Food & Wine USA - (04)April 2020

APRIL 2020 33

2 cups steamed and picked snow

crab legs

1 avocado, thinly sliced

1 Persian or^1 / 2 English cucumber,

seeded and diced

Smelt roe or tobiko, thinly sliced

nori, and crushed toasted sesame

seeds, for serving

1. Place 1^1 / 2 cups cold water and kombu in
   a small saucepan; heat over high until
   steaming. Remove from heat; sprinkle kat-
   suobushi over broth, and steep 3 minutes.
   Strain dashi into a bowl; discard solids.


2. Process remaining^1 / 2 cup water and
   chopped ginger in a blender until smooth,
   about 1 minute. Pour ginger water through
   a fine wire-mesh strainer; discard solids.


3. Preheat oven to 450°F. Combine rinsed
   rice, 1 cup dashi, ginger water, sake, and
   salt in a 3-quart donabe or lidded sauce-
   pan, and cover. Cook over low until begin-
   ning to boil, about 8 minutes. Cook,
   checking rice often, until liquid is evenly
   boiling over the whole surface, about 7

California Wappa Rice Bowls

ACTIVE 20 MIN; TOTAL 45 MIN

SERVES 4

The wappa baskets infuse the rice with a

savory aroma; if making the dish without,

serve the rice in warmed bowls. While a

donabe (see box at left) is traditional for

cooking Japanese-style rice, a lidded pot or

rice cooker may be used in its place.

2 cups cold water, divided

1 (5- x 3-inch) piece kombu

1 / 4 cup loosely packed katsuobushi

(dried bonito flakes)

1 /^4 cup chopped peeled ginger plus 1

tsp. grated peeled ginger, divided

2 cups uncooked Tamanishiki rice or

other sushi rice, rinsed

1 / 2 cup sake

21 / 4 tsp. kosher salt

2 / 3 cup packed dark brown sugar

1 / 2 cup soy sauce

1 garlic clove, grated

minutes. Immediately place donabe in

preheated oven, and bake until rice is ten-

der, about 15 minutes. Remove from oven,

and let rest, covered, 5 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, bring brown sugar, soy
   sauce, garlic, and grated ginger to a boil in
   a small saucepan over medium-low. Boil
   until sauce thickens to a syrup consis-
   tency, about 5 minutes. Let cool, and
   reserve.


5. Place one-fourth of the cooked rice
   (about 1 cup) in each of 4 cedar steamer
   baskets (wappa). Top evenly with crab
   and avocado. Working 1 basket at a time,
   place basket over simmering water; cover
   and cook until rice and toppings are
   heated through, about 4 minutes.
   Remove from heat. (Alternatively, divide
   rice among warmed bowls, and top with
   crab and avocado.) Top evenly with
   cucumber, roe, nori, and sesame seeds,
   and serve immediately with sweet soy
   glaze. —TAKUYA UMEDA, UMEDA, L.A.
   WINE Citrusy, melon-inflected California
   Chardonnay: 2016 Flowers Sonoma Coast

FW_0420_Handbook.indd 33 FINAL CONTENT 2/13/20 5:46 PM