Japanese Mushroom Risotto

This rich Japanese-inspired shiitake mushroom risotto is filled with umami in every bite. The perfect dish to elevate your next vegan meal!

Risotto can be extremely traditional - cooked down onions, butter, arborio rice, splash of white wine, and a rich stock. But it's also incredibly easy to dress up using your favorite ingredients. Some of my favorite risottos are squid ink, seafood, or butternut squash risottos. For this recipe, we're giving it an Asian twist and using sesame oil, shiitake mushrooms, and dashi broth to complete the dish.

Ingredients

• Arborio rice
• Neutral oil: If you do not need this dish to be vegan, you can also sub butter for the oil to get a richer flavor.
• Shallots or onion: Use shallots if you're able to find them, but you can also easily substitute with an onion.
• Shiitake mushrooms
• Light soy sauce
• White wine or sake
• Dashi: Dashi is a foundational base stock for many Japanese soups and accentuates the umami in any dish. You can find it in powder or granule form at most Asian supermarkets.
• Scallions
• White toasted sesame seeds

See recipe card for quantities.

Instructions

1. Heat up a pot of water and add dashi stock. Once it comes to a boil and stock has fully dissolved, turn heat down and set aside.
2. Heat up a pan and add oil. Sweat down the shallots until translucent.
3. Add sliced mushrooms. Try not to crowd the pan and give the mushrooms space and time to cook down. Add light soy sauce over mushrooms. Let sit undisturbed for 2 minutes and then give it a stir.
4. Add dry arborio rice. Toast the arborio until the kernels start to become a golden brown.
5. Add white wine or sake to deglaze the pan.
6. Add ½ cup of dashi stock at a time. Constantly stir so the rice doesn't stick to the pan. When the liquid is almost completely absorbed, add another ½ cup of dashi stock.
7. Repeat the step of adding in ½ cup of dashi stock and constantly stirring until rice is tender but al dente. The final result should look like a thin oatmeal. This should take around 5 cups of dashi stock to achieve.
8. Add in chopped scallions and white toasted sesame seeds and serve!

Variations

If you're not looking for a vegetarian/vegan dish and would like to add more protein, add pan-fried seafood. In a separate pan, pan-fry a couple scallops, shrimp, or seafood mix in butter. Season with salt and pepper. Top risotto with seafood.

Storage

It's possible to store the leftover risotto in a air-tight container in the fridge for 2-3 days, however, the liquid will continue to be soaked up by the rice kernels so the final texture won't be exactly the same as freshly cooked risotto.

📖 Recipe

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4.98 from 36 votes

Japanese Mushroom Risotto

This rich Japanese-inspired shiitake mushroom risotto is filled with umami in every bite. The perfect dish to elevate your next vegan meal!

Course Dinner, Lunch

Cuisine Fusion, Japanese

Diet Vegan, Vegetarian

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes minutes

Total Time 35 minutes minutes

Servings 2

Author Julia

Ingredients

• 1 cup arborio rice
• 1½ tablespoon dashi stock
• 6 cups water
• 2 tablespoon neutral oil
• 1 small shallot (or yellow onion)
• 150 grams shiitake mushrooms (sliced)
• 2 tablespoon light soy sauce
• ½ cup white wine (or sake)
• 2 scallions (chopped)
• Toasted white sesame seeds
• Salt and pepper (to taste)

Instructions

• Heat up a pot of water and add dashi stock. Once it comes to a boil and stock has fully dissolved. Turn off heat and set aside.
• Heat up a pan and add oil. Sweat down the shallots until translucent.
• Add sliced mushrooms. Try not to crowd the pan and give the mushrooms space and time to cook down. Add light soy sauce over mushrooms. Let sit undisturbed for 2 minutes and then give it a stir.
• Add dry arborio rice. Toast the rice until the kernels start to become a golden brown.
• Add white wine or sake to deglaze the pan.
• Add ½ cup of dashi stock at a time. Continue to stir so the rice doesn't stick to the pan. When the liquid is almost completely absorbed, add another ½ cup of dashi stock.
• Repeat the step of adding in dashi stock and stirring until rice is tender but still al dente. The final result should look like thin oatmeal. This should take around 5 cups of dashi stock to achieve.
• Add in chopped scallions and white toasted sesame seeds and serve! Feel free to also add more salt and black pepper to taste, if needed!

FAQ