Rice is, of course, something I have at home all the time, but I tend to just cook it in the rice cooker and have it as is with the rest of the meals. I wasn’t very experienced with cooking rice in any other way, so I wanted to try making a risotto for the first time. But again, since I brought all of these Japanese ingredients to college, I decided to make a Japanese-style chicken risotto.

I first got a good sear on the chicken thigh in a pan to get that fond that would become a strong base flavor for the risotto. I then added some onion and garlic, and then the uncooked rice. By adding the chicken stock packed with umami little by little, the rice cooked through into a nice runny texture like the ones I order at a restaurant. Mixing in grated parmesan made the whole dish rich and filling.

The Japanese part comes in when I added a drizzle of ponzu on the diced chicken thigh, green onions, and torn pieces of seaweed. I touch of yuzu-kosho and sesame seeds on the chicken gives a nice contrast to the rich risotto underneath that brought he whole dish together for a delicious fusion dinner.