okowa

Okowa おこわ (御強) is a Japanese steamed rice dish made with glutinous rice mixed with meat or vegetables. It is sometimes combined with wild herbs (sansai okowa) and vessel chestnuts (kuri okowa). It is generally boiled glutinous rice blended with azuki beans to give it red color for festive look, made by boiling regular rice with azuki beans. Since okowa is meant to be eaten at room temperature, it is used to make onigiri for its capacity to be frozen well.

== Etymology == The word Okowa in Japanese stems from a shortened form of Kowameshi (強飯, meaning "hard rice"). Sometimes, dishes made by blending different rice varieties is also known as Okowa.