Teriyaki Mushrooms with Home Made Sauce
A simple and delicious recipe for all my fellow mushroom lovers!
I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that up until recently I used to buy my teriyaki sauce. Whilst there is nothing wrong with doing so, as someone who is passionate about making food from scratch, I can't believe its taken me this long to make my own, especially as it is seriously easy to make. And in my option about a 1,000 times better than the shop bought stuff. If you look at the ingredients of most jars from the supermarket the ingredient list is suspiciously long and full of ingredients I have never heard of. So no judgement (truly!) if you still want to buy your teriyaki sauce, but if not give this recipe a go.
There more I get into Japanese cooking I am beginning to realise that most dished are based around a few core ingredients. I was watching Adam Liaw on SBS with my parter Che and seriously every dish seemed to incorporate soy, mirin and dashi with ginger, garlic, miso and sesame oil making very regular appearances. As all of these ingredients are super yummy and go so well together it is of little wonder that Japanese food tastes so good. If you stock you pantry with good quality versions of these essential ingredients you are ready to cook up many of Japan's famous dishes, teriyaki sauce included.
I have used mushrooms in this recipe because a, I love mushrooms and b, they sort of mimic the texture of meat and c, they soak up the sauce really well. Tofu would also be great as would cubed pieces of eggplant. You could also use this a stir-fry sauce for mixed vegetables. I recommend serving this simple dish with edamame to make sure you are getting some protein in your meal. It makes great leftover to take to work and I also like eating any leftover mushrooms cold as a snack!
Teriyaki Mushrooms with Home Made Sauce
Serves: 2 as a main meal
Dietary guide: The recipe is vegan, and gluten free if using GF soy sauce. To make it FODMAP friendly replace the crushed garlic with 1 teaspoon of garlic oil or omit altogether. The only safe mushrooms in large amounts for those on the FODMAP diet are Oyster mushrooms (75g is safe). If you don't want to use Oyster mushrooms, eggplant or firm tofu are a great alternatives. Follow the same cooking instructions for either tofu or eggplant as indicated for the mushrooms.
Ingredients
20 small-medium mushrooms (I used Swiss Brown) or 10 larger mushrooms*
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil of coconut oil.
1 tablespoon of chopped spring onions
1 tablespoon of toasted sesame seeds
Cooked rice to serve
Cooked fresh green vegetables to serve such as spinach, broccolini, bok choy or edamame
For the teriyaki sauce
2 tablespoon of light soy sauce
1 tablespoon of mirin (I recommend Manjo Rich)
2 tablespoons of brown sugar
1 teaspoon of sesame oil
1 teaspoon of crushed garlic
1 teaspoon of minced ginger
1 teaspoon of cornflour
1 tablespoon of sake or cooking rice wine (optional)
½ - 1 teaspoon of rice vinegar (add if the sauce is too sweet for your taste)
*Most mushrooms would work well for this recipe. I like Swiss brown but button mushrooms also work well as do Portobello mushrooms – just adjust the amount down 10 as the are generally rather large. I would avoid large field mushrooms or any mushrooms that has a strong earthy flavour.
Method
Bring all the ingredients for the sauce (except the corn flour) and ½ a cup of water to the boil in a small saucepan. Turn down and simmer for 5 minutes. Mix the teaspoon of cornflour with 1 tablespoons of water to make a slurry. Add the slurry to the sauce as you stir quickly (helps prevent lumps forming). Cook for another 5 minutes or until the sauce has thickened and reached a texture similar to gravy.Set aside until needed.
Whilst the sauce is cooking, prepare the mushrooms. Heat a wok or large frypan over medium heat with 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil of coconut oil. Add the mushrooms, toss and cook without stirring for a few minutes. Stir the mushrooms and cook for approximately 10 minutes, stirring every minute or so until golden and brown. Add the teriyaki sauce (cold is fine), turn the heat down low and cook for a few minutes.
Serve in 2 bowls with the cooked rice and vegetables of your choice. Top the teriyaki mushrooms with the toasted sesame seeds and spring onions. Serve and enjoy!
