Japanese Cookbook日本の台所 · The Japanese Kitchen

Jūshī

ジューシー

Okinawa's pork-and-dashi rice pilaf, simmered rich with belly, carrot, and shiitake — cooked for festivals and funerals alike, and beloved at both.

By Japanese Cookbook Kitchen · May 15, 2026

沖縄 OkinawaRyūkyū Kingdom era, 1429–1879

Jūshī丼
Prep
20 min
Cook
50 min
Serves
4
Level
Beginner

Jūshī is what Okinawa cooks when the day matters. The name descends from zōsui, the mainland's rice soup, but centuries under the Ryūkyū Kingdom bent it toward the island's own gravity: pork. Rice is simmered in pork broth and awase dashi with belly, shiitake, carrot, and sea vegetables, until every grain has taken on the flavor of the pot. It appears at New Year and village festivals, and just as faithfully at memorial services and shīmī, the spring gathering where families picnic at the family tomb — a dish equally at home with joy and with grief, which is a rare kind of usefulness.

Cooks distinguish kufa jūshī, the firm pilaf made for occasions, from yafarā jūshī, the soft, soupy version for convalescents and quiet nights. This recipe is the firm one, and its discipline is simple: build a broth worth drinking, measure it exactly, and keep your spoon out of the pot until the rest is done. The reward is the bottom layer, faintly caramelized in pork fat, over which polite families maintain a fragile truce.

The rice should cook in broth that tastes almost too good to pour away — because you aren't pouring it away. Season the liquid until you'd happily drink it, then trust the rice to do the rest.

板前の一言 · A word from the kitchen

Ingredients材料

Serves 4

  • 300 gJapanese short-grain rice — rinsed and drained 30 minutes before cooking
  • 200 gskin-on pork belly
  • 4dried shiitake — soaked; keep every drop of the soaking water
  • 1/2carrot, cut in short matchsticks
  • 5 gdried hijiki, soaked — or a handful of chopped kombu — either brings the sea to the pig
  • 450 mlliquid, combined — pork cooking broth plus shiitake water plus awase dashi, in whatever proportion your pot has produced
  • 1.5 tbspsoy sauce
  • 1 tbspsake or awamori
  • 1/2 tspsalt
  • 2scallions, thinly sliced, to finish

Method作り方

  1. Step 1: Simmer the pork

    Simmer the pork belly whole in water for 30 minutes until just tender, then dice it small. Save the broth — it's the backbone of the dish, and throwing it out would be a small Okinawan tragedy.

  2. Step 2: Assemble the liquid

    Combine pork broth, shiitake soaking water, and dashi to make 450 ml. Season with soy, sake, and salt, and taste; it should be savory enough to sip with pleasure.

  3. Step 3: Layer and cook

    Put the drained rice in a heavy pot or rice cooker, pour the seasoned liquid over, and scatter the pork, sliced shiitake, carrot, and hijiki on top without stirring. Stirring drags starch loose and turns pilaf into porridge before its time.

  4. Step 4: Steam and rest

    Cook as you would plain rice — in a pot, 12 minutes at a low simmer once it boils, then 10 minutes off the heat with the lid sealed. The rest is not optional; it's where the grains finish drinking.

  5. Step 5: Fold and serve

    Fold gently from the bottom to distribute the good things, scatter with scallions, and serve in modest bowls. Jūshī sits beside soup and pickles, not under a mountain of toppings.

道具 · The tools

Equipment

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  • Rice cooker

    炊飯器

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Questions from the kitchen

Why is the same dish served at both celebrations and funerals?

Because in the Ryūkyū Kingdom and long after, a pot of rice made rich with pork was the definition of an occasion — any occasion. Jūshī appears at festivals and family celebrations, and equally at Buddhist memorial gatherings and the tomb-side picnics of shīmī, the spring ancestor observance, where the living eat well in the company of the dead. Okinawa sees no contradiction, and after one bowl neither will you.

What's the difference between kufa jūshī and yafarā jūshī?

Texture. Kufa means firm — the pilaf-style version given here, cooked with measured broth like a takikomi gohan. Yafarā means soft: a looser, porridge-like version closer to zōsui, often made for the very young, the very old, or the morning after too much awamori.

Can I make it without pork?

You can make a fine mushroom takikomi gohan, but honesty compels us to say it stops being jūshī. The pork broth is not a garnish; it's the point. Even three strips of bacon, blanched first, will carry the idea better than none.

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