Japanese mixed rice

Want to get the most out of your storebought fried tofu? Try pouring over a little boiling water! Supermarket pre-fried tofu can retain a little oil from deep-frying that can oxidise with time. Hot water helps rinse away any slightly stale flavours, giving your tofu new life for this Japanese mixed rice (also known as takikomi gohan).

• serves

  6

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  30 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Series. Cooking. Rated PG.

Stream Now On Demand

The Cook Up with Adam Liaw

series • CookingPG

Ingredients

• 3 cups koshihikari rice
• 1 piece aburaage (fried tofu)
• 4 dried shiitake mushrooms
• 300 g chicken thigh fillets, cut into 2 cm pieces
• 1 carrot, cut into small batons (½ cm square x 3 cm long)
• ½ cup shredded burdock root
• 600-750 ml dashi
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp sake
• 1 tbsp mirin
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 thin spring onion, thinly sliced, to serve
• 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds, to serve
• Miso soup, Japanese pickles, to serve

Standing time: 10 minutes.

Instructions

1. Wash the rice well, then stand for 10 minutes. Soak the dried shiitake in 2 cups (500 ml) hot water for 10 minutes, then remove (reserving the soaking liquid), trim the stalks and thinly slice the caps. While rice and shiitake are soaking, pour boiling water over the aburaage (fried tofu), then rinse in a fine mesh strainer, then halve lengthways and slice into ½ cm wide strips.
2. Add the drained rice to the bowl of a rice cooker or a heavy-based saucepan. Scatter the chicken, carrot, mushrooms, burdock and fried tofu over the rice. Pour in the dashi stock and reserved mushroom soaking liquid, followed by the soy sauce, sake, mirin, sesame oil and salt. Cook the rice using the ordinary function of the rice cooker, approximately 25–30 minutes.
3. Turn the rice with a cutting motion of a rice paddle to mix the rice with the ingredients. Divide the Japanese mixed rice between bowls, then sprinkle with spring onion and sesame seeds. Serve with miso soup and pickles on the side.

Want more from The Cook Up? Stream all the seasons here and for free at SBS On Demand.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.