Mushroom Shiso Clay Pot Rice
Just like my ice cream maker, this clay pot is the start to a new culinary addiction – it is the start to all my baked rice dishes this fall. I can already imagine all the delicious combinations of food coming together in this wondrous pot that will make preparing dinner so easy. While I was preparing my mushroom shiso rice I had to actively stop myself from rushing out to the grocery store and grabbing new ingredients to add. Baked rice is such an easy vehicle for a delicious meal, similar to pasta, you can pretty much add whatever combinations of ingredients – already I’m thinking miso-glazed salmon with fresh salmon roe or soy sauce chicken with ginger and garlic!
Serves: 2 generous servings or 4 small sides
Ingredients:
1 ½ cups of raw Japanese rice
2 cups of mushroom (I used a combination of brown beech mushrooms and maitake)
4 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1 small shallot, peeled and minced
1 tsp of mirin sweet cooking vinegar
2 tsp of soy sauce
½ tsp of sesame oil
1 ½ tsp of Japanese rice vinegar
5 to 10 fresh shiso leaves
3 tbsp of olive oil
1 ½ cups of water or chicken stock
Directions:
Rinse rice 3 times and set aside.
Heat clay pot on medium heat and add olive oil. Fry finely diced garlic and shallots until lightly browned. Add washed raw rice and stir fry with garlic and shallots for 2 to 3 minutes. Add water or chicken stock, turn to low heat, cover and cook for about 10 to 15 minutes or until rice is ready. The rice will cook quickly and it’s very likely your rice will burn if the heat is too high. If your rice does brown slightly at the bottom (just a tad) don’t worry the smoky flavor actually adds to the dish.
In the meantime, in a large skillet stir fry mushrooms with mirin, sesame oil, soy sauce and salt. Do a quick taste test to see if you need more salt or soy sauce – it’s okay if it’s on the salty side since we’ll be adding the mushrooms and any remaining sauce to the rice.
Finely chop shiso leaves and set aside.
Once rice is ready, stir with a wooden spoon and add in rice vinegar – if you like your rice very vinegary add more vinegar – I LOVE vinegar. Add mushrooms and continue to mix. At this point you can add a little more chicken stock or water if your rice isn’t fully cooked or if it’s still too dry. Cover and continue to cook with mushrooms. When it’s ready mix in finely chopped shiso leaves and serve!
