Cook’s notes
There are claypots meant to go on the stove and there are bowls that look like claypots but are really nothing more than rustic-looking serving bowls.
We’ve owned a number of claypots in the past, bought mostly at thrift stores, but I never cooked in them. I was too chicken to put them on the stove for fear that they would crack in the heat.
Then, my daughter, Alex, bought another (via Instagram) which was obviously of better quality. She couldn’t resist the design, you see. A few days after the claypot was delivered, she cooked this dish.
The experience was immensely satisfying and the claypot salmon, mushrooms and rice was just so delicious that I found myself shopping for larger claypots. I now own five claypots in different sizes.
Claypot salmon and mushroom rice
Ingredients
- 2 to 3 shiitake mushrooms dried
- 4 to 6 one-inch piece kombu
- 1 tablespoon sesame seed oil
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- ½ cup Japanese rice unrinsed
- sukiyaki sauce (available in Asian groceries)
- 100 grams shimeji (3.5 oz) root ends cut off and discarded
- salt
- 300 grams salmon fillet (10.5 oz) cut into one-inch cubes
- sliced scallions to garnish (optional)
Instructions
- In a sauce pan, boil a cup and a half of water.
- Drop in the dried shiitake and kombu.
- Turn of the heat and leave to soak.
- Pour the cooking oil in your claypot and heat.
- Saute the garlic until aromatic.
- Stir in the rice and cook until every grain is coated with oil.
- Season with two tablespoons of sukiyaki sauce.
- Ladle in a cup of the mushroom soaking water.
- When boiling, cover the pot and cook for seven minutes.
- Meanwhile, take the rehydrated shiitake, cut off and discard the stems, and slice the caps thinly.
- Uncover the claypot, ladle in another quarter cup of mushroom soaking water, and scatter the shiitake slices and all of the shimeji on top of the rice.
- Sprinkle a little salt on the mushrooms.
- Top the mushrooms with the salmon cubes then sprinkle salt on the fish.
- Cover the claypot and continue cooking for another seven to eight minutes or until the rice and fish are cooked through.
- Sprinkle in the scallions, if using, then stir the contents of the claypot.
- Taste and add more sukiyaki sauce, if needed.
- Ladle the claypot salmon and mushroom rice into bowls, and serve immediately.
Salmon ceviche