It is rare enough for me to talk about what I read (except cook books) or watch here, but once in a while I stumble on something that I find inspiring (cooking wise I mean).

Every evening while we enjoy a simple meal we watch a movie (or more often half of one, as we just collapse on the sofa, exhausted of our day). Finding a good movie that matches our mood is not always easy and after a bad match with an American movie two days ago, and a British movie the day before, we opted for a Japanese movie. While I was cooking dinner, A. told me let’s watch “little forest”, I said “yes, why not” without any clue about what it would be about. I trusted his judgment. So we sat with a hot plate of potatoes and cabbage, flavored with thyme and bacon and got on a trip in time with the movie: summer in the Japanese countryside. The sounds, the color… but what caught my attention was in the opening title credits a mention to “food presentation”. Then I understood that this will not be just a movie… and it is not at al, no plot, no story. It is organized around a few seasonal recipes (there are two movies: summer/autumn and winter/spring) based on local products mostly from the garden or foraged in the nearby woods. Amazake, gumi jam, simmered wild vegetables, kuri no shibukawa ni (I was mentioning in my previous post)… and this recipe of 胡桃ご飯 kurumi gohan walnut rice. When I heard the word I wasn’t sure I got it right, but I did indeed. And the recipe seemed really lovely so I had to try it! Of course I didn’t go to Iwate countryside (where the movie was shot) to forage walnuts, the season has past anyway, but I just wanted to give it a try as it is something I had never heard about, so I used the walnuts I had.

Walnut rice 胡桃ご飯

• 1 go of Japanese rice (I always use Isumi grown Koshihikari)
• 1 large handful of shelled walnuts
• 3tbs of soya sauce
• 2tbs of sake
• 1tbs of sugar

In a mortar (ideally a suribachi) crush the walnuts until you obtain a mix of coarse and fine parts (in the movie she crushed them to a paste, but I prefer having some coarse pieces left). Wash the rice and set in your cooking recipient with the normal amount of water for cooking Japanese rice (rice cooker, pan with lid, donabe…). Add the walnuts, the soya sauce, the sake, the sugar and cook as usual. That’s it. Serve warm or keep to eat at room temperature.

I served it with spinach and pork sautéed, it is rather easy to accommodate with anything seasonal too: pumpkin, cauliflower…

If you want to watch the movies, I recommend the first one (summer/autumn) much more than the second (winter/spring). There is no story, just a slice of life, and many recipes. The movie is inspired from a manga which I haven’t read. Not a big fan of mangas…

There is a Korean remake as well…