Taco rice is an Okinawan dish consisting of ground beef with taco seasonings, shredded cheese, lettuce, tomato, and salsa, served on a white, Japanese short-grain rice bed.
The story goes that tacos, a typical food on the U.S. military base in Okinawa, when first introduced, soon got a makeover by local eatery owners who sought out a cheaper and more satisfying replacement for taco shells: rice. It’s a ubiquitous dish in Okinawa to this day and quite popular throughout the rest of Japan. Some taco rice recipes add soy sauce and sake and taco flavourings to the ground beef to suit Japanese tastes.
Taco Rice Recipe
Print RecipeIngredients
- Base Ingredients
- Steamed short-grain white rice
- 250 grams of lean ground beef
- 1 tablespoon of taco seasoning
- ½ teaspoon of cumin
- ½ teaspoon of onion powder
- ½ teaspoon of garlic powder
- ¼ cup of canned diced tomato with juice
- chilli pepper spice (optional, for heat)
- Toppings Ingredients
- Shredded lettuce (iceberg for crunch)
- Diced tomato
- Diced tomato
- Fried eggs
- Sliced avocado
- Sour cream (optional)
- Corn chips, broken (optional)
- Salsa (optional)
Instructions
- Cook a mixture of white and brown rice for texture.
- In a fry pan, cook the ground beef over medium-high heat until it turns light brown. Add all the dry seasonings, and cook for 1 minute. Stir in the diced tomato and juice and cook for another 1 to 2 minutes.
- Assembly: In a shallow bowl, add a base layer of rice, then top with the ground beef mixture.
- Add diced tomatoes and shredded cheese, and top off with a fried egg.
- Add the shredded lettuce around the perimeter of the bowl. Add any other desired toppings.
