Recipe: Oyster Rice (Japanese-Style) and Black Fried Rice Oysters

Oyster Rice
(Japanese-Style)

3 cups Rice
3 cups (A) Dashi/ soup stock (or water)
1 Tablespoon ligh soy sauce
3 Tablespoons Sake
1/3 teaspoon Salt
200g Oysters
1 Egg
Small amount Seri/ Japanese parsley
Small amount Laver strips
Small amount Ginger extract

30 minutes before steaming the rice, wash it and remove the moisture with a strainer.

Rinse the oysters in weak saltwater. Quickly rinse with water; then remove the moisture.

Adding a pinch of salt, make a beaten egg fried paper-thin; then cut into fine strips.
Cut the seri in thin slices.

Combining the rice from step 1 with the ingredients for (A), place into the rice cooker and boil. After boiling, add the oysters from step 2 and a small amount of ginger extract (shoga-jiru), and boil. Add the seri, egg strips, and laver strips and serve.

* You can also simmer the oysters before adding.
* The soup stock can be seasoned to give it a soup taste and then added to steamed rice with oysters. You can also put wasabi (Japanese horseradish) on top and create an ochazuke-type dish (simple tea-on-boiled-rice meal) out of it.

Black Fried Rice Oysters
Serves 4

Rice Balls
2 cups black rice
1 litre water
1 star anise
2 cinnamon sticks
12 oysters
1/4 cup plain flour
plastic wrap

Soak the rice overnight, then place the water and rice, with the star anise and cinnamon sticks in a pot over medium heat, stirring constantly until cooked. The rice should become glutinous and sticky. Lay out on a tray and cool. On a small piece of plastic wrap press out rice to 1/2cm thick. It is important not to have the rice too thick. Take the oyster out of its shell and coat in flour, and place onto rice. Bring the ends of the plastic together and wind until it forms a ball. Chill overnight, and remove the plastic when set. Fry in a preheated deep fryer at 180C until rice is crispy.