Takikomi means “boiled with”, and Gohan means “rice”. Takikomi gohan is a colourful and comforting Japanese rice dish made with seasonal ingredients. It is often cooked with a mixture of vegetables, meat (e.g. chicken, beef) or fish. This recipe is a vegetarian version using onions, mushroom, carrots, arame (Japanese dried seaweed) and smoked tofu. You can also use other vegetables such as lotus roots, chestnuts or sweet potatoes.
This is an example of how to cook rice using the absorption method with additional ingredients added to the pot.
Dashi is the seasoning that makes this dish so delicious. There are many types of dashi, and the most common one is made from kombu (dried kelp) and bonito fish flakes. In this vegetarian recipe, we shall use shiitake mushroom dashi which requires very little effort to make. I would avoid using instant dashi powder as it often contains monosodium glutamate (MSG).
Ingredients
- 6 dried shiitake mushrooms
- 400g Japanese short grain rice
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 onion, thinly sliced
- 8g arame (Japanese dried seaweed), soaked in water for 30 mins
- 1 carrot (about 120g), cut into thin strips that resemble fine matchsticks
- 200g smoked tofu, cut into matchstick-sized strips
- 3 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp sake
- 1 tbsp mirin
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp yuzu (Japanese citrus fruit) juice, or lemon zest
- Shichimi Togarashi (Japanese seven spice blend)
- 1 spring onion, sliced diagonally, for garnishing
Instructions
- For the dashi, use a pastry brush to remove any dust or dirt trapped under the gills of the dried mushrooms. Soak the mushrooms in 600ml of water for at least 3 hours or preferably overnight. Remove the mushrooms and squeeze any extra water back to the liquid. Strain the soaking liquid through a fine sieve. This is your mushroom dashi. Cut the rehydrated mushrooms into thin strips, and reserve them for cooking.
- Preheat a saucier under low heat and add oil. Then add onion, and cook until soft and translucent. This may take about 8 minutes.
- Add the reserved mushroom, arame, carrot and tofu. Stir fry for a couple of minutes. Add the prepared dashi, soy sauce, sake, mirin, sea salt and sugar. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 3 mins. Strain and reserve the stock. We need 550ml of stock to cook the rice. If short, make it up with some water. Adjust seasoning of the stock with salt.
- Rinse the rice if you wish, but this is not necessary. (Please see the webpage on rice.) Transfer the above stock and the rice into a Japanese donabe, a claypot or a cast iron casserole. Let the rice soak in the stock for 15 minutes.
- Place the vegetable mixture on top of the rice in the pot. Do not stir. Heat until the stock is bubbling vigorously around the edges. Place the lid on the pot. Turn the heat down to the lowest possible and cook for 18 mins. Turn the heat off, and let it stand for 15 mins without peeking.
- Finally, add yuzu juice or lemon zest, and a generous amount of shichimi togarashi. Fluff the rice and mix well. Check seasoning. Replace the lid and allow the rice to rest for another 5 mins. Garnish with spring onion before serving.
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