Rice Dishes

🇯🇵Japan

Ekiben

駅弁

Ekiben is a railway-station meal packed for a journey, with regionally distinct examples such as Hokkaido seafood bento and Tokyo's Fukagawa-meshi.

🇨🇳Yunnan, China

Erkuai Rice Cake

饵块

Steamed rice pounded into a dense cake, then cut into sheets or ribbons — grilled and wrapped round a fried dough stick, or stir-fried like pasta.

🇮🇷Iran

Estanboli polo

استانبولی پلو

Rice is cooked with tomato, potato and minced meat into a Persian one-pot pilaf with a red, savoury crust.

🇹🇼Taiwan

Fan Tuan

飯糰

Sticky rice pressed around youtiao, pork floss, pickled mustard and sometimes a braised egg, squeezed into a dense cylinder in a cloth.

🇧🇭Bahrain

Fi Ga'atah

في قاعته

White rice cooked with tomatoes, potatoes, and eggplant layered at the bottom of the pan — the vegetables caramelize against the hot base, creating a crust that is the prized part.

🇵🇭Philippines

Filipino Paella

Arroz Valenciana

A Spanish-influenced rice dish with chicken, sausage, and vegetables, cooked with glutinous and regular rice.

🇰🇷South Korea

Fist Rice

주먹밥

Rice balls mixed with seasoned vegetables, kimchi, or tuna, shaped by hand into fist-sized portions, a portable and popular snack.

🇳🇱Netherlands

Fried Rice Ball

Nasibal

Fusion snack of nasi goreng filling breaded and deep-fried into a ball shape, often bought from street vending machines.

🇯🇵Tokyo, Japan

Fukagawa Meshi

深川めし

A Tokyo shitamachi rice dish built around clams from the old Fukagawa waterfront and a savory broth or steaming method.

🇬🇼Eastern Guinea-Bissau (Bafatá / Gabú Fula Pastoral), Guinea-Bissau

Fúti

Traditional Fula breakfast of rice with vegetables, palm oil, dried fish, nététu (fermented locust bean), bitter tomatoes (djagatu sinho), okra (candja), and hibiscus leaves (baguitchi); the name means 'mixed things' in Fula; a complete one-bowl meal from the eastern interior.

🇨🇷Costa Rica

Gallo Pinto

Costa Rica's national dish of rice and black beans fried with onions, peppers, cilantro, and Salsa Lizano, eaten at breakfast.

🇬🇲The Gambia

Gambian One-Pot Rice

Benachin

Rice cooked in one pot with tomato, onion, chilli, vegetables, and fish, chicken, or beef so every grain absorbs the seasoned sauce.

🇬🇷Crete, Greece

Gamopilafo

Γαμοπίλαφο

Cretan wedding rice with rich stock and staka.

🇰🇬Kyrgyzstan

Ganfan

Ганфан

Dungan dish of rice under a separate stir-fry of meat, wood-ear fungus, peppers and green beans, ladled over at the last moment.

🇹🇲Turkmenistan

Gaplama

A Turkmen pilaf of rice cooked with lamb and carrots.

🇬🇭Ghana

Gari Foto

Cassava granules soaked and stir-fried with egg, onion, tomato and pepper into a moist, savoury dish.

🇿🇦Cape Town, South Africa

Geelrys

The Afrikaans name for yellow rice, a turmeric-and-raisin rice served with bobotie, a national staple. A Cape Malay and home classic, golden and aromatic, a comfort and festive side

🇬🇭Ghana

Ghanaian Jollof

Jollof

Long-grain aromatic rice cooked in a reduced tomato, onion, ginger and scotch bonnet stock until the grains take the colour of the sauce.

🇦🇲Armenia

Ghapama

Ղափամա

Whole pumpkin hollowed out, packed with rice, dried fruit, nuts and honey, capped and baked until the shell softens.

🇮🇷Qazvin, Iran

Gheymeh Nesar

قیمه نثار

A luxurious Persian festive rice dish with diced lamb, orange peel, pistachios, almonds and barberries, a Qazvin wedding specialty.

🇰🇷South Korea

Gimbap

김밥

Seasoned rice and various fillings (spinach, egg, fishcake, pickled radish, meat) rolled in dried seaweed (gim) and sliced into bite-sized rounds.

🇮🇩Jakarta, Indonesia

Goat Fried Rice

Nasi Goreng Kambing

Jakarta specialty fried rice with spiced goat meat, coriander, cumin, and kecap manis, popular evening street food.

🇬🇼Eastern Guinea-Bissau (Bafatá / Gabú Fula Pastoral), Guinea-Bissau

Goat Rice

Arroz de Cabra

Rice dish cooked with goat meat, onions, and spices; a hearty one-pot meal where the rice absorbs the goat broth; goat is a common meat in Guinea-Bissau's interior regions where Fula and Mandinka pastoralists keep herds.

🇬🇩Grenada

Grenadian Pelau

Pelau

One-pot rice dish of Grenada; chicken coated in caramelized brown sugar, then simmered with pigeon peas, coconut milk, sweet peppers, carrots, and celery; the sugar gives a hint of sweetness and the coconut milk gives a distinctive flavor; the workhorse of Grenadian home cooking; served as a full plate lunch with pumpkin or callaloo on the side.

🇵🇦Panama

Guacho

A Panamanian thick rice soup with meat, seafood, or vegetables, a hearty and rustic classic

🇬🇶Equatorial Guinea

Guineafowl Paella

Paella de pintada

A one-pot rice dish with guineafowl breasts, chicken stock, tomato sauce, black-eyed peas, oregano, paprika, cayenne, and turmeric; a Spanish-African fusion unique to Equatorial Guinea.

🇬🇾Guyana

Guyanese Fried Rice

Fried rice

Guyanese fried rice is wok-tossed rice with egg, scallion, vegetables and seasoned chicken, shrimp or pork.

🇯🇵Japan

Gyūdon

牛丼

A bowl of rice topped with thinly sliced beef and onion simmered in sweet soy-dashi.

🇨🇳Singapore, China

Hainanese Chicken Rice

海南鸡饭

Poached chicken with fragrant oily rice cooked in chicken fat, served with chili sauce and soup, tender juicy chicken with aromatic rice.

🇸🇬Singapore, Singapore

Hainanese Curry Rice

海南咖喱饭

White rice flooded with curry gravy, braised pork gravy and cabbage stew all at once, with pork chop, chap chye and braised pork belly heaped on top.

🇹🇼Taiwan

Hakka Lei Cha

擂茶

Lei cha, 'pounded tea': a bowl of tea with pounded herbs, nuts, seeds and rice.

🇰🇷South Korea

Half-Moon Rice Cakes

송편

Half-moon shaped rice cakes filled with sweet sesame, mung bean, or chestnut paste, steamed on pine needles for Chuseok (harvest festival).

🇹🇷Black Sea Region, Turkey

Hamsili pilav

Hamsili pilav, anchovies baked over spiced rice, is a distinct named Black Sea dish rather than a rice permutation.

🇱🇧Lebanon

Hashweh

حشوة

A Lebanese rice dish of spiced minced lamb or beef with toasted pine nuts and almonds, served at celebrations and family gatherings.

🇯🇵Japan

Hayashi Rice

ハヤシライス

Beef and onions in a rich demi-glace-style brown sauce, served over rice; a yōshoku staple.

🇯🇵Nagoya, Japan

Hitsumabushi

ひつまぶし

Hitsumabushi is grilled eel over rice eaten plain, with condiments, and finally as dashi-chazuke.