MATSUTAKE GOHAN (PINE MUSHROOM RICE)
Japanese food classic matsutake gohan (悾茸く鿯), also known as pine mushroom rice, is a delicious fall treat with a unique aroma.
Japan depends on the seasons to decide what foods taste like and what colors they are. Even though greenhouses and modern delivery systems make it possible to get “seasonal” food all year, something is alluring about ingredients that are only available during certain times of the year. That’s the reason why the seasons are still very important.
When it comes to this focus on seasons, matsutake mushrooms are the best example. Their main season only lasts a few short weeks in the fall. When cooked, they are bouncy and almost crunchy, and they smell clean and earthy, like cedar.
Like porcini and truffles, matsutake mushrooms are hard to grow. This means that the ones you buy in stores were probably picked by hand by someone. Because they aren’t very common and are in high demand, these fungi are very expensive. Japan’s mushroom market is very big. One mushroom can fetch several hundred yen, and boxes can bring thousands of yen.
Luckily for people in North America, there are a lot of them in the Pacific Northwest, and not many people want to buy them because they’re not very well known. They cost about the same as other wild mushrooms at farmers markets and high-end grocery stores, as little as $15 a pound.
In the US, we don’t really think of rice as either new or old. But in Japan, Shinmai (斛米), which means “new rice,” is another thing that brings people together in the fall. When compared to rice that has been stored for a year, new rice tastes and feels better because it has more water in it.
“Pine mushroom rice,” or matsutake gohan (悾茸く鿯), is a seasonal dish that mixes these two delicious foods into a fragrant rice dish that is typical of Japanese food. This bowl of rice looks simple, but it has a lot of different flavors that work well together. Seeing it on menus marks the start of fall.
I like cooking the rice in konbu dashi because it makes the dish taste better without taking away from the mushrooms. This makes room for the Matsutakes to shine in this dish, showing off their unique taste and texture.
It’s like going to a solo show without a backing track. Adding some mitsuba and sudachi zest to matsutake rice brings out the strong flavor of the mushroom even more. Mitsuba, whose name means “three leaves,” is a vegetable that looks a bit like big cilantro. However, it tastes very different, with a fresh, woody taste that’s like a mix of carrot tops and celery. Sudachi is a small green citrus fruit that you can get in the fall. It tastes like a mix of green mandarins and grapefruit.
In the US, it can be hard to find both of them, but you should be able to find them in big J-stores. There are other green citrus zests that you could use instead of sudachi if you can’t find them. You can still make matsutake gohan without them.
📖 RECIPE
Matsutake Gohan (Pine Mushroom Rice)
Ingredients
- 130 grams Matsutake mushrooms
- 320 grams Japanese short grain rice 2 cooker cups
- 1 ½ cups dashi konbu
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon sake
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 5 sprigs mitsuba chopped
- 1 sudachi optional
Instructions
- Use a wet paper towel to wipe off all the dirt and sand from the mushrooms. You can use a knife to scrape off a layer of mushroom if the dirt is really stuck. But don't wash the mushrooms because that will take away some of their taste.
- Wash the rice in a strainer until the water is almost clear. The rice should be drained well and then put in a pot with a heavy bottom (or a rice cooker pot).
- Score the stem of the matsutake and pull the mushrooms apart into pieces to shred them.
- Suppose you're using a rice maker; put in the konbu dashi and water until it's just below the 2-cup mark. Then add the soy sauce, sake, and salt.
- After you add the Matsutake mushrooms, cook the rice according to the directions on the box.
- To cook this on the stove, put the rice in a pot with a lid and a heavy bottom. Then, add the konbu dashi, soy sauce, sake, and salt.
- Wait an hour before cooking the rice. This isn't required, but it will make the rice taste better.
- Over high heat, bring the rice to a boil. Then, put a lid on top and lower the heat to keep a gentle simmer. Fifteen minutes has been set.
- Turn off the heat and leave the lid on the pot. Let the rice steam for another 10 minutes.
- When the rice is done, add the sudachi zest and mitsuba. Mix them in, and then serve hot with a little finishing salt, like fleur de sel.
