Sweet simmered shiitake (椎茸) are easy to make and very delicious. I make these all the time, primarily for onigiri filling and as a bento item. Sweet simmered shiitake keep well in the fridge, which is a bonus. You will need to use dried shiitake for this recipe.
The Japanese word shiitake (しいたけ) comes from a combination of the words “shii” (a type of Japanese evergreen) and “take” (which simply means “mushroom” in Japanese). Therefore, “shiitake mushroom” is a redundancy. Since most English-speaking people recognize shiitake as a mushroom it really doesn’t matter at this point. Now you know. Class dismissed. Let’s cook!
What you need
- Ingredients
- 20 dried shiitake
- 1 1/2 cups shiitake soaking liquid
- 2 Tbsp sake
- 2 Tbsp shoyu
- 2 Tbsp sugar
What to do
Step 1 – Soak the 20 dried shiitake in enough warm water to cover them. Soak them until they are soft (~30-45 min.).
Step 2 – Remove the mushrooms from the water. Reserve 1 1/2 cups of the mushroom soaking water for this recipe. Cut the tough, fibrous stems off the mushrooms. (Please save the rest of the soaking water – it is very useful as an addition to stock and very flavorful. I usually cook rice in it.)
Step 3 – Place the mushrooms and cooking ingredients in a pot. Bring to a boil then turn down the heat to simmer. Place a droplid (おとしぶた) on top once simmering. If you don’t have a droplid you can use a slightly smaller lid than the pot, a small plate, or a circle fashioned of aluminium foil.
Step 4 – Turn the mushrooms every few minutes to ensure the seasonings penetrate completely. Let the cooking liquid reduce until it is almost gone. There should only be a tablespoon or so of thick sauce in the bottom when they are finished. Turn off the heat and let them cool in the pot.
Step 5 – I like to slice the mushrooms once they are cool, but you can leave them whole and slice them up as needed later. Sprinkle with a bit of toasted sesame seeds (ごま) and serve! (For some reason I don’t seem to have white sesame seeds in my kitchen – must remedy that. In the meantime, black sesame seeds, ladies and gentlemen!)
Variations
I like to toss the cooled, sliced mushrooms with toasted sesame seeds and about a teaspoon of toasted sesame oil. This really adds a richness to the flavor profile and enhances the flavor already present in the dish. If you want a spicier version, seed and slice one small red chili pepper and simmer it with the mushrooms.
Please let me know in the comments if you’ve made this dish! I love sharing recipes and variations on recipes with people. This one is especially easy and very much worth trying out :)
いただきます！
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[...] for onigiri are virtually endless. My favorites are sweet simmered shiitake, salmon shioyaki, tuna salad, nukazuke pickles and the umeboshi featured in this recipe. What are [...]
I definitely use this recipe a great deal. Thank you so much for being awesome! :3
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Mathias Purtlebaugh Reply:
March 12th, 2012 at 6:32 pm
Thank you for the kind words, Dannie!
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Can’t we substituted dried shitake with the fresh one? Coz I prefer the fresh one.. :<
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Mathias Purtlebaugh Reply:
April 19th, 2012 at 9:40 am
That’s a good question! You totally *can* use fresh shiitake, however, bear in mind that they will not be nearly as flavorful as the dried. When mushrooms are dried, they take on an intense flavor profile that fresh mushrooms simply do not have. Since this recipe was developed with those intense flavors in mind, it may take some tweaking to get it tasting right. Fresh mushrooms contain a good amount of water, so that will thin the ingredients and weaken the flavor. If you end up trying it, let us know in the comments! I am curious to see how it turns out!
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