Caramelized sweet onion, seasoned with soy sauce and mirin, this simple Sweet Onion Takikomi Gohan is a flavorful and aromatic mixed rice to accompany your next Japanese meal.

Sweet Onion Takikomi Gohan

INGREDIENTS

• 2 rice cooker cups uncooked Japanese short grain rice (12 oz or 1 ½ cups or 360 ml)
• ½ sweet onion
• 2 tsp neutral flavor oil (vegetable, canola, etc)
• Mitsuba (Japanese parsley) (or green onion to garnish)

Seasonings:

• 2 Tbsp mirin (or 2 Tbsp sake/water + 2 tsp sugar)
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Gather all the ingredients.
2. Rinse rice until water is almost clear. Soak in water for 30 minutes. Drain in a fine-mesh sieve for 15 minutes.
3. Thinly slice the onion. I cut the onion against the grain so the onion keeps the texture after cooked.
4. In a frying pan, heat the oil over medium heat and sauté onion until they are soft.
5. Add mirin and soy sauce.
6. Continue to sauté until the sauce is thickened.
7. Add the drained rice into the rice cooker and pour the sauteed onion including sauce.
8. Add the water up to “2 cup line” on the inner bowl and click start to cook. If you have a “Mixed Rice” option, use it (See Notes below). 
9. When rice is finished cooking, chop mitsuba into small pieces and fluff up the rice with rice scooper. Serve the rice and garnish with mitsuba.

RECIPE NOTES

Regular or Mixed Rice setting on rice cooker: The main difference is that Mixed Rice setting will create burnt rice called “Okoge” on the bottom of the rice cooker. Takikomi Gohan (mixed rice) always have the burnt rice from soy sauce in the seasoning, and many people enjoy the burnt charred rice. If your rice cooker doesn’t have the mixed rice option, steam extra 5 min longer at the end before opening the rice cooker.

https://www.justonecookbook.com/sweet-onion-takikomi-gohan/