Kama meshi is rice (meshi) cooked in individual little pots (kama) and often served table side directly from the cooking vessel. Seen since the late 1800s in Tokyo, this dish appears as a popular train station bento boxed lunch. The home-style version, takikomi gohan, is often prepared in an electric rice cooker for similar results. Whether you cook this delightful dish on the stove, in an electric cooker or over a flame in a traditional kama, you will certainly bring to the table a clear message of the changing seasons.
Here are the three steps to successful kama meshi:
The key to good cooked rice lies in the correct washing of the rice. These instructions only apply to unwashed short-grain rice. If the rice has been prewashed, skip to step 6. After these steps, you will have what is called arai gome (washed rice). Arai gome keeps for two or three days refrigerated.