Fragrant Japanese rice sweetened with carrot, this easy rice dish is a great way to get some added color and nutrition to your meal!
While this rice is made with carrots, you’ll be surprised how little the carrot taste comes through. If want to include some finely chopped onion or other vegetables to make it more of a mixed rice dish, you’re welcome to experiment, but just adding the carrot keeps the dish simple yet colorful, a welcome addition to simple meals! I especially love cooking this rice to go with curry and other stew dishes, it adds a lot of visual appeal to the plate, and really complements the curry flavor well!
The key to making the rice so colorful is finely grating the carrot. It might take a bit of work to grate it that fine, but it’s definitely worth it in the end. The carrot pulp blends beautifully with the rice, enhancing the flavor without taking away from the natural texture of the rice. And with a little added butter on top, what more could you want from a rice dish?
My method cooks the rice on the stove, but it can easily be made in the rice cooker using the normal settings for rice as well.
Recipe – Carrot Rice:
– Polish the rice by rubbing the grains with your hands in a bowl of water to remove excess starch. The water will become quite cloudy.
– Change the water a few times, continuing to rub the rice gently, until the water is mostly clear. Transfer to a colander or wide plate to drain and air dry.
– Finely grate the carrot in a small bowl.
– Place the rice, carrot and dashi in a small pot. Bring to a boil over high heat, then cover and immediately turn the heat down to low. Let cook 25 minutes until water is absorbed.
– Once the rice is cooked, add the butter to the pot. Replace the lid, remove from heat, then let rest 5 minutes. Gently stir the rice with a spatula to combine the butter and fluff the rice. Serve immediately.
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