To show you that you can make some doria with white sauce leftover (or from scratch), here’s the recipe to make some doria proper way.  Of course, you can make this into a vegetarian version by using things like spinach, cauliflower, asparagus, etc.

Do this when you have time though… It takes a while…

Doria Proper Way…

Ingredients (2-3 servings):

• Cooked rice: 2 cups
• Butter: 1 TBS
• Onion, chopped: 1/2 cup
• Chicken or shrimp, bite size: 1/2 lbs (200 - 250g)
• Mushrooms, sliced: 5-6 (Optional)
• White Sauce:
  • Butter: 3 TBS
  • Flour: 3 TBS
  • Milk: 3 C
• Grated Cheese, gruyere, cheddar, etc: 2 oz (50g). If using Parmeggiano Reggiano, grate with Microplane, you’d only need about 1 oz or less.
• Panko (optional), 1 TBS
• Salt and Pepper

Directions:

1. Make buttered rice. Melt butter in a skillet, sauté day old or thawed rice, season well. Many dorias in Japan has ketchup mixed in.
2. Sautee chopped onion or leek until soft. Add seafood (shrimp is most popular) or bite-size chicken & sliced mushrooms. Season with Salt and Pepper.
3. Make white sauce: Heat butter in a skillet, add flour and stir well until it’s cooked. Add heated milk, whisk consistently, and cook until thickened, and there’s no lumps nor floury taste. Season with salt and pepper. Add the seafood/chicken mixture.
4. In shallow oven proof dishes, layer buttered rice thinly & lightly (2/3 - 1″), and pour over the white sauce. Top with grated cheese (and panko if you like), and bake until golden brown.

Kitchen Wizard Tips:

• Grate extra cheese, and save it in a sealed container.  Use it when you make pasta, soup, salad, toast, etc.
• Make extra white sauce, cover it with plastic wrap on top, squeeze the air out completely to prevent thick skin from forming.  Use it for something else later. Huge time saver!

As you can imagine, you could make this with short pasta instead of rice. Then it’s simply called “gratin” in Japan as well. In this case, you should mix the cooked pasta with heated sauce (or chowder) first, and top it with more sauce, before adding cheese.  It tastes better that way, than biting into bland pasta.

Now I figured out a quick way to make a decent doria, I can guarantee we’ll see them on our table more often.  I may even serve it to our guests and see if they can figure out how I made it.  : )

Try both, and please post which one you liked it.

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Tagged as: cheese, doria, gratin, Japanese, Recipe, tips, white sauce