One-Pot Mushroom and Ginger Rice

By Hetty Lui McKinnon

Published March 13, 2024

One-Pot Mushroom and Ginger Rice
Linda Xiao for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini.
Total Time
40 minutes
Prep Time
10 minutes
Cook Time
30 minutes
Rating
4(554)
Notes
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Inspired by Cantonese one-bowl rice dishes like bo zai fan and sticky rice, this mushroom and ginger rice has clean yet robust flavors. The Chinese cooking technique of velveting — dusting protein in cornstarch to keep it tender and silky during cooking — is usually reserved for meat or seafood but here, the same method is used for the mushrooms, allowing them to stay juicy and plump as they cook in the rice. Crisping the rice at the bottom of the pot is optional, but if you choose to do it, stay close, listen to the sound of the sizzle, smell the aroma; if you detect any burning scents, take it off the heat immediately. At first, the rice will seem stuck to the pot, but it will release more easily once it has cooled. A dish like this would traditionally be cooked in a clay pot, so use that if you have one, but if not, a cast-iron Dutch oven will do the job.

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings
  • 1½cups medium-grain white rice
  • 2cups vegetable stock, store-bought or homemade
  • 10ounces mushrooms, such as shiitake, cremini, button or blue oysters (or a mix), halved or quartered
  • 2teaspoons cornstarch
  • 6 to 7teaspoons tamari soy sauce
  • 2teaspoons Shaoxing wine (optional)
  • 3teaspoons sesame oil
  • Salt and white or black pepper
  • 1(1-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
  • 2scallions, thinly sliced
  • Toasted white sesame seeds (optional)
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)

370 calories; 6 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 2 grams monounsaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 65 grams carbohydrates; 0 grams dietary fiber; 0 grams sugars; 13 grams protein; 663 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Place the rice into a Dutch oven and rinse it 3 times until the water runs almost clear. Pour the stock over the rice and leave to soak for 10 minutes while you prepare the mushrooms.

  2. Step 2

    Place the mushrooms into a bowl and add the cornstarch and toss to coat. Add 4 teaspoons of soy sauce, the 2 teaspoons Shaoxing wine (if using), 1 teaspoon sesame oil, ½ teaspoon salt and a pinch of white or black pepper; toss to coat.

  3. Step 3

    Place the pot with the rice over medium-high heat, add the ginger slices and bring to a boil. When bubbling, cover, reduce to low and cook for 5 minutes.

  4. Step 4

    Uncover, add the mushrooms and, using chopsticks or a large spoon, stir the mushrooms through the rice. Cover again and cook on low until the mushrooms are cooked and rice is tender, 10 to 12 minutes.

  5. Step 5

    Remove the lid, increase heat to medium-high and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, until you can hear it sizzling aggressively, which indicates that the bottom of the rice is becoming crispy. (Skip this step if you don’t care for the crispy rice.)

  6. Step 6

    Turn off heat and drizzle with 2 to 3 teaspoons of soy sauce, the remaining 2 teaspoons of sesame oil and top with scallions and sesame seeds (if using).

Ratings

4 out of 5
554 user ratings
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Cooking Notes

Beatrice

I keep a lot of ginger frozen and no matter what the recipe calls for, grate it straight out of the freezer -- no peeling needed. Be sure to put unused parts right back into freezer as it gets mushy if you let it thaw. This solved that whole problem for me, and works like a charm.

miche

Prepared a mash-up of this + Genevieve Ko's Sticky Ginger Rice. Instead of velveting the mushrooms as directed here, I marinated them a bit per this recipe (minus the cornstarch), sauteed them for a few minutes, removed mushrooms and cooked the rice in the same pot. Re-added mushrooms towards the end of cooking. So delicious and comforting. Mushrooms marinated and sauteed in soy sauce, shaoxing wine, and sesame oil is going into my repertoire!

Edith

Could someone please explain the point of coating the mushrooms in cornstarch, if they're just being put into the liquid w/the rice? Was a step missed?

Kiki

Edith, see the introductory paragraph for the purpose of the cornstarch.

TwirlyGirly

I keep my ginger, unpeeled, covered with sherry in a jar in the fridge. It lasts indefinitely and doesn't get mushy like it does if kept in the freezer. When a recipe calls for slices of ginger, the slices will still have some of the crispness fresh ginger has. And don't tell anyone, but I rarely bother to peel ginger for recipes whether it's to be grated or sliced. Shhhh...

Sandy

How about a poached egg on top?

BrklynDF

The cooking time for mushrooms will stay the same, so still add the mushrooms 10-12 minutes before the rice is done, as the recipe says. (Brown rice takes about 30-45 minutes, depending on your rice, so add the mushrooms after 25-35 minutes.) Brown rice can get crispy, but it'll probably be different from crispy white rice.

susan

Trader Joe’s has frozen ginger (as will as garlic) in little cubes very good substitute for fresh

Adina

Shaoxing has a very specific flavor, entirely unlike sake, or anything else, really. The usual substitute if you can't find it is sherry. You can find salted Shaoxing online and in a lot of Chinese markets, so that might be usable as long as you remember to reduce other salty things in the recipe. I visit a local Chinese liquor store every so often to get my supply.

Anne-Marie

Delicious, but the recipe calls for too few mushrooms for the quantity of rice used.

Tracy L

If I could chime in on the Shaoxing wine question: Shaoxing is unique, aged and oxidative rice wine and an essential in Chinese cooking. Avoid the inferior versions that contain salt just as you would avoid the salted "cooking wines" sold at grocery stores. The labels do look similar but the salted ones clearly say so on the front label. A decent bottle is about $20.00 The best substitute is a dry Amontillado sherry (a Fino or sweet sherry will not be the right flavor!)

Chris S.

I do the same but actually peel and mince it before adding to the tiny jar with sherry (doesn't really matter what kind). Makes it *so* easy to add a teaspoon of minced ginger to almost anything in nearly a split second.

Lizzy

Reduced to 1 cup of sushi rice and 8 oz of cremini mushrooms for 2 of us with liquid (chicken stock as that was what I had) reduced in proportion to the rice. Everything else cooked as per the recipe, though probably more ginger - how fat is the inch length of ginger? Sprinkled with scallions and furikake (as per a reader's comment) and it was excellent. Plenty of umami flavour and the crispiness of the rice was a nice contrast to the softer rice.

K

I feel like the instructions here of the Hong-Kong Crispy Rice from Woks of Life works better—soak for 1 hour, simmer for closer to 17 minutes. My rice came out so undercooked! And then the dish kind of became a mess from there, rice unevenly cooked throughout, etc.

Cynthia

Was delicious and I'll make it again. I used homemade vegetable broth from "Korean Vegan Cookbook" by Molinaro. The only negative was that I used a ceramic coated Dutch oven and I couldn't scrape off the crisp rice without risk of damaging it. Next time I'll use a plain cast iron pan.

mer

Liked this. Scallions NA but otherwise followed recipe. Good with sautéed peppers and tofu.

Jessica

This was good, but a bit too salty with the soy sauce amounts called for. Next time I'll use less and add at the end if needed. Would be good with ramen noodles, too. I added a fried egg on top for protein.

McKenzie

Delicious. For everyone having trouble with getting the crisp rice off the bottom of your pan, are you turning the heat off, putting the lid on and letting it sit for 10 or so minutes after it’s done? That will steam it slightly and it just comes right off. I use a fish spatula.

TW

I found this rather bland, overall. Topped with lots of sriracha and a fried egg.

Jack

Tasty, though it could easily handle twice the amount of mushrooms. Might pan fry tofu to go with it next time, because this felt very much like a side instead of a meal. I toasted up some cashews in a pinch.

Bob B

Cooked exactly as written. Rice did not crisp in a Le Creuset dutch oven. Next time I will try stainless steel. Flavor was fine. I think I will add more mushrooms, just our preference. Looking at the previous comments, I think there might be a lot of variation between gas and electric stovetops. I have cooked dozens of NYT recipes, and I find that sometimes my gas stove seems a lot hotter. Not this time, though.

Sir Bob

Add mushrooms after 25 min

Michelle

I found the rice slightly underdone - used 12 minutes after the 5 initial, followed the soaking time exactly. Maybe “low” was too low?

AK

I took this recipe off the rails and it was still amazing. Used a wild rice blend for the first time so chose to make it in a separate pot. Made more mushrooms than called for, so 1.5x the ingredients to coat them, and added the ginger (plus some sweet white onion) to the mushrooms, instead of the rice as called for. The success and flexibility speaks to Hetty McKinnon's skill as a recipe developer.

Suzy C

Good flavor. I did not use the wine, but homemade veggie stock to reduce the sodium. Throw in a cup or so of broccoli florets with the mushrooms and it would be 5 stars.

Lourdes E.

This really did not cut it.. way too plain for us and we felt as though it needed some more protein in it.

sj the ghost

I added tofu because I did not have enough mushrooms and it came out amazingly!

Tori

Not a great recipe. Needed more liquid, more cooking time. I didn't get any sort of crisp on the bottom of my dutch oven, just a lovely layer of burned in rice. Tastes very bland and even the extra step of velveting the mushrooms seemed to have no effect at all.

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