Crab Rice with Charred Green Onion, Tatsoi, and Sesame

With so many possible variations, it’s difficult to choose which rice dish recipes to share. This is a satisfying and relatively easy one that makes a complete meal with only a small amount of crabmeat. I like to make this dish on the Sonoma Coast of California, using local Dungeness crabs when they are in season; however, most varieties of crab will work just fine. Buying whole crabs will yield you the shells and all the meaty flavors that come with them. The shells can be used to make the crab dashi, which can be used in place of the water when cooking the rice to give a deeper, more complex umami flavor. The dashi instructions here make much more than the recipe requires, so you can enjoy the rest by trying the Hokkaido-Style Seafood-Miso-Kimchi Hot Pot or by serving it as a clear soup to accompany this dish. To make a soup from it, combine the dashi with just a bit of reserved crabmeat and a few of the tatsoi leaves, and add a sprinkle of salt, soy sauce, or shiro shoyu (white soy sauce). Once you feel comfortable with the techniques in this dish, you can easily customize it to suit your tastes and the seafood you have on hand. We enjoy adding different types of kimchi to this dish, as well as ginger, braised kombu, gingko nuts, mushrooms, and a variety of vegetables.

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% Daily Values based on a 2,000 calorie diet

Step 1

In the donabe, combine the rice with the water. (If you have made the crab dashi and have at least 3¼ cups, you can substitute 2¼ cups for the water here. Just make sure you have 1 cup left over to use later.) Let the rice soak for 20 minutes. Cover with both lids and cook over medium-high heat for 13 to 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and let it rest for 20 minutes.

Step 2

Meanwhile, working in batches, lay the green onions in a large dry sauté pan and char over medium-high heat, turning regularly, for 2 to 3 minutes. The green onions will begin to steam in their own moisture and char on the outside. Remove from the sauté pan and lay the green onions all facing the same direction on a cutting board. Trim the root end and a few inches of the green tops and discard. Slice the green onions into ¼-inch (6 mm) rounds and reserve.

Step 3

Wipe out the sauté pan and heat the grapeseed oil over medium heat. Add the charred green onions and sauté for 1 minute, stirring frequently. Add the sesame oil and the mirin and scrape the pan to deglaze. Allow the alcohol to evaporate (1 to 2 minutes) and remove the pan from the heat. As the pan is cooling, swirl in the shiro shoyu. Set the green onions aside.

Step 4

Prepare a bowl of ice water and set aside. Bring a medium to large pot of salted water to a boil. Blanch the tatsoi leaves for 10 seconds and transfer the tatsoi immediately to the ice water. Once chilled, remove the leaves from the ice water, drain, and reserve.

Step 5

To finish the dish, fold the crabmeat into the rice (reserving some nice lump pieces for garnish), 1 cup (240 ml) of the crab dashi (or other dashi), the charred green onion mixture, the tatsoi leaves, and the toasted sesame seeds. Cover the rice cooker and gently heat over a medium flame for 3 to 4 minutes to heat thoroughly and perfume the rice with the crab aroma. Season with salt or additional soy sauce if desired, and garnish with the reserved lump crab pieces, additional sesame seeds, and ichimi togarashi.