How to Make Taco Rice | Okinawan Food | Easy Japanese Recipe

I live in Okinawa

Had this quite a few times while I was stationed there. Well worth the few yen it cost!

My introduction to taco rice was at My House restaurant just outside the gate of MCAS Futenma around 1995. I tried it at a few Japanese restaurants in the states and it was made more like this recipe. It never hit the spot because it seemed more like rice with a salad on top and some meat sprinkled over that and it was hard to eat unless you used a spoon. I decided to make it on my own, to replicate the way My House did it, and I am much more pleased with the result. The main difference being, make a bed of rice, add a layer of cheese, then a layer of meat, then add the shredded lettuce, and finely chopped tomatoes on top. This method stays together much better, so you can easily eat it with a fork or chopsticks. I also use tomato sauce/ketchup/water to make the taco meat kind of saucy, so it easily melts the cheese into the rice.

Cheese on top of the meat. King Tacos puts the cheese on top of the meat. Would you make a cheeseburger and put the cheese on top of the lettuce and not the meat?

Every time I watch an Adam Liaw video I feel like I've just completed a mediation and I'm ready to make dinner.

KING TACOS!! Love that place!

Sorry friend but at king taco the cheese comes first before the lettuce and tomato

My best friend in school was from Okinawa. Their mom would make them taco rice for lunch and I loved it. She would pack an extra bento of it for me because of how much I enjoyed it. Such a good memory.

Any devil dogs here after stationed in Oki?

Tastes like Imperialism! I've made this a few times just from hearing about it, never been to Okinawa, sadly. It tasted exactly like Taco Bell I thought, and was easy to eat, you could make a big meal of it. Isn't this "raisu"? Rice on a plate? Anyway, I liked it. Just put everything on there you might find on a taco, shredded onions and so on. I can hardly eat food that doesn't have onions in it! I think we're having trouble expressing that this is cheap garbage food to feed to soldiers, maybe soldiers who have been drinking! It's just a weird by-product of the War... but somehow people like it and now it's a world thing. Only one thing can make this CHEAPER: At one time Wal-Mart sold frozen ground (turkey) meat that already had the taco seasoning in it! So if you were broke you could buy this for some ridiculous price, like one dollar.... and I already had the rice-cooker... this is really bachelor cooking! It makes Taco Bell itself seem expensive.

Sooo - where's the Taco? Is it really just the seasoning? It seems wise to crackle some over it, or is that just a matter of preference?

this is totally wrong. i was a marine stationed on camp hansen in kinville 94-96. where taco rice originated and for 5 dollars you got this awesome dish. I ate there all the time. first is rice followed by the taco beef then cheese. Next add ketchup lettuce and finally tomato. no salsa or chili vodka crap. and king taco makes it the same way and quick stop by camp schwab makes it without the lettuce and tomato. So this is not true taco rice do your research man

Ha Ha... I used to eat at that place all the time!

Looks like shit

This is a nice spin on a classic dish any Marine or Sailor who's been to Okinawa knows and loves. In 1991 outside the main gate of Camp Hansen we'd grab TRC and there was no lettuce or tomato. It was just a bed of rice, seasoned meat and cheese melted on top. This with a Sapporo or Kirin is the perfect food after a night of fun in Kin. S/F

Weird

I ate industrial quantities of taco rice in Okinawa.

Okinawan rice my ass, Japanese people will give anything a fucking name and oversell the shit out of it.

I was first exposed to taco rice and chili rice while stationed on Kadena AFB from 93 to 96. I continue to make my own versions of these dishes to this day. I could not tell you how many hundreds of pounds of chili rice I have consumed in the last thirty years.

I actually had that out in kinville in Okinawa..that stuff was amazing

Typhoon lockdown survival, when they're handing out MRE's and you've got a fridge stacked with taco rice.

My dad is retired Air Force from 1991 to 1998 my family lived in Okinawa, Japan. I was 8 years old when we got there and 16 when we left. I just love Japanese foods it's one of my favorite dishes and I love taco rice my mom, brother, sister, and dad as well.

King Taco 100% put MSG in their taco rice. Not the same without it

I've been trying to replicate the simple shrimp fried rice from my favorite place outside of Camp Hansen(1992) for 25 years now. I watched the old couple make it 100 times and the only thing I have not added yet is Dashi.. I did add Sake once and seemed to be close.... I will make the chili Vodka also which they may have used. I will make this Taco rice as well. Funny I never ate this while i was there, but I gravitated toward grilled squid and my go to fried rice and a lot of alcohol. lol I've been all over the world and this is my favorite place on the planet so far.

Yes I can confirm this. I was actually stationed out on camp Hansen next to kin town in Okinawa. And kings taco had this dish and I fell in love with it immediately. The seasoning, the toppings, the spice levels was just all so amazingly put together. Thank you for sharing this small but very influential piece of food history with the world. Great video and thank you for this video.

OMG ... I'M GLAD I CAME ACROSS THIS CHANNEL 🙌 ... THE CHEF IS GORGEOUS 😘😉

Everything was great until you said they sell it around the army bases, it’s marines, not army. I spent many nights eating taco rice, it is the perfect pre and post drinking dish. Makes me miss Kin town so much 😂

Great recipe!! Thank you! Could you tell me where you got your pot from?

Adam, you mentioned all the cultures influencing Okinawa, but you failed to mention one of the big influence and that is American. Taco rice, spam, tacos, and bueno chicken with loaded garlic etc.

I was active duty USMC stationed in Okinawa (MCAS Futenma) in 1993-1994. The first time one of my fellow Marines took me to a place with this on the menu, I did a quick "WTF?"
He just said, "Dude, try it...just trust me."
I was instantly hooked.
So glad to see someone posting a recipe for this. It was basically a staple on my menu for the whole glorious year I was stationed there.
It's a stupid easy dish to make, but it is SOOOO good!

When I was stationed on Okinawa in the 90s, I used to eat this dish all-the-time over there. I make it at home every now and then as a treat. SF

Sinks down nicely when drunk at 2am after pillaging okinawa

Thank you for sharing your recipe! I was stationed in Okinawa several times in the early 1990's while active duty with the Marine Corps. I was stationed at MCAS Futenma, but would often explore the island in my free time looking for historical places and new sites to scuba dive. While my favorite place to eat in Okinawa is My House (an amazing teriyaki restaurant just down the hill from the Futenma front gate), King Tacos was a necessary stop anytime I found myself on the Northern part of the island.

Love this dish!! It’s amazing.

I lived in Okinawa for 4 years and this was my favorite.....aside from udon and yakisoba of course. I just got a really good rice cooker(the expensive Japanese one for the best ever sticky rice) so now I can make this and it will taste hopefully, authentic! So glad I found this recipe!

You say cumin but this looks a whole lot like tumeric/curcuma. Which is it?

Was there in 92, barracks were right off the water, the taco and rice was crazy good, plus the fried chicken, those pieces were huge, some
one swore they were dog legs but so good. We ate at one of the restaurants/home, one of the best served meals we ever had better than
anyplace around Tokyo, the rice, seafood, and the tempura, I to this day have yet to taste anything comparable. After our meal, the sever
did a traditional dance for us, it was amazing, that was our last weekend there, it was so memorable. I really enjoyed Okinawa to it's
fullest, I even got my dive cert there, such clear water.

Ketchup, don't forget the Ketchup!

Man taco rice and cheese in okinawa was soooo good

Calling Okinawan Japanese is like calling Palestinian Israeli.

This is so wrong from what I ate back in the day, late 80's, Rice, Meat and Cheese maybe a little hot sauce. I ate taco rice 3-4 for times a week out in Kin while in the USMC.

I spent two years on Okinawa, and I'm here to tell you......this must be some modified aussie version, because what he just made in that video is NOT the "Taco Rice" I ate every single weekend in Kinville outside of Camp Hansen.

I used to live off of taco fried rice and chicken yakisoba in Kinville. I was in Camp Hansen for 2 years, loved my time in Okinawa. Especially the wonderful scuba diving and their coral reefs.

you have the best recipe that looks the most authentic and not some weird twist

Sometimes I add some corn chips to my taco rice.

I was stationed at Camp Hansen, Okinawa 2010-2012 and the place I always went to was Mickey's. I lived off their taco rice with cheese and sauce on top.

This make me want to go back to Okinawa so much! Wonderful video presentation 🎊

I was stationed in Camp Hansen for a couple of years 99-01. This was the best meal I remember from there!

Taco Rice was good when out drinking

Camp foster boing alley made it the best