Takikomi Gohan with Mackerel

📝 Ingredients

• 300 g Japanese rice (sushi rice)
• 3 tins of mackerel fillets in brine (285 g drained, juice reserved)
• 150 g button mushrooms
• 1 carrot (about 120 g)
• 15 g fresh ginger
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp mirin
• About 210 ml cold water (to top up the cooking liquid)
• 2 spring onions

🍴 Utensils

• Mixing bowl
• Fine sieve
• Heavy-based saucepan with lid
• Grater
• Measuring jug
• Spatula

📖 Steps

1. Put the rice in a large bowl, cover with cold water, rub it between your hands, then discard the cloudy water. Repeat 3 or 4 times until the water stays almost clear, then drain the rice in a sieve and leave it to rest for 15 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, peel the carrot and grate it on the coarse side of the grater. Wipe the mushrooms with damp kitchen paper, trim the earthy ends of the stalks and slice thinly. Peel the ginger with a spoon and cut it into very thin matchsticks.
3. Open the mackerel tins and pour all the juice into a measuring jug, setting the fillets aside. Add the soy sauce and mirin, then top up with the cold water to make 360 ml of liquid in total. Mix well.
4. Put the drained rice in a heavy-based pan, spread it out in an even layer and pour over the seasoned liquid. Scatter the carrot, mushrooms and ginger over the top without mixing: stirring would stop the rice cooking evenly.
5. Cover and bring to the boil over a medium-high heat, about 5 minutes, until you can hear the liquid bubbling. Immediately turn the heat down to very low and cook for 13 minutes without ever lifting the lid, to keep in the steam that cooks the rice.
6. While it cooks, flake the mackerel fillets into large chunks with a fork, removing any bones, and the dark skin if you prefer a milder flavour. Slice the spring onions, keeping the white and green parts separate.
7. Turn off the heat, quickly lift the lid to place the mackerel and the white parts of the spring onions on the rice, then put the lid straight back on. Leave to rest off the heat for 10 minutes: the rice finishes swelling and the fish warms through in the steam.
8. Gently mix with a spatula, lifting the rice up from the bottom as if tossing a salad, so you don't crush the grains or turn the fish to mush. Serve in bowls, scattered with the green parts of the spring onions.