No-Knife "Screw-It Chicken Rice": The Practical Cooking Ryuji Wants Cooking Classes to Teach

This time, the theme Ryuji set was "dishes cooking classes would never teach." Ryuji's impression is that cooking classes often focus on difficult dishes. What Ryuji considers ideal, though, is cooking that sticks with you and that you can make anytime. Ryuji said they want to teach practical recipes that taste good and provide nutrition even when you have no motivation. The result was "Screw-It Chicken Rice," made without a knife by putting the ingredients into a rice cooker and cooking them. Ryuji felt that seasoned rice alone doesn't make a full meal, so they added a komatsuna and egg miso soup. Make these two dishes and the meal is complete—that's the idea. As for whether it's appropriate to teach children the word "screw-it," Ryuji said that when teaching, you can just call it "super easy" instead.

The ingredients are as follows: 2 rice-cooker cups of rice, 1 chicken thigh (about 300 g), 1 carrot (about 120 g), and 1 burdock root (about 120 g). Komatsuna and an egg were prepared for the miso soup. Ryuji felt the chicken rice alone wouldn't have enough vegetables, so they decided to pair it with a hearty soup.

Ryuji says rinsing the rice about twice in a bowl is enough. For seasoned rice, you don't need to be so fussy about rinsing, and over-rinsing strips away the rice's aroma.

The seasonings go directly onto the rice: 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, a pinch of salt, about 2 teaspoons of chicken stock powder, 2 tablespoons of mirin, and 2 tablespoons of sake. The chicken stock powder goes in because it tastes better with a strong chicken umami. Ryuji explained that mirin adds sweetness and sake adds depth and aroma. Add water to just slightly below the 2-cup line, since the vegetables and meat release moisture.

Ryuji used pre-washed burdock but recommends washing it lightly, because scrubbing too hard removes all the earthy aroma. Some people wash it until it's completely white, but Ryuji says that's too fussy. Burdock is "like an herb," so you shouldn't over-wash it—that's Ryuji's view.

Here's where the no-knife process begins. The burdock won't fit in the rice cooker as is, so you snap it by hand. After one snap it still didn't fit, so Ryuji snapped it again and put it in. The carrot is snapped by hand and added the same way. Finally, the chicken thigh went on top whole—"boom"—and the rice cooker was started.

Ryuji laughingly noted that the staff were looking on in disbelief. Still, Ryuji had a reason. In a rice cooker, heat keeps going in for just under an hour. During that time, the carrot, the burdock, and the chicken all become tender and fall apart easily. Once it's cooked, everything breaks apart just by mashing it with a rice paddle, so you don't need a knife—that was Ryuji's explanation. If it bothers you, you can cut off just the carrot's stem end, but even that comes right off after cooking.

Ryuji also listed the benefits of this dish. Prep really takes just a few minutes, and since you use neither a knife nor a cutting board, there are fewer dishes to wash. Normally no recipe would say "put the carrot in whole," but there should be a class that teaches dishes like this. Ryuji said they want Buzz Cooking Studio to do this kind of thing. Ryuji added that it's hard to believe from how it looks, but it tastes great.

While the rice cooks, make the miso soup. Ryuji wanted leafy greens, so used komatsuna. Ryuji loves komatsuna, and likes that it's cheap. Wash the komatsuna and cut it fairly fine with a knife. Teasing themself with "So this one uses a knife, huh?", Ryuji added that cutting it with scissors is fine too. Bring about 600 cc of water to a boil in a pot and add plenty of komatsuna. The more komatsuna you add, the more vegetables you get. That said, Ryuji laughed that this dish actually has more steps.

Once the water boils, add chicken stock powder and hondashi as the base, adding chicken and bonito umami. Ryuji says combining chicken and bonito deepens the flavor. On top of that, thinking miso soup is what goes best with chicken rice, Ryuji dissolved in miso. Miso soup with chicken stock is probably unusual, but it goes really well with chicken rice—that's Ryuji's take. Ryuji started with about 2 tablespoons of miso, tasted it, and brought it to 2½ tablespoons. People often say not to let the soup boil after adding miso, but Ryuji also said you don't need to try that hard. Simmered well, the komatsuna becomes silky soft.

To finish, add an egg. You can beat it first or add it as is. This time Ryuji cracked it straight in. Left alone, it becomes like a poached egg, but Ryuji is in the camp of breaking it up somewhat with chopsticks, because beating an egg in a separate bowl is a hassle. Broken up, the white and the yolk each become separate ingredients. Another benefit of the egg is that it provides protein, and Ryuji says they always add egg when there's nothing else to put in miso soup. Ryuji described it as "like an egg soup made with miso flavoring." Once it's done, cover it and keep it warm while waiting for the chicken rice to finish.

While waiting, Ryuji asked President Takagi what they thought of this kind of cooking. The president answered that they don't want to plant the preconception that cooking is difficult. Since they believe it's important at first to create an entry point, such as not using a knife, this kind of dish is very welcome, the president said. When Ryuji asked, "Won't people think I'm goofing around?", the president replied, "I think this works."

Ryuji said the highlight of this dish isn't the process—they want people to watch the moment when it's cooked and broken apart. When you first open the lid, it looks exactly as it did before, so there's no wow factor. It's a dish that only comes together when you break it up, Ryuji said.

Ryuji went on to explain why they want to spread this kind of cooking. Ryuji thinks beautifully made dishes are wonderful too. But what people actually keep making is dishes like this. The president agreed that dishes that are realistically easy to make are best, rather than beautiful textbook dishes.

As a concrete example, Ryuji brought up "Waterless Keema Curry." It's a recipe Ryuji hears viewers make again and again, and according to Ryuji it has an "insane repeat rate." Without using a pot, you put all the ingredients in the microwave, heat them, and just stir to get curry. That's what made it a hit with everyone, and since a whole tomato goes in, it's nutritionally excellent too, Ryuji explained. Ryuji's view is that recipes like this are exactly what's in demand today.

Ryuji also touched on cooking education in schools. In classes back in the day, students made dashi from dried sardines to make miso soup. Ryuji thinks that's fine as part of learning. But as for whether that education is put to use today, Ryuji feels it isn't much. So Ryuji said they hope this will be a class that affirms it's OK to use curry roux, or the chicken stock powder and hondashi used earlier. The point is that they want the class to teach cooking that's genuinely useful for living. When Ryuji checked, "Is that the right understanding?", the president answered, "Of course."

The president explained the reason in terms of the class's age range. Buzz Cooking Studio has students as young as first graders. If the process is long right from the start, they can't stay focused. More than anything, the president wants to start from "cooking is fun" and "you can make it like this?" and progress step by step. In that sense, recipes like this are welcome, the president said. When Ryuji recommended, "Recipes like today's are usable," the president replied that they'd bring this recipe into the class.

Ryuji laughed that it's all good as long as there's no mishap like opening the lid, breaking things up, and finding it's not cooked through. They also joked that in that case the video would be shelved.

Inside the finished rice cooker, the burdock, carrot, and chicken were still in the same shapes as when they went in. Ryuji called this "seasoned rice made in a bad mood" and broke it up with a rice paddle. The chicken crumbled tenderly, and the carrot could be cut with the paddle. The burdock broke apart the same way. Ryuji added that if anything feels hard to cut, you can use scissors. Even if the pieces are a bit coarse, they're chunky and delicious. Even without a knife, it became a chicken rice packed with hearty ingredients. When it was served into bowls, there was even crispy rice at the bottom. It was served together with the egg-filled miso soup.

After tasting it, the president said that if it were served without seeing how it was made, it would look like nothing but an elaborate seasoned rice. Their verdict: "Insanely good." They also said that just looking at the process, they had wondered how it would turn out, but it has depth and is really delicious. Their assessment was that even busy homemakers could make it while taking it easy, and kids would be satisfied too.

On the ingredients, the two said the carrot and burdock were cooked just right—not too soft, and not hard either. They remarked that the carrot was "insanely sweet" and the burdock was crunchy. The president said it has a different kind of deliciousness from shaved burdock, and is just right rather than too soft. As for the chunky size, it's "totally fine."

They also tried yuzu kosho as a flavor change. According to Ryuji, the refreshing yuzu kosho goes well with the chicken rice's strong chicken flavor. The president agreed: "It goes insanely well."

On the miso soup, the president said they had wondered whether egg goes with miso, but it goes very well. It's a gentle flavor that soothes the stomach. Ryuji said they'd been making egg miso soup since childhood. Because the komatsuna had simmered while the rice cooked, it had become silky soft. The president said they want to adopt this miso soup at the studio too, praising that the two dishes make a complete meal, and that it has plenty of vegetables and nutrition.

On the other hand, a half-joking concern also came up: if students posted "Here's the menu we learned today" on social media, wouldn't it cause an uproar, with people worrying whether Buzz Cooking Studio is OK? In response, they agreed it's a good concept if the motivation is to make things easier for mom.

Ryuji said they believe the human theme of living is how to make and eat something delicious within limited time. Ryuji has heard many times of worried mothers buying Ryuji's books and giving them to their kids when the kids start living alone. However, Ryuji can only show things on video and can only teach through a screen. Ryuji thinks being taught "this is how you do it" while actually cooking is truly educational. That's why Ryuji said they want the class to spread the idea that even dishes that seem questionable at first glance can be eaten deliciously and easily.

The president responded that in today's elementary school home economics classes, it's hard to find time for this kind of cooking. They said they had been wanting to provide a real-world environment when they met Ryuji, and it made them feel anew that this kind of environment is needed. Ryuji stated their own position: both simple dishes and elaborate dishes are precious.

Finally, Ryuji added something they called "really important": washing up. Ryuji's channel doesn't show the washing up, but Ryuji does wash up, and everyone does. Ryuji said that because that step isn't shown, apparently some kids have started thinking you don't need to wash up when cooking. If you don't wash up, things get unsanitary. Ryuji asked that the class also teach everyone steps like tidying the kitchen while something is simmering.

The president replied that they consider everything from preparation to washing up to be cooking. Ryuji drove the point home with "Please show everything, all the way through washing up," and the video came to a close.