My cookbook, KANSHA: Celebrating Japan's Vegan & Vegetarian Traditions (Ten Speed Press, 2010) provides a solid foundation to the principles and practice of kansha in the kitchen and at table. This workshop page enables me to guide you further. ENJOY!
Autumn Mushrooms
茸ご飯
Kinoko Gohan
(Mushrooms & Rice)
sprinkled with Ao Nori (sea herb)
I welcome your
feedback -- especially captioned photos with a brief description of your
kitchen sessions when you try making the recipe above, or in KANSHA. Those
interested in offering feedback, please download a set of guidelines for submitting and displaying your work. To further
teaching goals, I may post some of the feedback to this site,
adding my commentary.
Here, rice
is cooked takikomi style, infused with a rich, woodsy broth produced by
briefly braising mushrooms that are later tossed in with the rice. For a full-flavored, visually and
texturally interesting rice dish, use a combination of pine-scented matsutaké,
pearly-gray shiméjitaké, trumpet-shaped éringi, ruffled maitaké, black-capped
shiitaké,
and/or ivory-colored enokidaké mushrooms. I like to balance the scent of the forest with the bracing aroma of
the seashore by garnish my rice with ao
nori, a green sea herb.
DOWNLOAD the RECIPE.
松茸
matsutaké
pine mushroom
(Tricholoma matsutaké)
pine mushroom
(Tricholoma matsutaké)

椎茸
shiitaké
black oak mushroom
(Lentinula edodes)
shiitaké
black oak mushroom
(Lentinula edodes)

しめじ
shiméji
oyster mushroom
(Pleurotus ostreatus)
oyster mushroom
(Pleurotus ostreatus)

えのき茸
énokidaké
slender, white-capped mushroom
(Flammulina velutipes)
énokidaké
slender, white-capped mushroom
(Flammulina velutipes)

A
word of caution...
for those tempted to go foraging for mushrooms on their own. Deep knowledge and long experience is essential! Mushrooms should be purchased from a reliable commercial source.
for those tempted to go foraging for mushrooms on their own. Deep knowledge and long experience is essential! Mushrooms should be purchased from a reliable commercial source.
エリンギ
éryngi
king trumpet mushroom
(Pleurotus eryngii)
king trumpet mushroom
(Pleurotus eryngii)

舞茸
maitakéhen-of-the-woods
(Grifola frondosa)
