This afternoon, I began to develop a serious craving for Slow-Cooked Shiitake with Shoyu. It’s a serious craving, because to make Slow-Cooked Shiitake with Shoyu, you need to soak the dried shiitake mushrooms overnight - no instant gratification there.

And my craving was serious enough that I now have 20 dried shiitake mushrooms submerged in cold water in a large bowl in my kitchen.

Slow-Cooked Shiitake with Shoyu is also known as Fukumé-Ni. And some people call it “vegetarian steak”. It’s rich and full-bodied, and if you love shiitake mushrooms, you’ll probably like this dish.

I prepare it according to a recipe I have in a cookbook called, simply, Japanese Cooking, by Emi Kazuko and Yasuko Fukuoka. I have a selection of Japanese cookbooks on my cookbook shelf, and this is my absolute favorite book, because you get recipes for a lot of traditional dishes, and not just the things you see on the menu at your local Japanese restaurant.

One word of warning - it can make your kitchen quite smelly. It’s a two-part smell recipe. I always find my dried mushrooms give off an odor as they’re soaking. And the actual cooking part of the recipe is also highly aromatic.

Slow-Cooked Shiitake with Shoyu

from Japanese Cooking, by Emi Kazuko and Yasuko Fukuoka

You’ll need:

20 dried shiitake mushrooms
45ml / 3 tbsp vegetable oil
30ml / 2 tbsp shoyu (Japanese soy sauce)
25ml / 1-1/2 tbsp caster (or superfine) sugar
15ml / 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil

Preparation:

1. Begin soaking the dried shiitake mushrooms the day before. Put them in a large bowl almost full of water. Cover with a plate or lid to stop them floating to the surface of the water. Leave to soak overnight.

2. Measure 120ml / 4fl oz/ 1/2 cup liquid from the bowl. Drain the shiitake into a sieve. Remove and discard the stalks.

3. Heat the oil in a wok or a large pan. Stir-fry the shiitake over a high heat for 5 minutes, stirring continuously.

4. Reduce the heat to the lowest setting, then add the measured liquid, the shoyu and sugar. Cook until there is almost no moisture left, stirring frequently. Add the sesame oil and remove from the heat.

5. Leave to cool, then slice and arrange the shiitake on a large plate.

I usually have the shiitake cooking slowly on the stovetop for most of the afternoon. Keep the heat down pretty low, and just keep checking the amount of liquid you have in your wok.

Even though it takes a while to get to the eating part (and it is very good eating, indeed!), it’s actually a very easy recipe, and very simple to make.

Bookmark this: BlinkList | del.icio.us | Digg it | Furl | reddit | Yahoo MyWeb