Mixed Rice ("Takikomi-Gohan")

Healthy and tasty rice dish with many ingredients. Everyone will love it!

Ingredients:
1 cup japanese rice
1/2 cup pearl barely
1 packet of shimeji mushrooms (large)
2 inch long carrot
1/4 tofu cutlet

For soup:
4/5 cups dashi stock or water
1 1/2 tsp. sugar
1 Tbsp sake
1 Tbsp Mirin
1 1/2 tsp light soy sauce or 4/5 tsp dark soy sauce  
1/2 tsp salt

Method:
1. Wash rice and barely 30 min prior to cooking and drain on colander.
2. Cut carrots into julienne strips. Wash and drain mushrooms. Cut tofu into thin triangles.
3. Pour in the stock, mushroom, carrots and tofu into pot, and heat everything. When it begins to boil lightly, add sugar and sake, and continue to simmer for 1-2 minutes. Add the soy sauce and salt, continue to simmer briefly.
4. Drain all ingredients through a sieve, reserving cooking liquid. Note: let all ingredients cool completely before cooking rice, hence it might start burning in the rice cooker.
5. Place rice and barely into rice cooker, add simmering liquid. If there is not enough simmering liquid, add some water. Add solid ingredients from the sieve and mix everything lightly. Turn on heater. Note: water should be just a little bit above rice.
6. When cooking is finished, keep the cooker covered and let stand for 10 minutes (do not use function "Keep Warm"!). Open the lid and mix everything. Serve warm with some trefoil if you like.

Japanese Curry

Loving it, Loving it, Loving It! I cannot explain the taste of it - you just have to try! Authentic recipe calls to use ground beef in this recipe, but why not to experiment and tailor it to your liking? I do it vegetarian, with chicken pieces or over Katsu (breaded beef or chicken). This one is with some dried mushrooms bought from Japanese grocery!

Ingredients:
1 medium carrot
1 medium potato
1 medium onion
1/2 cup of dried mushrooms
1 cm fresh ginger
1 clove of garlic
1/2 block of "Golden Curry" Roux Medium Hot
Salt, pepper to taste
Dashi Stock or Chicken/vegetable stock
1 cup Japanese steamed rice
Pickled ginger or Kimchee for serving (not pictured)

Method:
1. Cover mushrooms with boiling water and let it stand for 30 minutes.
2. Cut onions: first cut each half of the onion into 3 wedges and dice in three parts. So the onion pieces should be pretty chunky.
3. Grind ginger and garlic.
4. Cut carrot and potatoes in medium size cubes or using Japanese technique for cutting into angles.
5. Add some canola oil into sauce pan and fry ginger and garlic for 1/2 minute.
6. Add onions, potato and carrot and stir fry for 1 minute.
7. Add mushrooms along with a water, add more water or dashi stock (you can use chicken stock from the cube).
8. Bring to boil, reduce heat to low and cover with lid. Let it simmer for 20 minutes.
9. Add "Golden Curry" Roux and let it dissolve in simmering liquid of the stock. Keep on the law heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. The dish is ready when all vegetables are cooked through. Be careful and do not over boil so the potato will not lose its form.
10. Remove from the heat - let it stand for 10 minutes, during this time the sauce will settle and become thicker.
11. Serve over steamed Japanese rice and eat with pickled ginger and Kimchee.

So good!!!!!!!!!!!!

Risotto with portobello mushrooms (Risotto Ala Fungi)

Loving risottos!

Ingredients:

(serves 2)

2 medium fresh portobello mushrooms

1 shallot, finely chopped

1 clove of garlic, minced

1 litre vegetable or chicken stock

1 cup Arborio rice

1/2 cup white wine (Marsala or other flavorable white wine)

2 Tbsp. butter

1 Tbsp. Virgin Olive oil

30 g. grated Romano cheese

20 g. grated Parmigiano cheese

Handfull chopped parsley

Method:

1. Slice mushrooms in medium chunks. Put stock on low fire and keep it simmering during all cooking time. Stock should be hot, so when it will be added to rice it will not stop rice from cooking though.

2. Heat 1 Tbsp of butter and 1 Tbsp. of olive oil heave skillet (i used cast iron) on medium heat.

3. Add shallots and garlic and fry until transparent. Keep stirring all the time.

3. Add half the mushrooms to pan and fry for about 2 minutes, until mushrooms will become slightly brown.

4. Add rice and fry for 5 minutes, keep stirring until rice is fully covered in oil.

5. Pour wine. Let it be evaporated by 1/3.

6. Reduce heat to law, add remaining mushrooms and 1 cup os stock, season with salt and pepper. Keep adding stock and stirring for 15-20 minutes. Next cup of stock should be added only after previous one absorbed and level of liquid dropped to 1/3. Do not stop stirring. If you run out of stock add some hot water.

7. After 15 minutes pass - try the rice. If it is almost tender, but slightly hard in the middle - it is done. Simmer until remaining liquid will be absorbed by 90 %.

8. Stir in 1 Tbsp. of butter and all grated Romano. Remove from heat.

9. Close your pan with lid and let stand for few minutes. at this point risotto will gain its creaminess.

10. Stir in some parsley and serve. Garnish with some Parmigiano and more parsley.

Bon Appétit!

Simple asparagus and shitake stir fy

Very nicely comes as a appetizer with japanese carry.

Ingredients:

1 pkg of baby asparagus

some shiitake mushrooms, steams removed

1 Tbsp of sesame oil

Half head of garlic finely chopped

Sea salt

Balsamic vinegar

Method:

1. Cut asparagus in inch size pieces

2. Slice shiitake mushrooms

3. Chop garlic

4. Heat wok on high heat, add garlic and sesame oil. Keep stirring with two spatulas all the time.

5. After a minute, add asparagus. Stir fry for 3 minutes, add a little water (it will turn to steam right away) and cover with lid for 1 minute.

6. Add shiitake mushrooms and stir fry until mushrooms will become tender and everything will be well coated in sesame oil.

7. Transfer on the plate, drizzle with salt and balsamic vinegar to serve.

Barely risotto with wild mushrooms

This is not the real risotto the way it should be. It is exactly how it should not be! It is very light version of risotto, will be useful for those who is watching their weight (like my boyfriend does). I made it with wild mushroom, which were carefully handpicked by my parents in the wild forests of Russian North.

Ingredients:

(serves 2 of course)

1 cup of dried wild mushrooms

1 cup of mixed rices (wild and basmati)

1 Tbsp. of olive oil

1 Tbsp. of butter

water (enough to cover mushrooms)

few champignon

2 chives

oregano

white pepper

Method:

Wash and drain rice for 20 min.

Place dried mushroom to the pan and add water just enough to cover them. Bring to boil and then simmer over medium heat for 15 min. It will make mushrooms soft and give a beautiful stock for our risotto. Drain mushrooms preserving the stock from boiling them. Roughly chop them.

In the other pan, heat an oil and butter, add diced chives and simmer for 2 min.

Add rice and cook for 5 minutes stirring all time so each rice grain will be covered in oil.

Add spices to the rice mixture.

ON this stage, in regular risotto you will have to add stock gradually and keep stirring the rice until it will observe all liquid, but we are not using arborio rice, so we will make it easier.

Just add diced mushrooms into the rice pan and add stock until 2 cm. above the rice.

Close the pan and simmer for around 20 min., stirring time by time, on very low heat.

And risotto is ready!

To serve:

Slice the fresh mushroom, grill them on the dry pan until golden brown on each side. than sprinkle with olive oil and place in the preheated oven for 5 min.

Place them on top of risotto and garnish with some freshly grated parmesan

Bon Appétit!