Shimeji Gohan (Rice with Shimeji Mushrooms)
One of the popular mixed rice dishes in Japan, shimeji gohan is made with shimeji mushrooms and chicken cooked with rice in a flavoured stock. It has great flavour and you can eat shimeji gohan by itself! Using sticky rice makes the texture of the rice so special. It can be made with short grain rice but you must adjust the liquid quantity. You can replace chicken with julienned carrots and use konbu dashi to make it vegetarian. Prep time does not include soaking time of the rice.
- Prep time
- 15 min
- Cook time
- 25 min
- Yield
- 3 servings
- Difficulty
- MEDIUM
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 150g (5oz) shimeji mushrooms
- 1 aburaage ((fried thin tofu, Note 1))
- 2 cups hot water
- 150g (5oz) chicken thigh fillets (, skin off, diced into about 2cm / 4/5" cubes)
- 1 tsp soy sauce ((normal soy sauce, not dark soy sauce))
- 1 tsp sake
- 360ml (12.2oz) rice ((¼ short grain rice + ¾ sticky rice) (Note 2))
- 295ml (10oz) dashi stock ((Note 3))
- 1 tbsp sake
- 1 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp salt
- Mitsuba or snow pea shoots ((Note 4))
Instructions
- 1
Wash rice until water runs clear. Soak the rice in water and leave it for 30 minutes (Note 5).
- 2
Add the Chicken ingredients into a ziplock bag or a bowl, mix well and leave for 10-15 minutes.
- 3
Remove cluster of shimeji mushrooms and separate each stem (Note 6).
- 4
Pour 2 cups of hot water over abraage to remove excess oil, then squeeze water out. Cut aburaage lengthwise into half, then cut into 3-5mm / 1/8-⅕" wide strips crosswise.
- 5
Drain rice using a sieve and place the rice in a heavy based pot, add remaining Rice ingredients. Shake the pot gently and make sure that surface of the rice is evenly flat. Spread the chicken over rice, then spread shimeji and aburaage on top. No need to mix.
- 6
Place the lid on and cook as per the steps 5 & 6 of the instruction in How to Cook Rice in Japanese Way. When mixing the rice, try not to damage mushrooms.
- 7
Serve in a rice bowl with mitsuba or snow pea shoots as garnish if using.