This Vegan Takikomi Gohan is a Japanese mixed rice dish seasoned with the traditional flavours of kombu dashi, soy sauce, mushrooms, vegetables and tofu. A quick rice cooker recipe thats perfect for a comforting weeknight meal.
Hey everyone! I’m currently in Japan right now with my boyfriend and have been enjoying every second of it. Tokyo is such a beautiful city full of great people, places, and of course, food! Although many dishes in Japan appear to be vegan friednly, there is one ingredient that is almost in every single dish here and that is: dashi, which is a both/stock made from fish. It makes eating food in Japan much more difficult which is why I tend to make a lot of food at home. One of my favourite Japanese dishes growing up was Takikomi Gohan, so I thought it would be a super appropriate time to share this super easy & quick rice cooker recipe!
What is Takikomi Gohan?
Takikomi Gohan is Japanese mixed rice, seasoned with dashi, mirin, sake and soy sauce. As well, vegetables and some proteins get mixed in and cooked together which brings out additional flavours. There is a vegan option for dashi which can be made from either kombu of shiitake. I personally use kombu dashi for this dish because the shiitake used in this recipe adds its own unique flavours.
Takikomi Gohan is quite customizable as long as you keep the ratio of the rice to the rest ingredients around 7:3. The most common ingredients used in Takikomi Gohan are hijiki, aburaage, konnyaku, bamboo, gobo, lotus root, bamboo, carrots and some kind of protein. Because we are making a vegan option, I left out the meat. I love the simplicity of this dish and the fact that it tastes delicious fresh out of the rice cooker or cold in a bento box.
The best part about Takikomi Gohan is the very bottom where the rice gets crispy and caramelized from the seasonings, YUM!
I hope you try this Vegan Takikomi Gohan and love it as much as I do! It’s:
- packed with umami flavours
- so easy to make
- all cooked in the rice cooker
- & a damn tasty simple meal!
Tips and Tricks to making Vegan Takikomi Gohan
- Soaking the rice: Although you technically can just rinse the rice and prepare it for cooking immediately, soaking the rice beforehand will help the rice absorb more of the flavours and yield better texture.
- Draining excess liquid: your rice in a strainer for at least 10 minutes to ensure no excess liquid is added, this prevents mushy and less flavourful rice. As well, strain the excess water out of the the hijiki and bamboo.
- Ratios: Keep the ratio of rice to the rest of the ingredients relatively 70% rice to 30% other ingredients when cooked. Too many additional ingredients will absorb the liquid and the rice will not fully cook.
- Vegetable add ins & substitutions: You can use any vegetables you have on hand but avoid vegetables like eggplant and leafy greens as it will cause the rice to become mushy or the greens to be overcooked.
- DO NOT mix the rice with the other ingredients: The rice should be at the very bottom when cooked, followed with the hardest ingredients to the softest ingredients. This ensures the rice is cooked properly. Only once the rice is cooked should it be mixed.
- Left overs: can be stored in the fridge for up to 3 days and in the freezer for a minimum of 1 month. Left overs can be used to put into bentos and make onigiri!
If you recreate these Vegan Takikomi Gohan please share it and let me know what you think by tagging me on Instagram @Okonomikitchen, I love seeing all of your tasty recreations!
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Vegan Takikomi Gohan 炊き込みご飯 (Japanese Mixed Rice)
Description
This Vegan Takikomi Gohan is a Japanese mixed rice dish seasoned with the traditional flavours of kombu dashi, soy sauce, mushrooms, vegetables and tofu. A quick rice cooker recipe thats perfect for a comforting weeknight meal.
Ingredients
- 2 rice cooker cups (300g) short grain Japanese rice (or 1 1/2 regular cups)
- 3 shiitake mushrooms (11g), rehydrated
- hijiki (5g), rehydrated
- bamboo (100g)
- 1 small carrot (60g)
- 1 aburaage pouch (17g)
- 1–2 pieces of kombu
- 1 kombu dashi packet (5g)*
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp mirin**
- 1 tbsp sake***
Instructions
- Measure, rinse and soak the rice for 30 minutes. Rinse and soak dried shiitake mushrooms in boiling water (atlast 5 minutes). Rinse and soak hijjiki for 5 minutes.
- In the meantime, chop your bamboo and carrots into match stick like pieces. Drain the excess liquid out of the bamboo. In a small bowl add the dashi, mirin, sake and soy sauce. Drain the shiitake mushrooms and hijiki, reerving the water. Slice the shiitake mushrooms and aburaage into thin pieces.
- RICE COOKER: Add the rinsed rice into the rice cooker. Mix in the soy sauce mixture we made earlier and stir. Then add the rest of the ingredients in layers from the hardest to softest (DO NOT mix the ingredients). For the ingredients I used, this would be the order: dried kombu pieces, shiitake mushrooms, bamboo, hijiki, carrots and aburaage. Add in the shiitake mushroom water. Turn on your rice cooker, the total liquid amount should be at the #2 line. Add more water if needed. Close your rice cooker and set to mixed rice setting****.
- Once cooked, mix the rice. You will notice the bottom of the mixed rice is caramelized and is the best part. Serve and top with green onions, sesame seeds and/or some thinly cut nori.
- DONABE: Add the rinsed rice into the donabe. Measure out all the liquid ingredients, you need a total of 400ml liquid. Once measured, add enough water to make up 400ml of liquid. Stir the rice. Add the ingredients in layers from hardest to softest. Cover the donabe and turn heat to medium high. Once it comes to a boil, reduce heat to low and cook for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and then let it sit for another 15 minutes to finish steaming. Once cooked, mix the rice and add scallions if desired. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
- Kombu Dashi Substitute: shiitake dashi OR vegetable broth (last option)
- Mirin substitute: 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar + 1 tsp water
- Sake substitute: Chinese rice wine, Korean rice wine, dry sherry or 1/2 tbsp rice vinegar + 1/2 tbsp water
- Regular rice cooker setting: I highly recommend a food quality rice cooker when trying to make authentic asian food but in the case that you do not have a rice cooker with the mixed rice setting it can also be done in the regular rice cooker setting. The major different between the two rice settings is that the mixed rice setting allows for the bottom of the mixed rice to caramelized (this is called okoge and is the BEST part). If you do not have a mixed rice setting, you can set it to the regular white cooked rice setting and let it cook for another 5-8 minutes without mixing the rice after it is done.
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this recipe is very tasty and so easy to make! its one of my favourites, my grandma used to make this a lot, while eating this brought me so many good memories! I did it know the name of this dish, thank you so much for sharing 💛
Canned bamboo shoots ok, or fresh?
preferably fresh!
Hi, I wanted to do this recipe so bad, but in my country don’t have bamboo. Which ingredient can I use? Thanks
You can omit it!
This was delicious! It was so easy to make. I could have gobbled up the entire pot! This will definitely be part of our regular rotation.
This was a really fantastic dish for meal prep. I made a big batch in my rice cooker and had it throughout the week, served with some kimchi and silken tofu topped with soy sauce on the side. So hearty and flavoursome. I couldn’t get my hands on hijiki but used seaweed instead – still really good!
I made this for a school project and I it was amazing
This is one of my favourite recipes, so glad you hear you enjoyed and were able to share with everyone too! Thanks Marwa!
This sounds so good, and also like a perfect way to use the leftover rehydrated shiitake and kombu from making dashi! I definitely will be trying this some time!
Do you know if it would work to try this in an instant pot? I use it like a rice cooker for plain rice all the time, but I know I do have to use a different liquid ratio than if I were using a rice cooker because of the pressure. Not sure if all the veggies would impact the regular liquid-to-rice ratio there?
Hi Aubrey! I haven’t tried making this in the instant pot but thats def something I will do. I would follow the recipe as is, adding the ingredients as directed but cook on high pressure for about 3 minutes, then naturally releasing for about 10 minutes and then quick release. Don’t let it naturally release for too long or the rice might come out mushy. Good luck!!
I made this today in my instant pot and I think it came out pretty good. I subbed lotus root for bamboo and added thinly sliced Aburaage at the top. I delayed the start for 30 minutes so the rice could soak and then did 3 min at pressure, 10 min natural release and then quick released the rest of the pressure.
What rice cooker do you recommend?
Either this Tiger one or zojirushi! They are more expensive but we have used them for 10+ years 🙂
I combined this recipe with tofubags to make inarizushi and everyone in my office loved it.
Oh yes, it’s so good in Inarizushi I’m so glad everyone enjoyed it– thank you for sharing! 🙂
I have this old Chinese rice cooker with multi function but only in Chinese, if I translate the picture I get porridge, soupe, super fast, but nothing that seems like mixed rice lol.
Hi Kiki!
You can just use the regular rice setting. It’s the same thing except the mixed rice setting let’s it slightly brown at the bottom, just leave your rice cooker after it’s ready for an additional 5-8 minutes before mixing!
I hope you enjoy 🙂