Mari's Homemade Cooking Recipes

How to make Mashoom Dashi

• Ingredients:
• 30 grams of dried shiitake mushrooms (Chinese black mushroom)
• 1 liter of water

Step 1: Soak the dried mushrooms in water and place them in the fridge for 24 hours. For the best avor, don’t use hot water.

How to Make Inari-zushi

• Ingredients:
• 4 sheets of abura-age (deep-fried tofu)
• (A) 1.5 tablespoons of sugar
• (A) 1.5 tablespoons of soy sauce
• (A) 1.5 tablespoons of mirin
• (A) 1300 cc of mushroom dashi
• 1.5 cups of cooked rice (about 180 grams)
• (A) 3 tablespoons of rice vinegar
• (A) 2.5 tablespoons of sugar
• (A) 0.5 teaspoon of salt

Step 1: Make sumeshi (sushi rice dressed in vinegar). Cut the abura-age in half and open it gently.

Step 2: Boil the water and place the abura-age in the boiling water for a few seconds to remove any excess oil. Drain the water.

Step 3: Place all the (A) ingredients and the abura-age in a pan and cook for about 20 minutes with the lid on. Turn off the heat and let the mixture cool.

Step 4: Use the sumeshi to make rice balls, each of them at about 40 grams. Place the sushi rice in the abura-age. After you make the mushroom dashi, you can make shiitake tsukudani (mushroom pickles).

How to make Shiitake Tsukudani

• Ingredients:
• 5 dried Shiitake (Chinese black mushrooms) soaked beforehand in water for 24 hours in the refrigerator
• (A) 150 cc of mushroom dashi including the water used for soaking the mushrooms
• (A) 1.5 tablespoons of sugar
• (A) 1 tablespoon of mirin
• (A) 1 tablespoon of soy sauce

Step 1: Slice the mushrooms into thin pieces. Place all of the ingredients in the pan and cook until all the liquid is gone.

You can enjoy this with rice or as a lling for onigiri (rice balls)

Here is another variation of pickled shiitake and sushi-rice that you may enjoy:

How to make Chakin-zushi

• Ingredients (6 servings)
• 6 eggs
  1 teaspoon of sugar
  A pinch of salt
  2 tablespoons of potato starch
• Miittsuba (boiled for few seconds)*
  *You can use other kinds of vegetables that are thin enough to tie into the egg sheet.
• 1.5 cup of cooked rice(about 180 grams)
  (A) 3 tablespoons of rice vinegar
  (A) 2.5 tablespoons of sugar
  (A) 0.5 teaspoon of salt
• 5 tablespoons of chopped pickled mushroom
• Boiled shrimp for decoration if you like

Step 1: Make the sumeshi (sushi rice), mix in the pickled mushrooms and make the mixture into a ball shape.

Step 2: Make a thin layer of cooked egg and let it cool.

Step 3: lace a rice ball in the center of the cooked egg, wrap it and tie it with mitsuba.

Step 4: Open the newly formed egg drape at the top, and then top it with boiled shrimp to decorate.

The complete article can be found in Issue #277 of the Tokyo Journal. Click here to order from Amazon.