Kinoko Takikomi Gohan (Japanese Mushroom Rice)

Method

1. 1Measure 300 g of short-grain rice (2 gō) into a bowl and rinse it: add water, stir with your hand a few times, tip out the cloudy water, and repeat three or four times until it runs nearly clear. Cover the rice with fresh water and leave it for 30 minutes, then drain in a sieve and let it rest for 10 minutes. Soaking lets the grains take up water all the way to the centre, and skipping it is the most common reason this rice comes out chalky.
2. 2Cut the hard base off the shimeji and maitake and pull them apart by hand into pieces about the size of a thumb tip. Cut the stems off the 3 shiitake and slice the caps 5 mm thick. Wipe the mushrooms with a damp paper towel instead of washing them, because they soak up water like sponges and would dilute the broth. Put the aburaage in a heatproof bowl, pour boiling water over it, wait 30 seconds, drain, blot dry and cut into strips 5 mm wide; this removes the film of frying oil that would make the rice greasy. Slice the scallions thinly and set them aside for serving.
3. 3Pour 2 tbsp (30 ml) of soy sauce, 2 tbsp (30 ml) of mirin and 1 tbsp (15 ml) of sake into a measuring jug and top up with dashi to 360 ml. That takes about 285 ml of dashi; keep the rest for the pot method in the next steps. Measuring this way, instead of pouring the seasoning on top of a full measure of water, holds the total liquid at what 2 gō of rice needs, and too much liquid is what turns mushroom rice soft and sticky. The mushrooms release some water of their own, so do not add more.
4. 4Put the drained rice into the inner pot of a rice cooker, or into a heavy pot with a tight lid about 20–22 cm across, and pour in the liquid. In the rice cooker it should reach the 2 gō line; in the pot use all 305 ml of dashi plus the seasonings, about 380 ml in total. Stir once so the soy sauce spreads evenly, then level the rice with a spoon. Lay the aburaage and mushrooms on top in an even layer and do not stir them in: toppings left on top steam without getting between the grains, so the rice cooks evenly.
5. 5In a rice cooker, close the lid and start the normal white-rice program (or the mixed-rice program if yours has one) and do not open it during the cycle. In a pot, cover it, set it over medium heat and wait until steam comes out under the lid, 5 to 7 minutes, then turn the heat to the lowest setting and cook for 12 minutes without lifting the lid. Turn the heat off after 12 minutes, 13 at most, because a thin pot can scorch the bottom quickly.
6. 6Leave the lid shut and let the rice steam for 10 minutes: in the rice cooker once the cycle ends, in the pot off the heat. The steam finishes the centre of the grains and lets the moisture spread evenly. Lifting the lid early lets that steam escape and leaves the top wet and the bottom firm.
7. 7Open the lid and scatter the scallions on top. Slide a rice paddle straight down to the bottom and fold the rice up and over, working around the pot until the mushrooms and aburaage are spread through the rice. Fold rather than stir, or the grains smash. Serve right away in small bowls; any thin crust from the bottom of the pot is a bonus for whoever wants it.