Japanese Rice Recipe – Hijiki Rice

Hijiki is a real Japanese super-food and I class it alongside the greats such cranberries and broccoli. This is a great, gluten free recipe with mineral rich sea vegetable hijiki and beautiful Japanese rice. Hijiki is known to be a good source of iron, calcium and magnesium. I think this is a great dish for anytime of the year, best served for lunch and just as tasty cold; so cook too much and enjoy the leftovers! This recipe was first published on the Clearspring website, who offer high quality Hijiki which can be found easily in many high street groceries and supermarkets.

Ingredients (Serves 4)

Rice
340g Sushi Rice
360ml water
50ml Sushi Rice Seasoning

Braised Hijiki Mixture
15g Hijiki
1 medium size carrot, sliced in julienne style
4 Shiitake Mushrooms
100ml water
1 tbsp  Soya Sauce
1 tbsp Japanese sake
2 tbsp Rice Malt Syrup
1 tbsp Rapeseed Oil

Garnish
One handful of cooked* and sliced mange tout (snow peas).
*only cooked in boiled water for 2 minutes, then cooled in the cold water afterwards to preserve the colour.

Method

1. Wash the rice thoroughly in a sieve for no less than 2 minutes, with constantly turning the rice over until the water turns clear.

2. Drain the rice and transfer it to the pan with 360ml of water, and leave it for 30 minutes.

3. Soak hijiki in the water for 20 minutes.

4. Cook the rice: Bring 2 to the boil and keep it boiling for 1 minute, then reduce the heat and cover. Simmer for 8-9 minutes. Turn the heat off then let it stand to cool for a further 15 minutes. Add sushi rice seasoning and mix gently.

5. Drain hijiki (3), rinse then drain well again.

6. Sautee carrot, hijiki, shiitake mushooms with a little oil in a flying pan for few minutes.

7. Add shiitake mushroom stock, sake, malt syrup, mirin, soya sauce to 6, then simmer for 10 minutes.

8. Mix rice and 7, and serve on a flat plate. Garnish with sliced mange tout.

Making shiitake mushroom dashi stock

1. Soak dried shiitake mushrooms in 100ml of cold water for 2 hours or overnight.

2. Remove shiitake mushrooms and squeeze the water out, then set aside.

3. Slice the shiitake mushrooms.

Enjoy!

Yuki