mushroom rice: 'takikomi gohan'

'Takikomi gohan' (rice seasoned with various ingredients) is basically the lazy chef's best friend - you simply whack all the ingredients in a rice cooker and press the button, and out comes a deceivingly impressive dish bursting with flavour. When I first made this cookpad recipe for Satoshi, I thought he'd see through me judging by how damn easy it was, but he was super impressed and has forever since been requesting mushroom rice for today's dinner, mushroom rice for tomorrow's lunch, mushroom rice when we have friends round...I wouldn't be surprised if he has dreams about mushroom rice, he's that into it. Although I do have to hand it to him, it is pretty damn tasty. 

You can really taste the deep richness of the mushrooms infused into the rice, and the marinade flavour is slightly sweet but delicately balanced with the saltiness of the soy sauce, making it a real all-round crowd pleaser for kids and adults alike. It really is just one of those dishes you can pair with just about anything, or simply enjoy by itself. Also a side note, if you want to impress your significant other you can brag about how you made the marinade from scratch rather than cheating and using the pre-flavoured packets from the supermarket - MAJOR wifey points. I won't tell them about how it's actually easy-peasy and only takes 5 minutes to prepare - it's our little secret;)

Ingredients:
♥ 2 rice cooker measuring cups of uncooked rice
♥ 1 pack of eringi / king oyster mushrooms [エリンギ]
♥ 1 pack of shimeji mushrooms [しめじ]
♥ 100ml of water
♥ Sesame seeds and salad onions to garnish

{Marinade}
♥ 1 teaspoon of sugar
♥ 2-3 tablespoons soy sauce
♥ 1 tablespoon hondashi powder
♥ 2 tablespoons mirin
♥ 2 tablespoons sake

1. Roughly cut the mushrooms into 2cm-ish pieces, whack them in a frying pan with the water and simmer. Don't worry if it looks really watery - that's the idea!
2. When the mushrooms have softened up and released their water content, add the marinade and simmer for 5 minutes.

3. Whilst that's simmering, wash your rice and put it in the rice cooker. 

4. Turn off the heat and sieve the mushroom juice over the rice. Stir. 
5. Add water up to the '2' mark on the rice cooker.
6. Shove the cooked mushrooms on top of this mixture, close the lid and press start! 

7. When cooked, serve in a bowl with sesame seeds and salad onions sprinkled on top. Alternatively, you can also store this in the freezer! Whenever you need to use it, simply defrost and heat in the microwave - simples.