Yafaa Jushi
ヤファラジューシー·(yafā jūshī)
Asa to Jushi: Grounding Morning Rhythms
At 6:30 on a Tuesday, the rice cooker sits on the counter, holding a steaming payload of short-grain rice, dried shiitake mushrooms, and dashi. Yafaa Jushi—colloquially called boroboro jushi for the blubbering sound it makes on the stove—is this leftover rice simmered into a miso-laced velvet. The secret is finishing the hot porridge with a raw egg and a pat of butter, emulsifying it all into a savory masterpiece. Spoon it hot from the cooker. Break the yolk. Eat it while it steams.
Before you start
Massage the mugwort to remove its astringency.
If you sourced real mugwort (fuchiba or Korean ssuk), aggressively massage and squeeze the leaves in a bowl of cold water for a minute before draining and chopping. Skip this step entirely if substituting with spinach.
Ingredients
- cooked short-grain Japanese white rice3 cup
- unsalted chicken or pork bone broth4 cup
- warm water3 cup
- Hondashi powder1 1/2 tsp
- Spam or pork belly4 oz
- carrot1 small
- dried shiitake mushrooms3 med
- fresh mugwort or baby spinach1 1/2 oz
- awase miso3 tbsp
- eggs4 large
- butter or margarine4 tsp
- scallions2 med
Method
- 01
Bring the broths, meat, and vegetables to a boil.
In a large, heavy-bottomed pot, combine the bone broth, warm water, Hondashi powder, diced Spam, carrot, and shiitake mushrooms over medium-high heat. Skim any foam that rises to the surface to keep the flavor clean.
- 02
Add the rinsed rice and drop the heat to a low simmer.
Stir once to distribute the ingredients, then partially cover the pot, leaving the lid slightly ajar. Do not stir it constantly; mechanical shearing turns the starchy broth into glue. Let it bubble gently for about 15 minutes until the liquid thickens and the carrots are tender.
- 03
Dissolve the miso smoothly into the hot broth.
The porridge should still be quite soupy. Place the miso in a small ladle, lower it into the hot broth, and use chopsticks to whisk it inside the ladle until fully dissolved. Taste and adjust with a pinch of salt if your bone broth was completely unseasoned.
- 04
Stir in the chopped greens and remove from the heat.
Add the prepared mugwort or spinach, cooking for just a minute or two until completely wilted, then turn off the stove entirely.
- 05
Portion the porridge and finish with egg and butter.
Ladle the steaming hot jushi into deep bowls. Immediately crack a raw egg into the center of each, drop a teaspoon of butter right next to it, and scatter generously with scallions. Aggressively stir the melting butter and egg into the porridge right before your first bite.
Notes
Use day-old rice.
While you can start from raw rice, local grandmothers are pragmatic. Using leftover rice transforms a 45-minute chore into a 15-minute assembly while yielding the perfect soft texture.
Embrace the margarine.
Swirling a pat of butter or margarine—a hallmark of post-war Okinawan kitchens—into the bowl right before eating is the non-negotiable secret to this dish's rich, comforting velvet.
From Cook Okinawan in America.