Anime Recipe: Transforming Furikake Gohan from Food Wars

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I'm a huge anime fan and when my husband Anthony and I started Food Wars, we wondered if we'd be able to recreate the recipes from the show as normal people rather than professional chefs. So I decided a fun quarantine activity would be to try just that!

We're judging the recipes based on two criteria: the first being the aforementioned ease for a non-professional chef, and the second being if its just as delicious as the anime makes it out to seem.

First up we have the Transforming Furikake Gohan from episode two of Food Wars. I originally found this recipe on Wattpad pulled from the manga, and made some modifications based on what we had available.
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A screenshot of the Transforming Furikake Gohan from episode 2 of Food Wars

​The key to this is that you'll be making an aspic, which is basically if Jell-O was a bone broth. The bones simmering in your broth usually are what give it that gelatin-like texture, but... we didn't any any chicken wings, what this recipe calls for, at my store (wings have been a hot commodity at my local grocers since the pandemic hit. Go figure!). Chicken wings are how Soma, the protagonist, makes it in the show, and when its placed on top of hot rice, it melts a bit and creates this beautiful coating on the eggs and rice.

​So, I replaced the wings with a combo of gelatin, collagen, and two packets of Built's Chicken Bone Broth (get 10% off here with the code MagicallyFit) and that seemed to do the trick after a lot of anxiety that I ruined dinner. Phew! For meat, I opted to use seitan since it is a good replacement for darker cuts of meat.
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The recipe I'll be listing below is for exactly how I made it. If you want the original recipe with the chicken wings, I suggest you head to the Wattpad link above!
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Ingredients 

This makes 4 servings!

• 16 oz seitan, diced
• 4 eggs
• 2 cups broth (vegetable or chicken), mixed with 2 packets Built's Chicken Bone Broth (get 10% off here with the code MagicallyFit) for added collagen 
• 2 scoops collagen (I used BioTrust)
• 4 packets gelatin
• 1 tbsp sugar or stevia (I used stevia)
• 1 tbsp minced ginger
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar
• 1 tbsp mirin
• furikake seasoning to taste 
• 4 cups cooked white rice
• 0.5 cup reduced sodium soy sauce 
• pinch of salt & pepper 
• green onion to taste (optional) 

Instructions

• Bring broth, collagen, gelatin, stevia, rice vinegar, mirin, ginger, and soy sauce to a simmer.  Do not boil. Let cool and place in square molds or a baking pan. Set in the fridge for at least three hours. 
• When ready to serve and once your aspic has set, scramble your eggs with salt and pepper, then dice and cook your seitan.
• Cook your rice last (preferably in a rice cooker) and top with furikake seasoning.
• If you used a baking pan instead of molds, dice your aspic into small cubes.
• In a bowl, add 1 cup rice, 4 oz seitan, 1/4 of the scrambled eggs, and then 1/4 of the aspic last. The aspic should start to slowly melt to coat the eggs and rice. 
• Top with green onions and enjoy!

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THE VERDICT

This was not easy to make, but it was definitely possible... if you have a good amount of time on your hands, like if you're working from home and have the access to monitor some of these things periodically in your kitchen. 

The taste, however, made up from the complicated nature of the aspic (which partially was my own fault). The flavor was mild yet distinctly traditional Japanese, and the texture that the melted aspic cubes provided for the whole rice dish was so creamy and delicious that it was definitely a 10/10 for both me and my husband.

​Have a food from an anime that you want me to try to recreate? Let me know in the comments below! Plus, follow me on TikTok to see the behind the scenes of how this was made.
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