Here is our first cooking show on how to make Japanese Baby Food!
Today Kaori shows us how to make Okayu (rice porridge) for your baby in 5 easy steps. Okayu is commonly used as a starter food for babies in Japan, and can be adapted to each stage of the baby’s development. The starter Okayu is called “Jyu-bai-gayu” (10 x rice porridge) and is very liquid, perfect as a starter food for 5-6 mth old babies. This video shows how to make Jyu-bai-gayu as well as your regular rice for yourself in a rice cooker – extremely simple and practical, perfect for the busy mum and dad!
Thank you Kaori for showing us! This is a fantastic idea – I love it! I’ve been cooking my baby Okayu by your method everyday since!
What you need:
- Rice
- Rice cooker
- Small ceramic bowl (heat-safe)
- Spoon
- Grinding bowl and stick (called Suribachi and Surikogi in Japanese) – can buy from 100yen shop
How to make:
- Measure rice
- Wash rice
- Prepare baby Okayu in small bowl – place 1 tablespoon washed rice in bowl and add 10 tablespoons of water.
- Place bowl containing baby rice in the center of the rice (for yourself) in the rice cooker. Cook on normal setting.
- After cooking, remove the baby Okayu and grind into smaller pieces for your baby.
Happy cooking everyone!
For more cooking tutorials see here:

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Hi! Thanks so much for a wonderful website, I’ve found so many helpful tips and tricks here!
A quick question about okayu, is it possible to make a larger batch for baby and freeze it?
Thanks!
Jess (Erin’s mom, 5 months old!)
Hi Jess, yes you can freeze 😉 Okayu is wonderful to freeze and then heat it up when you need it. xoxo
Hi! Thanks for the simple okayu preparation method 🙂 Just had a question-can I use the bowl that came with the mortar and pestle set from Daiso in my rice cooker?
Hi Sadea, make sure you only use a heat-safe bowl in the rice cooker. I personally used a different bowl (heat safe) in the rice cooker, and then I transferred into the Daiso bowl. xoxo