These Kamado-san donabe by Nagatani-en can be used to cook rice, or as all-purpose hot pots.

In their busy lives it is typical for Japanese households to cook rice in an electric rice cooker. This does not mean that there is not sometimes time, and an affection, for the original way to do it.

Donabe or ‘earth pots’ are the way that rice used to be made, and can be used for a range of other slow cooking activities. What they lack in convenience they make up for in one crucial respect: the food tastes better. This is particularly the case for donabe made in their most traditional location: Mie, in west Japan.

Here the clay used in the Iga-ware pottery tradition is particularly suited to the heavy based pots, and donabe exponents such as Nagatani-en have an especial expertise.

This size donabe is ideal for around three cups of rice, and so about three people.

Size: Diameter: 24cm, Height = 18cm. Volume: 1500ml. Weight: 3.6kg.