10 Cheap Rice Cooker Dinners a Japanese Grandma Makes for One 3 Ingredients Each

You come home tired, it's only you tonight, and the last thing you want is a pan, a pot and a sink full of dishes for one plate. So you try a rice cooker dinner, stir everything together, press the button, and the rice comes out soggy on top and hard in the middle. In Japan, seasoned rice with a few things cooked right in it (takikomi gohan) is ordinary weeknight food for one. Here are ten of them, each with just three cheap ingredients plus rice, water and a little soy sauce or salt. I'm Emiko, seventy-three, and these days I mostly cook for one. In this video: • Why the canned fish liquid most people pour down the sink does half the work • Flavor goes in first, water goes in last, up to the line • Drain your cans, and save the butter for after the click • A whole tomato in the pot, so the water comes down a little • Fish goes in whole, skin up, and gets broken up at the end • Cut chicken small, and never put meat on the delay timer • Why stirring before you press start gives you hard rice • Curry block and salty meats stay on top, with less soy sauce • Soaking sweet potato so the cut sides don't darken • The free 30-minute step that fixes hard middles in all ten • Cooking one cup for two dinners, and freezing the second bowl Chapters 0:00 Why rice cooker dinners come out soggy and hard in the middle 1:29 #10 Canned mackerel and ginger rice (keep the can liquid) 3:14 #9 Tuna, corn and butter rice 4:23 #8 Whole tomato and bacon rice 5:56 #7 Salmon and mushroom rice 7:21 #6 Chicken, ginger and carrot rice 9:34 #5 Daikon and pork rice (why you never stir) 11:24 #4 Curry pilaf with sausages 12:44 #3 Okinawa-style Spam rice 14:09 #2 Sweet potato and black sesame rice 15:30 #1 Ketchup chicken rice and the 30-minute secret 17:48 The four habits to remember Tell me in the comments: which of these ten are you making first, and what would you put in your rice cooker if it were up to you? If cooking just for yourself has felt like too much bother lately, a like or a subscribe means a great deal, and there'll always be a seat at my table for you. I'll be back in the kitchen with you soon. #ricecooker #japanesecooking #cookingforone