Mame Gohan (Japanese Green Pea Rice)

Mame Gohan, with its vibrant green appearance, is a Japanese mixed rice dish that allows you to fully appreciate the flavor of green peas. Enjoy the delicate yet flavorful taste of Japan.

Jump to:

• What is Mame Gohan?
• Enhancing the texture and color
• Cooking Tools
• Seasonal Japanese rice dishes
• 📋Step-by-step recipe
• Tips on how to make
• Recipe card

What is Mame Gohan?

Mame Gohan is a Japanese mixed rice dish made by mixing green peas with rice. "Mame" refers to beans, and "Gohan" means cooked rice. While there are various types of beans, when it comes to the beans used in this dish, it typically refers to green peas.

Green peas are delicious in dishes like soup, salad, and stir-fries, but they actually pair well with rice as well. That's why this dish is known in Japan as a classic dish for spring, when green peas are in season.

In this recipe, a small amount of sake and salt are added to bring out the flavor of green peas to the fullest. You will surely be amazed by how well rice and green peas complement each other.

Enhancing the texture and color

You might think that mame gohan is simply made by cooking rice and green peas together, but in reality, this won't achieve a vibrant green appearance. To maintain the vivid green color while preserving the texture of green peas, the following methods are necessary:

1. Cook rice and green peas separately.
2. Use water that has been boiled with green peas when cooking rice.

By employing these two methods, you can make this dish visually appealing and delicious.

Simply cooking rice and green peas together would compromise the texture of the green peas and their bright green color. However, just cooking rice and green peas separately will not offer the flavor of peas to the rice. The solution to these issues lies in using water that has been boiled with green peas when cooking rice.

Cooking rice with the cooking liquid allows you to infuse the full flavor of the green peas into the rice. Additionally, adding green peas after cooking rice ensures that their texture and color remain intact.

While you can make this dish by simply cooking rice with green peas, I highly recommend using these methods instead. With just a little extra effort, the results are significantly improved.

Cooking Tools

The tool you need to make this dish is the same as the one used to cook regular Japanese rice: a pot or a rice cooker. In Japan, while most households have a rice cooker, it is less common outside of Japan, so I’m sharing a recipe using a pot here. Of course, you can also use a rice cooker; in that case, simply replace the pot with the rice cooker in the recipe.

To learn more about how to cook Japanese rice on the stove, please refer to the linked page.

Seasonal Japanese rice dishes

In Japan, there are many types of cooked rice made with fresh, seasonal ingredients. One representative rice dish during the spring is mame gohan, but there are also other dishes such as "Corn Rice," "Kuri Gohan" (chestnut rice), "Ginger Rice," and "Satsumaimo Gohan" (Japanese sweet potato rice), all prepared according to the season.

In traditional Japanese kaiseki restaurants, it is common to serve a rice dish made with seasonal ingredients before dessert. If you have the opportunity to try kaiseki cuisine, pay attention to the ingredients used in the rice. You will surely experience the essence of the season.

📋Step-by-step recipe

Ingredients

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Instructions

🕒 Total: 55 mins mins

Step 1
Place a sieve over a bowl, add rice, and rinse it with water. Repeat this process several times, changing the water each time.

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Step 2
Soak the rinsed rice in water in a pot for at least 30 minutes.

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Step 3
Mix water (as specified in the recipe) and salt in another pot and bring it to a boil. Once boiling, add green peas and simmer over low heat for 5 minutes. After that, turn off the heat and let them cool down.

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Step 4
Transfer the green peas to a bowl. Do not discard the boiled water, as you will need it for the next step.

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Step 5
Discard the water in which the rice was soaked from the pot. Combine the drained rice with sake and the water that has been boiled with green peas (the amount specified in the recipe) in the pot.

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Step 6
Cover the pot and bring it to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to low and continue cooking for 10 minutes, or slightly longer for larger quantities (11 minutes for 4 servings, 12 minutes for 6 servings).

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Step 7
Turn off the heat and let it steam for 10 minutes with the lid still on.

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Step 8
Mix the green peas into the cooked rice.

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To Store

You can store it in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.

Tips on how to make

• Cook the rice with water that has been boiled together with the green peas to enhance the flavor. Using the cooking liquid will result in a significantly more flavorful outcome. For more details, please refer to the 'Enhancing the texture and color' section.
• Wait until the green peas have cooled down after boiling before removing them from the pot. This helps prevent them from wrinkling and ensures they retain their beautiful shape.

Recipe card