Sweet potato rice, or Satsumaimo Gohan, is a popular dish in autumn. It is made by cooking satsumaimo or Japanese sweet potato and rice for slightly sweetened rice. The natural sweetness of the satsumaimo with the rice makes it a great standalone meal or can complement any other dish. If you like Japanese sweet potatoes, this is a dish you have to try. This post is about easily making sweet potato rice or satsumaimo Gohan at home with a few ingredients.
Ingredients for Sweet Potato Rice
- Japanese short grain rice – typically, Japanese short grain rice is used in most Japanese dishes. It is a sticky rice type that perfectly matches the dense, nutty sweet potato. If you want stickier rice, you can combine mochigome, rice used to make mochi.
- Japanese sweet potato – Japanese sweet potato is the key ingredient in this recipe. This type of sweet potato is mildly sweet and nutty with a chestnut-like texture.
- Cooking sake – adding sake to rice helps bring out the rice flavors. It makes a slight difference in the taste. However, you can omit it if you do not have it or do not want to use it.
- Mirin – mirin is a type of sweet sake. It adds a little extra sweetness and flavor to the dish.
- Pinch of salt – this helps bring out the sweetness of the satsumaimo even more
Ingredients mentioned in this recipe:
You can find these at Japanese grocery stores and most Asian grocery stores.
- Japanese Grocery market (Mitsuwa, Nijiya, Tokyo Central)
- Asian Grocery markets (H-Mart, 99 Ranch)
- Asian isle at your local grocery market
- Amazon (links to some of my favorites below)
Notes and Tips:
- Using Japanese short-grain rice makes a difference. Using ingredients from Japan is essential to capture the essence of Japanese cooking. I highly recommend trying Japanese short-grain rice if you haven’t yet already. Japanese medium-grain rice can be used as well.
- Japanese sweet potato is the key ingredient in this dish. Japanese sweet potato is the one thing you cannot substitute because it will make or break the dish. You can find these at many grocery stores. I have seen them at most Asian markets and even local markets such as Trader Joe’s and Wholefoods.
Sweet Potato Rice (Satsumaimo Gohan)
This post is about easily making sweet potato rice or satsumaimo Gohan at home with a few ingredients.
Equipment
- 1 Donabe or pot
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups Uncooked Japanese short grain rice 2 rice cups
- 1 Satsumaimo Japanese sweet potato
- 2 tbsp Mirin
- 1 tbsp Sake
- Pinch of Salt
- 1.5 cups Water
- Goma or sesame seeds optional
Instructions
- In a bowl, wash uncooked Japanese short-grain rice. In a bowl, submerge the rice in water and, using your hands, swirl the rice in one direction 10-15 times. Then drain the water. Repeat this step 4-5 times, with the water getting clearer each round.
- Then drain all the water and put rice in donabe or pot.
- To prepare the sweet potato, thoroughly wash the outside so there is no dirt or grime on the skin. This is important as we are using the whole sweet potato.
- Once it is clean, slice the sweet potato in 2cm thickness. You will end up with a circle. Then, cut the circle in quarters. You will end up with a quarter of a circle.
- Submerge the sweet potato in water. This will remove the starch from the sweet potato and will help with any discoloration it may develop.
- Then drain the water from the sweet potato and add the sweet potato to the donabe.
- Add mirin, sake, salt, water to the donabe
- Turn on the heat to medium and cook for 15 minutes. It should be boiling and steaming.
- Turn off the heat and let it rest for 20 minutes. Do not open the lid or touch the rice at this point.
- After 20 minutes, open the lid and mix the rice from bottom to top.
- Serve in a chawan or rice bowl, sprinkle goma or sesame seeds and enjoy!
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