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Mushrooms with spicy garlic butter and fragrant rice recipe

Serve the dish with extra lime - Eleanor Steafel
Serve the dish with extra lime - Eleanor Steafel

A pan of slowly browning mushrooms is up there with the Great Kitchen Scents. Here, their earthy sweetness is brought out even further with a spicy garlic butter. Make sure you give the mushrooms a chance to brown all over as that’s where so much of the flavour is. If you can’t get gochujang (an incredible Korean fermented chilli paste made with fermented soy beans, rice flour and chilli), use a teaspoon of white miso and a few dashes of a dry hot sauce like sriracha. If you make extra and serve it all again in some new iteration tomorrow, a fried egg would be a great addition.

Prep time: 10 minutes | Cooking time: 30 minutes

SERVES

2

INGREDIENTS

  • 125g basmati rice

  • 1 star anise

  • 60g butter

  • 1 tbsp olive oil

  • 2 garlic cloves, peeled and bashed

  • 3 large field mushrooms

  • 1 tsp gochujang (or 1 tsp miso paste and a few dashes of a hot sauce like sriracha)

  • 2 tsp maple syrup

  • 1½ tbsp rice wine

  • ½ lime, juiced (+ extra for serving)

  • 2 spring onions, finely chopped

  • 1 small bunch fresh coriander, torn

METHOD

  1. Put the rice on to cook while you’re frying the mushrooms. Use your preferred rice cooking method - everyone has a different way of doing it. I wash the rice, leave it to soak for 20 minutes, then bring plenty of lightly salted water to the boil, tip in the rice and star anise and cook it for about ten minutes. When it’s cooked I drain it, put it back in the pan and leave it covered with a tea towel for a couple of minutes before fluffing it slightly with a fork.

  2. Set a small frying pan over a medium heat and add the butter and oil. When the butter is foaming, add the garlic and swirl the pan. Then place the mushrooms open side down. Leave to cook for about five minutes, or until the mushrooms are beginning to brown. Then flip them and cook for another five to ten minutes, basting occasionally with the butter. You want the mushrooms cooked through and well browned.

  3. When the mushrooms are done, remove them to a warm plate, leaving the butter and garlic in the pan. Add the gochujang (or miso and hot sauce) to the pan along with the maple syrup and rice wine. Cook over a low heat, whisking to combine. Then add the lime and a pinch of salt.

  4. To serve, pile the rice onto a warm dish, top with the spring onions, plenty of coriander and the mushrooms. Spoon over the sauce.