Takikomi gohan is a one-pot mixed rice dish that often includes seasonal ingredients making it both nutritious and delicious. The traditional takikomi gohan has some meat or fish in it but by adding many types of mushrooms, vegetables and the vegetable/seaweed broth gives it enough flavor and depth of umami to it that you will not miss the meat or fish at all. The word takikomi roughly translates to cooked in, meaning that the ingredients like mushrooms and veggies are cooked in the rice with no pre-cooking needed. This is what makes the dish so easy to make; just throw in the ingredients and cook the rice like you normally do. If you have a rice cooker, it is even more simple!
What you will need:
Rice - I use Japanese short-grain white sticky rice. This recipe works with brown rice or other types of rice as well but the ratio of liquids to rice may be different. If you have already made that different type of rice before, following the ratio of water to rice should be best. If using white rice, following the measurements in the recipe should result in rice that is not too watery and not too hard.
Water/vegetable stock - In this recipe I used water then put a powdered seaweed/veggie stock. But if you have vegetable stock, it works great as well.
Aburaage (fried tofu pouch) - These little fried tofu give a really nice texture and flavor to the rice. I like to keep it in the freezer to keep it to last longer. It defrosts really nicely by just pouring hot water on top. Running it through the hot water also gets rid of the excess oil that it was fried in. Oftentimes the oil on the tofu gets oxidized so it is good to get rid of as much as possible.
Carrots - You can add other vegetables as well but you usually see carrots in this dish. Because the other ingredients are brown in color, the orange gives it a nice balance.
Mushrooms of choice - My favorites are enoki, shiitake, king trumpet mushroom (eryngii). I have not tried any other mushrooms for this dish but there is definitely room to experiment! In this recipe I used all three of these kinds but oftentimes I can’t get all three at my local stores so I only use one or two kinds and it is still delicious. If possible, I suggest getting shiitake mushrooms for sure because it definitely gives a really amazing umami to it.
Sake and Mirin - These two kinds of Japanese rice wines are often used in Japanese cooking. It is used as a seasoning for this dish. The alcohol percentage is pretty low and most of the alcohol evaporates when cooked. However, it does not completely get rid of it so if you are feeding it to children or want to avoid alcohol, skipping this ingredient may be best for you. Although, you will not taste the alcohol once it is cooked properly.
Soy sauce - gluten free soy sauce or other alternatives can be used as well.
Salt
Sugar - Any sugar of your choice can be used here. I used powdered beet sugar for this recipe. If you are using a liquid type of sugar like maple syrup or agave, make sure to use less water or broth to prevent the rice from becoming soggy.
Kombu Seaweed (optional) - If you can get your hands on kombu seaweed, this makes the dish even better with the depth of umami and flavor it seeps into it. Dried kombu seaweed is sometimes expensive to get at my local Japanese store so I often use the kombu or vegetable powdered broth insead. But I highly recommend trying it with the kombu seaweed sheet in the dish if you can.
Bamboo Shoots/Burdock Root (optional) Although not in this recipe, these ingredients are delicious in this dish if you can get some.
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Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups (460 g) – Japanese short-grain rice
2 cups – Water About 2 cups – Mushrooms (I used equal parts of shimeji, enoki, and shiitake mushrooms that equaled to about 2 cups)
1 sheet – Fried tofu pouch (abura-age/油揚げ)
1 cup – Carrots
1 tsp – Salt
3 tbsp – Soy sauce
3 tbsp – Mirin
3 tbsp – Sake
2 tbsp – Sugar
Optional~ Sesame seeds
1 pack - Powder veggie/seaweed broth
OR 1 sheet - Kombu seaweed
Instructions:
1. Wash the rice 3 to 4 times and drain in a strainer. Let the drained rice sit for 30 minutes while cutting and measuring the rest of the ingredients.
2. Pour boiling water over the fried tofu pouch (oage) and let the oil drain out. Pat out the excess water and oil with a towel or paper towel. There is no need to keep the pouch in boiling water for a long time. This should be a quick process!
3. Cut the mushrooms and carrots into small pieces. They should be about 1 inch long and ¼ inch in width but smaller or bigger size will not be bad.
4. After 30 minutes of letting the drained rice sit, put it in a rice cooker or a medium size pot. Level out the rice.
5. If adding kombu seaweed sheet or kombu powdered broth, add on top of rice.
6. Add salt and sugar.
7. Add the carrots then the mushrooms and fried tofu pouch on top of the rice. Make sure they are leveled so it cooks evenly.
8. Measure out the soy sauce, mirin, sake, and water. All of them combined should be 2 cups. Pour this into the rice cooker or pot. And cover with a lid if in a pot.
9. Cook the rice with the rice cooker setting or how you normally would. Or if you are cooking the rice on a stove top use the following steps:
Cook the rice on medium heat for 15 minutes or until there is some seam coming out from the sides of the lid.
Then, without taking the lid off throughout the whole process, cook the rice at low heat for 8 minutes.
Then turn the heat back up to medium heat for 2 minutes.
Finally, turn off the heat and let sit, without taking off the lid, for 30 minutes. This allows the rice to seam and cool a bit.
10. Last but definitely not the least favorite part of the recipe, mix well to combine the ingredients and serve in a bowl. It is also amazing with a pinch of toasted sesame seed seasoning if you want!
This can be kept in the fridge after it cools or freezes to enjoy another day!
Please let me know what you think or if you have any questions in the comments! And if you try the recipe and post it, make sure to tag me on Instagram so I can see it :)
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