As we head into the autumn season, takikomi-gohan (cooked rice with mushrooms) becomes more and more delicious. Rice cooked with plenty of mushrooms and soup stock is soft, fragrant, and delicious...!

Then how about coffee takikomi-gohan? This recipe was devised by KALDI's store staff. I was skeptical, but I gave it a try and found it to be surprisingly tasty!

Coffee Rice Recipe

Ingredients

2 cups (400 ml) coffee (dark recommended)
2 cups rice
1 bag mixed salad beans
Salt to taste

Prepare a strong brew of coffee. The KALDI recipe calls for an iced blend. In this case, I used commercially packaged iced coffee. Beans and salt are optional.

To

make the recipe

: Place 2 cups of coffee and 2 cups of well-dried rice in a rice cooker and let the rice absorb the coffee for 15 minutes.


After 15 minutes, cook the rice in the "normal" course of the rice cooker.


After about an hour, the rice is cooked. When you open the rice cooker, what appears from under the rising steam is... rice that is so brown!



While the rice was cooking, it smelled like coffee being brewed, but surprisingly, the cooked rice did not smell so much like coffee. It smelled like brewing coffee while it was cooking. It is about the same. Add some salad beans and salt to taste, and you're ready to eat!


The savory

flavor of the coffee

. One bite and you will be amazed! It is fragrant! And slightly bitter. But what is this known feeling... like rice cooked in an earthenware pot or grilled rice balls with soy sauce and roasted to perfection.


The first bite was like "okoge or grilled onigiri," but the more I bit into the rice, the more the savory flavor of coffee seeped out after the sweetness. A little sprinkle of salt enhances the aroma and bitterness of the coffee. Unexpected, but possible!

Why not make the most of its visual impact and use it as a surprise menu item for Halloween, or pour white curry or cream stew over it and enjoy the "reverse curry" color contrast?


By the way, when I tried it with white stew, the savory coffee rice went well with the mild sweetness of the stew, so please try it!