should make congee or something like that??

Hiroyuki said...

Amato: I found this site:
http://benstars.fc2web.com/genmai/
which describes "bikkuri daki" (lit. surprise cooking).
I will describe it in my blog in the near future.

Anonymous said...

Lexi: You could try cous cous! Seasoned with spices and mixed with diced mushrooms / other vegetables is nice. Can also toss a bit of cous cous into a fresh salad.

If baking sandwich loaves is a bit too time consuming (ie. have to add yeast and give it time to prove) you might like to try making some varieties of flat-bread, which are delicious with curries and soups, and keep well too. Could try making french crepes or indian naan also?

Using wholemeal flour in place of regular white flour in your crepes / naans will provide added nutrition.