Ebi Pilaf Recipe

Ebi Pilaf is a seasoned rice dish with shrimp, and it is a popular “western-style” (Yoshoku) rice dish in Japan.  It is said that pilaf originally came from Turkey, but there are similar kinds of dishes all over the world.  Since rice is a Japanese staple, Ebi Pilaf was gladly accepted in Japanese cuisine.

Pilaf is typically rice cooked in a pan with butter or oil and then in seasoned broth, but Japanese pilaf is not always cooked that way.  Especially in home cooking, it could be steamed in a rice cooker along with ingredients and seasonings just like Takikomi Gohan.  Or to be even easier, leftover steamed rice is used and stir-fried in a frying pan.  It is technically more fried rice rather than Pilaf, which is how we did it in this recipe.

Properly cooked Ebi Pilaf is available at restaurants in Japan which serve western-style foods, but also another very common way of getting it is in the frozen aisle of supermarkets.  Frozen Ebi Pilaf has surprisingly good quality, and the best part is that it is done in minutes in a microwave oven.  However, a lot of us don’t have access to good Yoshoku restaurants and Japanese frozen foods, so here is an easy Ebi Pilaf recipe for you. We usually avoid packaged seasonings and try to make dishes from scratch whenever we can, but we used chicken bouillon powder to make our Ebi Pilaf.  It gives a deep and rich flavor to the dish “instantly.”  It is not a bad idea using a convenient food once in a while.

If you have leftover rice and shrimp, give this easy Ebi Pilaf a try.  This may likely become a dish you come back to again and again for a quick hot meal.

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5 from 1 vote

Ebi Pilaf

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Japanese

Keyword: pilaf, rice

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Ingredients

• 10-12 small raw shrimp shelled and deveined (or cooked shrimp)
• 1/4 medium onion chopped finely
• 2 inch small carrot chopped finely
• 1 tsp oil
• 1-2 Tbsp butter divided
• 2 cups Steamed Rice
• 2 tsp chicken bouillon powder
• salt and white pepper to taste
• 2-3 Tbsp frozen peas

Instructions

• Prepare shrimp, and chop vegetables accordingly.
• In a non-stick frying pan, heat oil and 1/2-1 Tbsp butter at medium heat. Add onion and carrot, and cook until onion turns translucent, about 2-3 minutes. Add shrimp and cook for a minute. Add Steamed Rice, and cook and stir for a couple of minutes.
• Sprinkle chicken bouillon over the rice and stir. Taste and add salt and pepper if needed. Stir in another 1/2-1 Tbsp butter and coat the rice with it. Finally add frozen peas and cook for a minute.

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