Okaka Furikake: Katsuobushi Rice Seasoning Recipe

Since my family’s stock of Furikake (ふりかけ) rice seasoning was running out, today I went on an errand to a drugstore near my house to supplement it.

When I was hunting for something appealing in the Furikake section of the store, this classic Okaka Furikake caught my eye.

And I grabbed it because I thought the Japanese rice seasoning would be a good topic for the blog here.

Okaka Furikake (おかかふりかけ)

For the unfamiliar, the Japanese word, Okaka (おかか), is a synonym of Katsuobushi (鰹節), which is dried, fermented, and smoked skipjack tuna, also known as bonito flakes.

On the other hand, as you may know, Furikake (ふりかけ) is a traditional Japanese rice condiment.

Furikake consists of dry granules or tiny flakes processed from various ingredients such as meat, fish, seaweed, sesame seeds, salted plums, and eggs.

We usually use it by sprinkling it on a warm bowl of white rice to add a delicious flavor to the rice.

Thus, Okaka Furikake is a rice condiment consisting mainly of Katsuobushi bonito flakes/shavings.

This Furikake variety has been a long-time favorite in Japan, widely loved as one of the standard flavors of Furikake.

As seen in the photos and ingredient list, the Katsuobushi shavings for Okaka Furikake are typically seasoned with soy sauce and sugar.

And that is why this rice seasoning takes on a dark brown color and is somewhat moist.

Taste-wise, Okaka Furikake is a slightly sweet, savory rice seasoning loaded with umami from Katsuobushi flakes.

And it goes perfectly on steamed plain rice!

Recipe 

For those who somehow want to know the taste of Okaka Furikake at home, I researched the recipe.

As a result, I found how to make it not so difficult from this article on Kurashiru.com. And that is like this (4 servings).

1. First, put 2 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp Sake rice wine, 1 tbsp Mirin sweet cooking rice wine, and 1/2 tbsp sugar into a small saucepan. 
2. Heat the saucepan on low heat and bring the mixture to a simmer.
3. Then, add Katsuobushi flakes (20 g: about 0.7 oz) and cook on medium heat until the liquid evaporates. 
4. If desired, toss in 1/2 tbsp toasted white sesame seeds as a finishing touch and fry lightly.