Japanese-Style Mushroom Brown Rice
approx. 4 servings
Japanese mushroom rice is served every week at my church’s potluck, and it’s delicious. This recipe makes use of brown rice instead of the traditionally-used white rice, but retains the subtle umami-flavor of mushroom rice.
The key is to soak the ingredients for a couple of hours so the brown rice cooks evenly and the dashima, mushrooms, and ginger develop a flavorful stock. Note that the mushrooms and carrots will shrink when cooked because the rice will soak up most of the water when cooked, so add extra water if you want a moister dish.
You should use an electric rice cooker (the flip-top type that Koreans usually use to cook rice) or pressure cooker for this recipe. The cheaper rice cookers with glass lids won’t cook the rice properly. I usually put all of the ingredients into my rice cooker right before I go to sleep in the evening and choose the delayed-cooking option so the rice is finished just as I wake up.
Eat with gim—delicious and easy!
2 cups short-grain brown rice*
1 cup dried shiitake mushrooms**
1 medium carrot
2 Tbs soy sauce
1 Tbs lemon juice
1 Tbs minced fresh ginger
3” x 3” sheet dashima/kombu
Add brown rice to the rice cooker pot and rinse thoroughly with cold water. Rub the rice grains between your fingers as you rinse them. Then add the appropriate amount of water plus a tiny bit more (1-2 tablespoons) to the pot, according to the markings on the pot.
In a separate bowl, pour the soy sauce and lemon juice over dried mushrooms. Add the minced ginger. While the mushrooms soak up the soy sauce and lemon juice, peel and slice the carrot into coins.
Add the mushrooms, ginger, soy sauce, and lemon juice mixture, chopped carrot, and dashima to the brown rice.
Choose the delayed-cooking + brown rice options on the rice cooker so that the rice mixture soaks for at least two hours before heating up. The dashima may shrink during cooking; remove if desired. Fluff the rice gently with a rice paddle before serving.
*Use the cup that comes with your rice cooker, since the “cup” measurement for some Asian-brand cookers is smaller (200 ml) than the standard American cup (240 ml).
**I used an assortment of shiitake, oyster, chanterelle, and morel mushrooms. Shiitake mushrooms add a lot of flavor, so include them whether you use an assortment or not. Button mushrooms wouldn’t work in this recipe.