Instant Pot Takikomi Gohan

1. Gather all the ingredients. Make the dashi if you haven‘t already and let it cool to room temperature (you can place the pot with dashi in a bowl of iced water).

To Wash and Soak the Rice

1. In a large bowl, measure and add 1½ cups uncooked Japanese short-grain white rice. Rinse the rice under cold water, gently rubbing the rice with your fingertips in a circular motion for 10–15 seconds. Add more water, then pour off the starchy water. Rinse and repeat until the water becomes clear. Then, add water to cover the rice and soak for 20–30 minutes. Meanwhile, start preparing the ingredients.
2. Here‘s how the rice looks before and after soaking for 20 minutes. Drain the water completely. Set aside for 10 minutes. If you don’t have time to wait, then shake off the excess water the best you can.

To Prepare the Ingredients

1. In a small bowl, add 2 dried shiitake mushrooms and ¼ cup water. Put a heavy object on top so the mushrooms stay submerged in the water. Let them soak until they‘re tender. In the meantime, prep the other ingredients.
2. Cut 1 chicken thigh into slanted, smaller bite-sized pieces. I use the sogigiri Japanese cutting technique to create more surface area so the meat will cook faster. Sprinkle the pieces with ½ Tbsp sake to remove any unwanted smell from the chicken.
3. With the back of a knife, scrape off the skin of 1.8 oz gobo (burdock root). Do not peel the skin with a vegetable peeler, which will remove the earthy and delicious flavor just below the skin. Cut the gobo in half lengthwise.
4. Thinly slice each half diagonally. Soak the gobo in water to prevent it from turning brown and remove any astringent taste.
5. Cut 1.8 oz carrot in half lengthwise and thinly slice it diagonally.
6. Pour hot water over 1 piece aburaage (deep-fried tofu pouch) to get rid of the excess oil. Some people skip this step as the factory oil is cleaner these days. I do it anyway. Cut the aburaage in half lengthwise.
7. Cut the tofu pouch into thin slices and squeeze out the water.
8. You will need about ⅓ cup each of sliced carrot, sliced gobo, and sliced aburaage.
9. By now, the shiitake mushrooms should be hydrated and tender. Squeeze out the excess liquid into the bowl and reserve this shiitake dashi to use later. Next, remove the stem from each shiitake mushroom.
10. Thinly slice the mushroom caps. If it’s a big mushroom, cut the thin slices in half crosswise.
11. In a 2-cup measuring cup, add 2 Tbsp shiitake dashi (the reserved liquid from hydrating the shiitake mushrooms). If you are worried about the small particles left in the liquid, you can strain the liquid using a tea strainer. To the same measuring cup, add 1½ Tbsp soy sauce, 1 Tbsp mirin, and ½ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt.
12. Lastly, add enough of the 1½ cups dashi (Japanese soup stock) to the measuring cup so that the seasoning liquid measures 360 ml total.
13. To a large bowl, add the chicken, shiitake mushrooms, carrot, gobo, and aburaage. Then, add the 360 ml seasoning liquid from the previous step. Mix well.

To Cook the Rice

1. Transfer the well-drained rice to the rice pot. Make sure the rice is evenly distributed and flat.
2. Add the ingredients and seasoning liquid on top of the rice. DO NOT MIX the rice and the ingredients. Try to evenly distribute the ingredients on top and flatten them without mixing with the rice.
3. Close the lid and click Manual. Set to High pressure for 2 minutes.
4. Make sure the steam release handle points at Sealing and not Venting. The float valve goes up when pressurized (it takes roughly 10 minutes to pressurize).
5. When it’s finished cooking, the Instant Pot will beep and switch automatically to the Keep Warm mode. Let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes; I recommend setting a timer. DO NOT EXCEED 10 MINUTES of natural release. After 10 minutes, proceed with a quick release by turning the steam release handle to the Venting position until the float valve drops down. Hold a kitchen towel over the steam release valve to protect your hand and face during quick release. Only a little bit of steam will be left after 10 minutes of natural release.
6. Open the lid and immediately fluff the rice with a rice scooper to avoid burning the rice on the bottom. Instead of “mixing” the rice, try to “cut” it at a 45-degree angle using a slicing motion as you turn over each scoop of rice to fluff.

To Serve

1. Cut 3 sprigs mitsuba (Japanese parsley) into small pieces. If you don’t have mitsuba, you can use green onion.
2. Serve the Takikomi Gohan in individual bowls and garnish with the chopped mitsuba.

To Store

1. The best way to store Japanese rice is to freeze it, even if you plan to use it the following day. To learn how, please read my post on how to store cooked rice.