Taco Rice is a popular Japanese meal. I hope you can follow this. Americans love Mexican food. The people of Okinawa took this Americanized Mexican dish and made it Japanese……Following so far, good. I have taken this Japanese American Mexican dish and put my own American twist on it. So I present my interpretation of Okinawan Taco Rice.
Cookingyo.com’s Okinawan Taco Rice
Serves: 4
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
This recipe may seem like it has a boat load of ingredients. In it’s simplistic form it is taco meat over a bed of sticky rice with tomato, lettuce, onion. Then topped with cheese, salsa, and sour cream. Got it!
Question: I don’t have all the spices, can I just go buy packet of taco mix from the grocery store?
Answer: Sure, I give the close to scratch recipe and as always, please feel free to tweak the recipe to suite your needs.
Ingredients:
Taco Mix:
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 1/2 teaspoons of ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon of coriander
1/4- to 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper (add more or less to control the amount of heat in the mix)
Main Ingredients:
1 to 1 1/2 pounds of 80 or 85% ground beef
1 1/2 cups of Nishiki or similar medium grain white rice
2 cups of taco blended cheese (Monterey Jack, Cheddar, Queso Quesadilla & Asadero) or a Fiesta blend of Pepper Jack, Colby and Muenster
Iceberg Lettuce – fine chop or shredded
1 Sweet Onion – small dice
1 Tomato- small dice
1 Jar of Salsa
Sour Cream
Dried cilantro flakes or finely chopped fresh
Optional – Tostada Bowl
Water
Olive Oil
Method:
Start by preparing the rice, follow the directions on the package, or take 1 1/2 cups of rice and place it in to a pan along with 2 cups of water, bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer and and cover. Cook for 20-25 minutes remove from heat and leave covered till it’s time to assemble.
Prepare the spice mix and give a quick mix with a fork or whisk to fully blend the spices.
Grab a skillet and wet with olive oil and brown the ground beef, drain the grease. Then add the spice mix and a 2/3 cup of water. Bring to a quick boil and then reduce to simmer. Mix well till the meat is well blended with the spices and the liquid is fully absorbed.
- Optional preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, when up to temperature bake the tostada shells for 4-5 minutes.
Assemble:
Take 1/4 or so of the rice and place it in the tostada shell or on a plate
Next comes the ground beef, place a quarter of the meat on top of the rice.
Followed by the cheese, then the lettuce onion and tomato.
Grab some sour cream and place a dollop or two on top of the salad ingredients.
Spoon some salsa on top and I like to sprinkle on some cilantro flakes or finely chopped fresh if available. Salt and pepper to taste and serve.

Okinawan Taco Rice
Ingredients
Taco Mix:
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons of ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1/4 teaspoon of coriander
- 1/4- to 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper add more or less to control the amount of heat in the mix
Main Ingredients:
- 1 to 1 1/2 pounds of 80 or 85% ground beef
- 1 1/2 cups of Nishiki or similar medium grain white rice
- 2 cups of taco blended cheese Monterey Jack, Cheddar, Queso Quesadilla & Asadero or a Fiesta blend of Pepper Jack, Colby and Muenster
- Iceberg Lettuce – fine chop or shredded
- 1 Sweet Onion – small dice
- 1 Tomato- small dice
- 1 Jar of Salsa
- Sour Cream
- Dried cilantro flakes or finely chopped fresh
- Optional – Tostada Bowl
- Water
- Olive Oil
Instructions
-
Start by preparing the rice, follow the directions on the package, or take 1 1/2 cups of rice and place it in to a pan along with 2 cups of water, bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer and and cover. Cook for 20-25 minutes remove from heat and leave covered till time to serve.
-
Prepare the spice mix and give a quick mix with a fork or whisk to fully blend the spices.
-
Grab a skillet and wet with olive oil and brown the ground beef, drain the grease. Then add the spice mix and a 2/3 cup of water. Bring to a quick boil and then reduce to simmer. Mix well till the meat is well blended with the spices and the liquid is fully absorbed.
-
Optional: preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, when up to temperature bake the tostada shells for 4-5 minutes.
Assemble:
-
Take 1/4 or so of the rice and place it in the tostada shell or on a plate
-
Next comes the ground beef, place a quarter of the meat on top of the rice.
-
Followed by the cheese, then the lettuce onion and tomato.
-
Grab some sour cream and place a dollop or two on top of the salad ingredients
-
Spoon some salsa on top and then some cilantro flakes or fresh finely chopped.
-
Salt and pepper to taste and serve.
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