Cooking Gendis #2: Mushroom Rice

This recipe is inspired by Ko Budiman, but I adjusted the recipe a little bit to what I have at home and I made it in a rice cooker, much easier and simple. If you love the earthy smell and taste of mushrooms, you're gonna love this! Simple ingredients with big flavor. I'm using champignon, but this recipe also goes well with other subtle mushrooms like shimeji, fresh shiitake, or swiss brown.

As always, don't wash the mushroom! Mushroom is like a sponge, it will absorb the water, dull the flavor, and we will need a longer time to reduce the liquid when we cook it. Tip to clean the mushroom, use a damp towel or tissue to wipe it clean. If they are really dirty, we can peel or cut away the unwanted part, but if they are slimy, rotten, or smell bad, then we need to throw them away.

RECIPE
400-500 g champignon mushroom

2 cups of rice

2 cloves of garlic

1 onion

1 spring onion

4 tbsp of butter

4 tbsp of shoyu

1 cup of bone broth or chicken stock

1 cup of water or so

Salt and pepper to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Slice the mushroom, not too thin, and finely chopped the garlic, onion, and spring onion. Separate the green and the white part of the spring onion. Wash the rice. Set aside.

2. Saute the onion, garlic, and white part of spring onion with butter until fragrant and a change in color, the onion becomes transparent.

3. Mushroom get in, add a pinch or two of salt and mix well. Salt helps to draw water from the mushroom. If your mushroom looks dry, it's okay, the mushroom soaks the butter and releases it back later.

4. Keep stirring until the liquid is gone, then add shoyu. It will become dark, glossy, and fragrant. Add pepper, taste, you can add more salt to your liking.

5. Take half of the mushrooms for later because they will turn pale when they are cooked along with the rice, add the remaining half at the end to make it beautiful.

6. Cook the rice in the rice cooker like usual, add broth and water, don't forget to add salt if you only use water or unseasoned stock.

7. After the rice is done cooking, put the half remaining mushroom back and the green part of the spring onion, and give a good stir.

The charm of this dish is the humble ingredients, but very delicious. Well, you can also add other proteins to make it extra! It tasted clean, but heartwarming. I ate it with tamagoyaki (Japanese omelet) and teriyaki glazed eggplant. I'm definitely gonna make this again in the future! :D

Love,

Cooking Gendis.