Cook more Japanese mixed rice dishes at home, starting with this one-pot salmon and shimeji mushroom rice.
In Japanese, takikomi gohan refers to a genre of mixed rice dishes steamed in one pot. To make it, the formula generally looks like this: rice + seasoned liquid + add-ons like mushrooms, vegetables, meat or fish. You throw all of that into a heavy-bottomed pot over a stove, or set it and forget it in a rice cooker; in fact, some Japanese rice cooker models come with a dedicated “takikomi” setting. Whichever route you choose, the result is always a nutritious, fuss-free meal full of flavor and comfort.
This takikomi gohan recipe features salmon (sake in Japanese) and shimeji mushrooms with soy-seasoned rice.
Steaming is one of the best and healthiest ways to cook fish. While you could lay the fish right on top of the rice, we have a better suggestion: Make an edible steamer “basket” using cabbage leaves. It's free greens for your rice!
Prepare rice: Place rice in a fine-mesh strainer. Rinse under cold running water, shaking the grains between your fingers, to wash off the starch. Continue rinsing until water runs clear. (Alternatively, soak rice in a bowl of water, rinse, and drain until water is no longer cloudy.) Transfer grains to a heavy-bottomed pot or small Dutch oven. Add dashi or water, sake, soy sauce, ginger, and mirin in the pot with the rice. You can let the rice soak for 20 minutes to 1 hour, or go straight to cooking.
Prepare salmon: Remove salmon skin and slice into same-sized chunks. Season with salt and set aside.
Cook rice: Heat pot of rice over medium-high heat. Once boiling, reduce heat to low to maintain a simmer. Cover and par-cook rice, 5 minutes.
Prepare mushrooms and fish: Remove cover. Carefully arrange shimeji mushrooms over the rice until fully covered, overlapping when necessary. Arrange cabbage leaves on top of the mushrooms until fully covered. Overlapping cabbage is fine. Lay salmon pieces on top of the cabbage. The cabbage will act as a steamer basket for your fish.
Steam: Still maintaining a simmer, cover the pot and steam until rice and salmon are fully cooked through. This can take about 8 minutes for medium rare, 10 minutes for medium cooked salmon. Remove cover and garnish with green onions, ginger, sesame seeds, and sesame oil; add yellow pickles and tobiko, if using. Serve hot straight out of the pan.
