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Kevin Godbee ha publicado una actualización
Okinawan Taco Rice
I recently became intrigued by Japanese-Mexican Fusion. However, many dishes that I found from different restaurants didn’t impress me as a clever and meaningful way to combine the two that seemed like it actually worked – Except for Miso Taco in Vancouver.
Okinawan Taco Rice kept coming up, so I jumped down the rabbit hole on this dish. Matsuzo Gibo created taco rice in 1984 to cater to U.S. Marines stationed in Okinawa, Japan, and the delicious, satisfying, and affordable dish has flourished ever since.
Many recipes just take Tex-Mex taco-seasoned ground beef and put it on top of short grain rice with the typical gringo toppings. I say “No!” Anybody can just dump one cuisine on top of the other, but that is not clever, does not work as anything unique, and is not fusion. I was surprised and disappointed that one of my favorite Japanese recipe sites that I use for several recipes did just that.
You need more than short grain rice for Japanese influence. To the taco-seasoned ground beef, add dashi, mirin, soy sauce, and ketchup. Lastly, most of the recipes call for “sushi rice”. This is incorrect when you read the instructions, and think about the dish. Sushi rice is short grain rice seasoned with rice vinegar, sugar and salt. (To their credit, they don’t have you season the rice in the instructions – they just call it the wrong thing.) With the highly seasoned meat mixture this would be too much. You want plain steamed short grain rice to balance out the dish.
Lana Mihajlović, Beatriz Torija y3 más10 Comentarios-
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Scoolinary Team
I love how you’ve questioned and reinterpreted traditional recipes to create something more authentic. You’re right that true fusion goes beyond simply mixing ingredients; it needs to have a logic behind it that respects both culinary cultures. The addition of dashi, mirin, and soy sauce to the ground beef definitely gives it a unique and clever twist. Plus, your approach of using steamed short-grain rice to balance the flavors is an excellent recommendation. Have you ever tried incorporating other typical Japanese ingredients, like nori or wasabi, to add more complexity to the dish?
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@sussan_scoolinaryteam Thank you Sussan! I like the idea of adding nori.
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Un plato con historia, de los que te cuentan algo. Enhorabuena por el plato.
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@cecu6669hotmail-com Gracias!
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@cecu6669hotmail-com Gracias!
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Fusion done right!
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@judyrusselllive-com-au Gracias!
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Level:
Scoolinary Team
What a fantastic deep dive into the origins and the true spirit of taco rice 👏 You’re absolutely right – fusion should be intentional, not just stacking cuisines on top of each other. The way you layered in dashi, mirin, and soy for real Japanese essence shows both respect and creativity.
Curious – if you were to take this exploration even further, what Japanese element would you like to experiment with next to keep building on this Okinawan-Mexican bridge? 🌏🌮🍚
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@soldamiani Thank you, Sol! Not Okinawan, but my next Japanese-Mexican Fusion will be a Mexican Ramen Bowl. I also have a Japanese-Mexican Tuna Temaki on the list … but it’s a long list that jumps around a lot. 🙂
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Level:
Scoolinary Team
@kevin-godbee 😆I certainly can imagine that list!
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