Matsutake mushroom (pine mushroom) – a delicacy from Japan are highly prized by the Japanese for its distinct aromatic scent and flavor.
In Japan, wild matsutake mushrooms are hard to find and the high quality ones can cost up to $1,000 per pound and the exotic ones for up to $2,000. Luckily, we are able to find them in the local Japanese supermarket for about $40 per pound (US grown). Living up to its reputation, the aroma and flavor this mushroom offer is simply amazing.
Matsutake Gohan (Seasoned Rice with Matsutake) is probably the most popular and well-known matsutake recipe in Japan. Its flavor and essence has been compared to France’s truffles. During my research, I became curious on the differences between truffles and mushrooms. It turns out truffles and mushrooms are both fungi, the key difference is mushrooms grows above ground and truffles grow underground. Isn’t it interesting?
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A delicacy from Japan are highly prized by the Japanese for its distinct aromatic scent and flavor.
- 3 rice cooker cups uncooked Japanese short-grain rice
- 4-7 oz Matsutake mushrooms (110 - 200 g; I used 7 oz today)
- 2 ½ cup dashi (click to learn more anout this soup stock) (600 ml) (use kombu dashi for vegetarian)
- Mitsuba (Japanese parsley) (to garnish)
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Rinse the rice under running water several times until the water is almost translucent and drain well.
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Trim off the bottom of the mushroom stems. Thoroughly clean the mushroom with damp towel or paper towel. Do not wash the mushroom. Slice lengthwise into ⅛” slices.
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Put the rice and Seasonings in a rice cooker, and add dashi until a 3-cup line (you don't need to use all dashi).
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Add matsutake mushroom on top of the rice (do not mix!) and start cooking. Rice cookers these days include the soaking time; however, you can also soak rice for 15-30 minutes before cooking.
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When the rice is cooked, mix it gently. Garnish with Mitsuba before you serve.
Recipe by Namiko Chen of Just One Cookbook. All images and content on this site are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without my permission. If you’d like to share this recipe on your site, please re-write the recipe in your own words and link to this post as the original source. Thank you.
I picked up some matsutake mushrooms the other day at Nijiya and followed your gohan recipe and it was absolutely lovely! Loved the aroma as well as the taste =) Looking forward to more autumn recipes, Nami. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Janice! Thank you so much for trying this recipe and I’m really glad it went well. I hope I can squeeze in some fall recipes before winter comes. =P
Truffles are mushrooms! And they share the same habit as matsutake. They have obligate mutualistic symbiosis with tree roots both the fungus and trees benefit, it is called mycorrhizae.
Also, these mushrooms can not be grown and thus all are harvested wild.
Thank you so much for sharing the information, Connor! 🙂
this sucks, i don’t live near any asian stores or any place were you can get dashi and tofu or mirin and the other things. it would help if you would mention subs,
Hi Mrs. Lollipop! Actually dashi is the key ingredient for this recipe and it’s something you can’t really replace with. You can use chicken broth if you like, for example, but it’s COMPLETELY different dish (not Japanese style rice dish). With dashi, you can use other kind of mushrooms, or other ingredients to make this dish, instead of this special mushroom. Hope that helps.
I found matsutake at Berkeley Bowl for $17.95 a pound. I considered this a “bargain,” So I’m making matsutake gohan today for my mother.
Hi Michele! Hope you enjoyed making matsutake gohan with your mom. Fall is a wonderful season with all the delicious ingredients. 🙂
Hi Nami! Thank you for your wonderful and informative blog. You make it easy to make delicious Japanese recipes at home!
I found dried Matsutake and want to know how I can use them to replace the fresh Matsutake for this Gohan recipe? I want to serve it with a side of grilled salmon, is that a good match?
Hi Britt! Thank you for reading my blog, and I’m so happy to hear you think my blog helps you in the kitchen cooking Japanese food at home. 🙂
Dried matsutake is always more flavorful (just like dried shiitake has more fragrance and flavor). So reduce the amount by half. I think it’s a great match and thinking of it make me drool. 🙂 Hope you enjoy the dish!
I made this tonight and it was delicious, but hey! I got all over the place when I realise that 300ml of dashi is way too little for 3 rice cooker cups, I guess this amount of dashi stock is enough for only 2 cups of rice, am I right? I mean, someone could get upset at the end of cooking..not me, but someone else. Haha, thank you for the recipe anyway.
Hi Makichi! I was in shock!! I kind of know what might have happened (a human error behind the scene)… It’s been fixed. Thank you so much for letting me know!