In Japanese language class, I learned about a dish called "takikomi gohan." I found a vegetarian version and made something close to it. This recipe serves 2-3 and takes almost an hour to make (plus 3 hours prep time).
First soak 4-5 dried shiitake mushrooms in 450 ml water for at least 3 hours. (I could only find fresh shiitake, but it did create a stock of some kind.)
Wash 300 g sushi rice 3 or 4 times to get rid of most of the starch.
Mince an onion. Heat 2 tbsp oil in a high pan and fry the onion in it for 8 minutes. Cut 90 g carrot and 150 g smoked tofu into matchsticks. Slice the shiitake. Add all three to the pan. Stir-fry this a couple of minutes. Then add the water in which you soaked the shiitake, as well as 2 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp sake, 1 tbsp mirin, and 1.5 tsp sugar. Bring the whole thing to a boil and simmer 3 minutes. Then use a sieve to drain only the liquid into a measuring cup. You should have at least 340 ml left, top it up with water if need be. (I had plenty more, 400 ml at least, and used all of it.)
Next, put the rice into a big, high pan, then pour the stock over it. Cover and leave alone (no fire) for 15 minutes to soak. Then add the veggies on top —don't stir!— and bring to the boil. This time, cover and simmer for 18 minutes on the lowest possible fire. After that, turn off the fire, but still leave it for another 15 minutes, without taking off the cover; no peeking!
What you're left with is lots of rice, which has soaked up the flavorful stock and the veggie flavors, mixed with delicious fried and soaked veg. If you're not meatless like me, you could also have used chicken breast instead of tofu.
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