Food talk
 Rice, the Japanese way

This vegetarian pulav is the champion of the Oriental Rice Queen contest, writes Pushpesh Pant

WE have said this before and we shall say it again the Japanese are the masters of the simple and the sublime. They also love the grains of rice arguably more than any one else on this planet and have fashioned myriad ways to consume it without overburdening the staple cereal. Last year, we had a Japanese student in our class and he is the one who introduced us to what we call the Japani Mushroom Pulav.

This, without any doubt, is the champion in the Oriental Rice Queen contest. No fried rice or Nasi Goreng can come close. Biryani done on dum is for special occasions and yakhni pulav is not easy to turn out well consistently. Keep your paellas and risottos to yourself for us this is a match made for us in gastronomic heaven. The beauty is that it dispenses with all but the most essential ingredients and can be prepared absolutely without hassles in no time yet it makes no compromises with flavour. Our pupil treated us at the same time to a delicately spiced raw baby octopus tentacle but that is another story and the delicacy is certainly not for the squeamish.

The strictly vegetarian pulav can be relished by one and all. You can, if the mood strikes you, even change the words of the once popular Hindi film song to Mera Khana hai Japani! And, if you are really feeling like splurging one of the mushrooms can be the prohibitively expensive gucchi. Do it stealthily in this era of austerity.

japani  mushroom  pulav

Ingredients

Rice 200gm

Mushrooms (preferably a mix

of button and oyster variety) 200gm

Carrots medium sized (grated) two

Cherry tomatoes 8-10

Sweet bell pepper red
(cored and cut in thin slices lengthwise) ¼

Sweet bell pepper green or yellow
(cored, cut in thin slices lengthwise) ¼

Soya sauce (light Japanese variety) 1 tbsp

Vinegar 1 tbsp

Sugar 1 tsp

Oil 1 tbsp

Salt to taste

Method
Clean, pick and wash the rice. Then soak it in water for 15 minutes. Drain and dry by spreading out. Mix the sugar with the vinegar and Soya sauce. Wipe clean the mushrooms and slice the heads delicately to keep the shape intact. Chop the remainder coarsely. Heat oil in a non-stick pan and put in the cherry tomatoes and sweet bell peppers. As soon as these are glazed and shiny take these out with a slotted spoon. Put in mushrooms. Briskly stir-fry till moisture is released. Then reduce heat to low medium and add the grated carrots. Pour in the Soya sauce-vinegar-sugar mixture, along with salt. Add the rice and pour in a cup and half of hot water. Stir gently. Cover and cook on medium heat till done Check once to see if more water needs to be sprinkled. Grease lightly a saver in mould and line it with lightly fried bell peppers slices and mushroom heads or oyster mushroom soaked in hot water for about ten minutes. Press the cooked rice gently and turn over in a serving plate. Fill the hollow in the middle with cherry tomatoes, mushroom and carrot mix. Get down to demolishing the mini Mt. Fuji!





HOME