So I’ve actually been a bit curious to try the best recipes on the Absolutely Tasty series. Today, I decided to satiate that curiosity with the first Absolutely Tasty rice.

Ingredients:

Akita Komachi short grain Japanese rice (15lbs. for $17.99)

Kirin Beer (1 pint for $1.99)

Nissui frozen edamame ($1.99)

A tiny bit of salt

Step 1: Wash rice

It’s very important to wash the rice before cooking it in order to get rid of some of the starch. Most rice brands pre-wash it before packaging, which helps a lot because damn, I used to have to do several rinses when I was a kid. Anyway, it’s not necessary to wash it until the rice water is completely clear, but just at least to the point where it’s transparent and doesn’t look like skim milk.

I usually cook 3 cups of rice, which is usually a good amount for me and my roommate to consume with multiple meals before the rice gets hard, but it’s up to you. I let the rice soak in water for about 10 minutes while I was working on the next step.

Step 2: Shell edamame

If you’re using frozen edamame like I did, just let the edamame sit in hot water for a few minutes so it’s easier to shell them. This is a pretty easy process, just pop them out of their shell and repeat. I’ve seen a couple people who just put the whole edamame, shell and bean, into the rice cooker, but eh… The shell isn’t edible and separating it after cooking is a pain in the ass because it’d be too hot to handle.

Step 3: Add edamame and beer to rice

I drained the soaked rice as much as possible to make room for the edamame and beer.

It fizzed a lot while pouring, so pour slowly and let it sit to be able to measure up to the proper water line. (Add a little extra beer to offset the extra weight that the edamame add.)

Step 4: Wait for the rice to cook

It’s going to take a while for the rice to cook, so go do something while you wait. For myself, I chose to play FFX HD Remaster on the PS3 while finishing off the rest of the beer. (Grinding away at the Omega Ruins… Might need more beer.)

Step 5: Mix up the rice

Wow, looks pretty good. It’s got a slight toasted color and it has the beer fragrance. I was taught to mix up the rice and make it fluffy before serving, so I mix it up with a shamoji (rice paddle)…

It’s nice and toasted at the bottom of the rice pot, which I like and gives it a really interesting texture and taste. I mix it all up to get the rice all nice and fluffy.

Step 6: Serve!

Here’s my dinner! (I generally never have this many entrees…) Edamame beer rice on the bottom and going clockwise from there is shrimp with bok choy and bean noodles, nimono (stewed Japanese vegetables) with tsukune (Japanese meatballs), stir-fried potatoes, enoki mushrooms, and snow peas, and miso soup with tofu, onions, daikon radish, and wakame seaweed.

Overall, the edamame beer rice was very pleasant. It smells strongly of hops, but there’s no bitter taste at all. The combination of edamame and beer made the rice much more savory and goes very well with Asian side dishes. I like my edamame salty, so I sprinkled some salt over the rice and it was delicious. However, most edamame packages are pre-salted, so it might not be necessary. Anyway, I wouldn’t recommend eating this by itself, but I think it’d go very well with grilled fish or Japanese tapas-style dishes.

However, in the overall ratings for mixed rice recipes, I think kuri-gohan (chestnut rice) or gomoku-gohan (5 ingredients mixed rice) taste better, but it’s still a really easy and great way to boost the flavors of your dinner. I would agree with the Gaki team in their 8 out of 10 rating.

Gaki rating: ★★★★★★★★☆☆ (8 out of 10)

Oolong’s rating: ★★★★★★★★☆☆ (8 out of 10)