This simple and satisfying dish requires no cooking! Mentaiko Rice is a quick weekday favorite. Top a bowl of warm rice with mentaiko (spicy cod roe), chives, and drizzle of sesame oil. Mix and eat. Delicious and full of flavor.
How could you not love this dish?
Imagine warm rice topped with a single mentaiko lobe, chopped chives, and drizzle of sesame oil. Comfort food for sure!
Assuming you already have hot rice (which we often have ready to go in the rice cooker), you don't need to cook anything. Just chop the chives and gently place everything on top of the rice.
I especially enjoy mentaiko rice for a solo meal. Think quiet nights with a good movie or a quick lunch on busy days. It hits the spot and feels "homemade" even though it's much easier than getting delivery or driving somewhere for takeout.
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Ingredients
Here's what you'll need:
- Cooked rice - Jasmine rice or Japanese short-grain rice works best.
- Mentaiko (spicy cod roe)
- Chives
- Sesame oil
See recipe card for quantities.
What Is Mentaiko?
Mentaiko is spicy cod roe. It's briny and salty with a little bit of heat. Mentaiko is delicious and very versatile.
Aside from making mentaiko rice, you can also make mentaiko toast, mentaiko udon and mentaiko pasta. Mentaiko is a popular onigiri filling (recipe coming soon).
The different ways you can cook and eat with mentaiko is endless. For examples, there a popular Japanese bakery in Honolulu called Okayama Kobo Bakery. They make mentaiko mochi oyaki and a salt and butter roll with mentaiko! Both are incredibly tasty when you get them hot out of the oven (imagine hot melty mochi mixed with mentaiko!)
Purchase mentaiko from Japanese markets. In Honolulu we go to Nijiya (Ala Moana location), Mitsuwa, or Marukai. Mentaiko is available in the frozen and/refrigerated section of the market. Mentaiko freezes well so you can buy a couple packs and store them the freezer for last minute meals.
Instructions
Let's get cooking!
Place the cooked rice into a serving bowl.
Note: We usually have warm rice ready to go in the rice cooker. But if the rice isn't already hot, make sure to heat it up first.
Place a single mentaiko lobe on top of the rice.
Sprinkle the chopped chives next to the mentaiko lobe.
Drizzle sesame oil all over the top. You can use more or less of what the recipe calls for depending on how much you love seasame oi.
Mix and eat and enjoy!
Substitutions and Variations
A few of our favorite ideas:
- Extra spicy - Mentaiko itself is already a little spicy, but you can add a drizzle of chili oil to add even more heat.
- Nori strips - Top the dish with shredded nori, always a good idea.
- Egg yolk - Top the dish with a raw egg yolk or a soft cooked egg (that has a barely cooked / still runny egg yolk). To make a soft cooked egg: bring a small pot of water to a boil. Once boiling, turn off the heat. Gently add the egg. Put a lid on the pot and remove from heat. Let sit for 6 minutes. Then crack the egg directly over the rice.
Try one or try them all!
Storage
The prepared dish does not keep well. Assemble the dish only right before you are ready to eat.
Top Tip
There is no need to remove the mentaiko from the sac/membrane.
In all our other mentaiko recipes, we remove the mentaiko from the thin sac/membrane that holds everything in. In this recipe, we don't need to do that!
That is what makes this an extra easy recipe. The sac/membrane is edible and delicious but we needed to remove it for the other recipes because we used the mentaiko as a spread or tossed it with noodles.
In this recipe you just eat it with rice! You might end up getting a bite of the sac/membrane here and there. Or you might get it all in one bite. But either way, this is a truly easy and tasty recipe.
FAQ
Mentaiko Toast is great for an easy breakfast or snack! Mentaiko Hanpen is a great bento component. We also love to make Mentaiko Udon and Mentaiko Pasta (super tasty with angel hair pasta).
Try making Natto Rice! We also love Tuna Rice - it is one of our most popular recipes and a local Hawaii favorite. Ume Shiso Rice is also a very tasty and bright dish, very elegant.
Mentaiko is usually sold in 2 packs (2 lobes per package). You only need 1 lobe for this recipe. Mentaiko will keep in the refrigerator for 2-3 days. So make sure to use the other lobe pretty quickly. You can either make this recipe again or any one of our other mentaiko recipes.
You can also freeze mentaiko! Mentaiko will keep in the freezer for about 2 months. We love to keep a couple packages in the freezer. It often comes in handy for last minute meals.
Mentaiko Rice Recipe
Mentaiko Rice
Ingredients
- 2 cups cooked rice Jasmine rice or Japanese short-grain rice works best
- 1 lobe mentaiko (spicy cod roe)
- 1 tablespoon chives chopped
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
Instructions
- Place the cooked rice into a serving bowl.Note: We usually have warm rice ready to go in the rice cooker. But if the rice isn't already hot, make sure to heat it up first.
- Place one mentaiko lobe on top of the rice
- Sprinkle the chopped chives next to the mentaiko lobe.
- Drizzle sesame oil all over the top.
- Mix and eat and enjoy!
Related
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
Mahalo for Reading!