Vegan Takikomi Gohan 炊き込みご飯 (Japanese Mixed Rice)

Step 1

Measure, rinse and soak the rice for 30 minutes. Rinse and soak dried shiitake mushrooms in boiling water (atlast 5 minutes). Rinse and soak hijjiki for 5 minutes.

Step 2

In the meantime, chop your bamboo and carrots into match stick like pieces. Drain the excess liquid out of the bamboo. In a small bowl add the dashi, mirin, sake and soy sauce. Drain the shiitake mushrooms and hijiki, reerving the water. Slice the shiitake mushrooms into thin pieces.

Step 3

Add the rinsed rice into the rice cooker. Mix in the soy sauce mixture we made earlier and stir. Then add the rest of the ingredients in layers from the hardest to softest (DO NOT mix the ingredients). For the ingredients I used, this would be the order: dried kombu pieces, shiitake mushrooms, bamboo, hijiki and carrots. Add in the shiitake mushroom water. On your rice cooker, the total liquid amount should be at thr #2 line. Add more water if needed. Close your rice cooker and set to mixed rice setting****.

Step 4

Once cooked, mix the rice. You will notice the bottom of the mixed rice is caramelized and is the best part. Serve and top with green onions, sesame seeds and/or some thinly cut nori.