Japanese with Manga

Washing rice for the new cooker with 米を洗う

Vocabulary Explanation: Collocations for cooking

A rice cooker's inner pot sits on the floor, filled with washed rice and water.
くまみこ » Volume 2 » Page 15

Machi has always cooked rice over a wood fire, so Natsu brings her a new pressure IH rice cooker. Wary of electrical appliances, Machi has taken the inner pot out of the cooker.

ナツ:
「よし　お米(こめ)洗(あら)えたら本体(ほんたい)にセットしよう」
“Okay, once the rice is washed, let's put it in the cooker.”
Literal: “Okay, if you've managed to wash the rice, let's set it in the main unit.”

Key Points

1お米(こめ)を洗(あら)う = to wash rice
  • Before cooking, Japanese rice is rinsed in water to remove the starch on the grains. The everyday way to say this is 米(こめ)を洗(あら)う.
  • Cookbooks and rice cooker manuals often use 米(こめ)を研(と)ぐ instead. 研(と)ぐ means to polish, and it describes rubbing the grains together in the water. Both mean the same step in the kitchen.
  • 米(こめ) is uncooked rice. Once it’s cooked, it becomes ご飯(はん). Natsu adds the polite prefix お, as most speakers do for 米.
2洗(あら)えたら = once (you) have managed to wash
  • 洗(あら)える is the potential form of 洗(あら)う. 〜たら after its past form means “once this happens”. Natsu uses them to mark the end of a step Machi has been slow and nervous about.
  • The particle after お米(こめ) is dropped, as often happens in casual speech. With a potential verb it would be が or を.
3本体(ほんたい)にセットしよう = let’s set it in the main unit
  • A rice cooker has a removable inner pot (内釜(うちがま)) and the 本体(ほんたい), the main unit that heats it. Machi took the pot out to wash the rice in it.
  • セットする means to put something in its place in a machine. しよう is the volitional form of する. Natsu uses it to walk Machi through the next step, as a suggestion rather than an order.

Vocabulary

(Rice)

お米(こめ) is uncooked rice, the grains before they are cooked. The お makes it sound polite and gentle, and most speakers use it in everyday talk. Once cooked, rice is called ご飯(はん).

(Main body)

本体(ほんたい) is the main unit of something, apart from its accessories or packaging. It also means the real thing behind a decoy or a disguise.

(To do)

する is to do or perform something. It also turns many nouns into verbs, as in 勉強する.

See Also

くまみこ © its respective creators. It is used here for educational commentary.