As I mentioned earlier, I'd made a pretty large amount of dashi around the holidays and needed to find a way to use it up. I decided on making a pretty common mixed rice dish called Gomoku Gohan. In fact, I've seen various frozen instant version of Gomoku Gohan, but making it yourself is pretty easy….. after all, it's just rice, right?
The basis of the dish, at least the version I make is mushrooms, and I was quite impressed with the quality of the Gobo (burdock root) available this year, so I thought why not….
There a couple of key points I follow when making this dish; first, for once, I actually follow the rather draconian rules for making rice. That would be rinse, then drain the rice (koshihikari in this case) for 30-40 minutes in a colander. I also parcook the vegetables in my dashi-soy sauce-sugar mixture before mixing with the rice. I do my chicken separately. This is so I can taste the simmering liquid of the vegetables, and make adjustments. The flavoring of the rice can be pretty bland, so getting the simmering liquid up to your tastes is imperative.
Gomoku Takikomi Gohan:
3 Cups Rice, rinsed, drained in a colander for 30-40 minutes
1/3 lb bones skinless chicken thighs cut into small cubes
1 medium carrot julienned
1 Gobo, skin scrapped off, julienned
4 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked in 1 1/2 cups hot water, sliced.
1 cube of konnyaku, quickly "rinsed" with boiling water to remove smell, sliced
For the vegetables:
1 1/2 Cup dashi
1 Cup mushroom soaking liquid
3-4 Tb Shoyu
3-4 tsp White sugar
1 Tsp Mirin
Salt
– Place the liquid in a pot, add vegetables and simmer.
– Add 3Tb Shoyu, 3tsp sugar, and mirin and simmer for 1-2 minutes.
– Taste and adjust flavors. Add salt to taste.
– Place a sieve or strainer over a large bowl or pot.
– Pour the contents of the pot into the strainer, letting the simmering liquid drain into the bowl.
– Let everything cool completely.
For the chicken:
1 tsp sake
1 tsp soy sauce
– Rub the chicken with sake and soy sauce and let stand for 10 minutes.
Put it all together:
– Place the rice in the cooker.
– Add the vegetables and chicken, and mix lightly with the rice.
– Pour the simmering liquid into the rice pot, until the correct liquid level is reached. Use dashi if more liquid is required.
– Once rice has cooker has turned off let the rice stand covered for 15-20 minutes.
– Mix the rice well before serving.
Top with green onions, sesame seeds, nori, etc, etc,……..
