Rice bowl

It is a meal served in a bowl with rice as its base, topped with ingredients such as vegetables, tofu, egg, meat or fish, often with a sauce. The rice may be plain or seasoned.

Start with cooked rice, add a protein such as beans, tofu, egg or chicken, then pile on vegetables and finish with a sauce or dressing. Keep wet toppings separate until serving if you want the rice to stay fluffy.

Use short-grain rice when you want sticky grains that hold toppings, as in Japanese-style bowls; long-grain rice stays fluffier and more separate. Brown rice works too, but needs more cooking time than white rice.

Drain vegetables and other wet toppings well, and add dressing just before eating. If packing a bowl ahead, keep sauce in a separate small container and cool cooked rice promptly.

Yes. Refrigerate leftover rice promptly in a shallow container, use it within a day, and reheat it only once until steaming hot throughout. Add a splash of water before microwaving and cover the bowl to help it heat evenly.

Try salmon with cucumber and avocado, tofu with pickled vegetables, or chicken with shredded cabbage. Soy sauce, sesame, chilli crisp, kimchi and a squeeze of lime are easy ways to add savoury, spicy or tangy flavour.

Yes, if the rice was cooled and refrigerated promptly and kept chilled until serving. Cold rice works well with crunchy vegetables, edamame and a punchy dressing.

Rice bowls are eaten in many food traditions. Well-known Japanese examples include donburi, such as gyūdon with beef or oyakodon with chicken and egg; the word donburi can refer to both the bowl and the dish.