Taco Rice (Milk-Free)
タコライス（乳なし） · Takoraisu
By Aoi, licensed nutritionist · From a Japanese preschool lunch menu
Taco rice is a dish born in Okinawa, where the toppings of a taco—seasoned ground meat, lettuce and tomato—are piled onto a bowl of warm rice instead of a tortilla. In this preschool version the pork is seasoned gently with ketchup, Worcestershire sauce and just a touch of curry powder, so it has plenty of flavor without any heat or cheese. The lettuce is briefly boiled rather than served raw, which softens it for little mouths and keeps things safe in a school kitchen, and the colorful layers make children eager to dig in.
Added. Open the recipe helper (bottom right) → ☰ Menu → 🛒 Shopping list to see the ingredients for your family size.
Printing uses the number of adults and children set under Ingredients, so set those first.
Ingredients
Amounts for 1 child (1 serving). An adult counts as 2 servings.
One serving here is 1.5× the portion served to a child in a Japanese preschool, sized for Western appetites. An adult counts as two servings. Tap an ingredient to check it off.
Ingredients
- 75 griceJapanese short-grain white rice (japonica), which cooks up soft and slightly sticky. The amount listed is for uncooked rice. Substitute: Sushi rice, or another short-grain or medium-grain rice such as Calrose.
- 51 gground pork
- 25.5 gonion
- 51 glettuce
- 16.5 gtomato
Seasonings
- 1.5 gvegetable oil
- 8.6 gketchup
- 4.1 gWorcestershire sauce
- 0.2 gcurry powder
- 0.1 gsalt
- to tastepepper
About the Japanese ingredients in this recipe
- rice (米)
- Japanese short-grain white rice (japonica), which cooks up soft and slightly sticky. The amount listed is for uncooked rice. Substitute: Sushi rice, or another short-grain or medium-grain rice such as Calrose.
- Worcestershire sauce (ウスターソース)
- Read the guide: Bull-Dog Worcestershire Sauce: Japan's Everyday Brown Sauce → Guide: japanese-school-lunch.com/articles/bull-dog-worcestershire-sauce/
Directions
- 1
Finely chop the onion. Cut the lettuce into short thin strips, boil briefly, then rinse under running water to cool. Cut the tomato into small dice (it is not cooked, so handle it hygienically).
- 2
Heat the oil in a frying pan, add the onion and cook well until softened. Add the ground pork, and once it is cooked through, add the ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, curry powder, salt and pepper and stir-fry to combine.
- 3
Squeeze the lettuce to drain off the water. Over the cooked rice, layer the lettuce, then the meat mixture from step 2, then the tomato.
Nutrition
| Per | 1 serving | 1 adult serving | Your total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Energy | 408 kcal | 816 kcal | 408 kcal |
| Protein | 14.6 g | 29.1 g | 14.6 g |
| Fat | 11 g | 21.9 g | 11 g |
| Carbohydrates | 66.2 g | 132.3 g | 66.2 g |
| Fiber | 1.8 g | 3.6 g | 1.8 g |
| Salt equivalent | 0.6 g | 1.2 g | 0.6 g |
| Calcium | 28.5 mg | 57 mg | 28.5 mg |
| Iron | 1.4 mg | 2.7 mg | 1.4 mg |
| Potassium | 435 mg | 870 mg | 435 mg |
| Energy | Protein | Fat | Carbs | Fiber | Salt equiv. | Calcium | Iron | Potassium | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 serving | 408 kcal | 14.6 g | 11 g | 66.2 g | 1.8 g | 0.6 g | 28.5 mg | 1.4 mg | 435 mg |
| 1 adult serving | 816 kcal | 29.1 g | 21.9 g | 132.3 g | 3.6 g | 1.2 g | 57 mg | 2.7 mg | 870 mg |
Values are per serving (1.5× the Japanese preschool portion); an adult serving is double. They were calculated by a licensed Japanese nutritionist using the Standard Tables of Food Composition in Japan. "Salt equivalent" is sodium × 2.54, the standard Japanese measure. Allergen flags cover egg, milk and wheat only and come from the nutritionist's records. Soy sauce and miso are made with wheat but are usually allowed on Japanese wheat-free school menus, so check with your doctor.
