Mushroom and Tofu Mixed Rice

Ingredients

0 of 16 out on the counter

• 1 cup medium-grain brown rice, uncooked
• ½ cup short-grain white rice, uncooked
• 4 dried shiitake mushrooms
• 6 fresh shiitake mushrooms, woody stems trimmed, sliced
• 4 oz white mushrooms, sliced
• 2 medium carrots, cut into matchsticks
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1 cup firm tofu, cut in ½-inch cubes
• 1 cup frozen shelled edamame
• 2 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
• 2 tsp grated fresh ginger
• 4 cups loosely packed baby spinach
• 4 tbsp chopped scallion, divided
• 2 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted
• ¼ tsp black pepper
• 2 cups plus 2 tbsp water, for soaking the shiitake and cooking the rice

All set! Everything is out. Time to bake.

Method

1. 1Rinse the brown and white rice together in a sieve until the water runs mostly clear. Cover with cold water, soak 30 minutes, then drain well.
2. 2While the rice soaks, pour 2 cups plus 2 tbsp hot water over the dried shiitake and let them soften 30 minutes. Lift them out, squeeze them over the bowl, trim off the stems and slice the caps thin. Pour the soaking water through a fine strainer into a measuring cup and top it up with water back to 2 cups plus 2 tbsp.
3. 3Warm the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Cook the fresh shiitake, white mushrooms and carrots 6 to 8 minutes, until the mushrooms have given up their water and it has cooked off and the edges brown. Stir in the sliced dried shiitake and the ginger and cook 1 minute.
4. 4Put the drained rice in the rice cooker pot. Stir the soy sauce into the measured mushroom water (2¼ cups in all) and pour it over the rice. Level the rice with a spoon.
5. 5Spread the mushroom and carrot mixture over the rice, then the tofu and edamame. Do not stir. Start the cooker on its brown or mixed rice setting.
6. 6When it clicks off, leave the lid shut 10 minutes. Brown rice is done when the water is gone and the grains are tender with a little chew. Water boils at 203 °F here, so go by the cooker's setting and the doneness sign, not the clock.
7. 7Scatter the spinach, half the scallion and the pepper over the top, shut the lid 2 minutes to wilt the spinach, then fold everything together with a rice paddle.
8. 8Serve in bowls with the sesame seeds and the rest of the scallion.