Steamed Salmon Rice with Mushrooms

You know how sometimes, you turned brain-dead from too much cooking?

You buy the usual meat ... chicken, turkey, seafood.

You buy the usual vegetables.

You open the freezer/fridge, stare very hard, and don't know what to cook!

I am thankful for the cookbooks I have at home.

This is yet another dish from the stack of cookbooks I bring back from Singapore ... Steamed Salmon Rice with mushrooms. An easy meal to prepare, especially when I am in a hurry. It frees me to do other chores and there is minimum cleaning up!

Adapted from Quick & Easy Japanese Recipes

(Periplus Mini Cookbooks)

Serves 4

Preparation Time : 15 mins

Cooking Time : 25 mins

6 Dried Shiitake Mushrooms

2 cups Uncooked Japanese Rice

2 tbsp Soy Sauce

3 tbsp Sake (I used Shaoxin Wine)

3 tsp Rice Vinegar

1/2 tsp Salt

70g Thinly sliced leek, soaked in water (I omit this)

200g Salmon fillets, cleaned and skin removed

4 tsp Mirin

2 Shiso or basil leaves, shredded (I omit this)

To garnish

Nori Lightly toasted and cut in thin strips

Sesame Seeds Roasted

• Place shiitake mushrooms into a bowl, cover with 500ml boiling water and soak for 10 minutes. Drain, squeezing gently to remove any excess liquid, remove tough stalks and slice thinly. Reserve soaking liquid to be added to the rice.
• Wash the rice and place in a rice cooker with soy sauce, sake, rice vinegar, salt and reserved shiitake liquid. Add enough water for cooking the rice. Stir to combine.
• Place leek, salmon, and reserved shiitake mushrooms on top of the rice.
• Start the rice cooker.
• When the rice is cooked, sprinkle with mirin and gently flake salmon with a fork. Add shiso and stir lightly to combine.
• Serve topped with nori and sesame seeds.

I microwaved the carrots till soft and added it to the rice as a side dish. No seasoning is required for the carrots as the natural sweetness is enough to balance the seasoning from the rice =)