Mushroom and Egg "Gyudon" Japanese Rice Bowl

This MUSHROOM AND EGG “GYUDON” JAPANESE RICE BOWL is an easy, healthy 30-minute meal perfect for weeknights. I use king oyster mushrooms which is an amazing swap-in for meat because of its inherent “meaty” texture and ability to soak in loads of flavour. My favourite way to prepare king oyster mushrooms is hand-shredding into strips and sautéing them with a little bit of oil in a searing hot pan until they’re nice and brown on the edges. This technique brings out their flavour and make them satisfyingly “meaty”. If you haven’t tried this, you MUST. I highly recommend it 🤌

At first, I wasn’t sure about including “Gyudon” in the recipe title. Gyudon is a Japanese dish that is a rice bowl topped with beef and onions simmered in a slightly sweet, savoury sauce. The word “gyu” relates to the beef and this recipe is meatless. But since it is inspired by Gyudon (and maybe a little Oyakodon I was told), I wanted to pay it the proper homage. I used to make the gyudon recipe from JustOneCookbook.com before one day converting it to this meatless version. Hopefully the cyber food police don’t come at me 😂 This MUSHROOM AND EGG “GYUDON” JAPANESE RICE BOWL is a household favourite for us so I am super excited for you to try it.

Let me know what you think of this recipe in the blog comments. Especially if you make it, I’d love to hear all about it plus tag me on Instagram so I can see!

Eat well and be well,

Sonia

RECIPE NOTES for Mushroom and egg “guidon” Japanese rice bowl:

1.MIRIN (JAPANESE FERMENTED SWEET RICE WINE):

Similar to sake, mirin is also a rice wine but with higher sugar and less alcohol. The real deal mirin is made from sweet rice and rice koji. That’s what you should look for in the ingredients list, along with water and sea salt. Avoid the cheap version containing glucose syrup and/or corn syrup. You can find mirin in Japanese and other East Asian grocery stores, online (ie. Amazon) and in the International aisle of well-stocked grocery stores. Even if you don’t frequent asian stores, Eden Foods (an American company) makes an organic mirin which is available in Canada and the U.S.

2. SAKE (JAPANESE FERMENTED RICE WINE):

You can use either drinking sake or cooking sake. Drinking sake can be purchased from liquor stores and cooking sake can be purchased from Asian grocery stores with a license. Sake substitutes: If you can’t get sake, you can substitute with Chinese or Taiwanese cooking wine (I use the clear kind so the result is visually the same) or dry sherry. Alternatively, you can replace the sake in this recipe with equal amount of water or low-sodium broth.

3. SHICHIMI TOGARASHI:

A Japanese 7-blend chili pepper powder mixture containing Chili Pepper, Orange Peel, Black Sesame Seed, White Sesame Seed, Japanese Pepper, Ginger, Seaweed. You can find it in Japanese and other East Asian grocery stores, and online (ie. Amazon). This one may not be as readily accessible. We use it as a topping for udon and this MUSHROOM AND EGG “GYUDON” JAPANESE RICE BOWL but it is not absolutely crucial so don’t worry if you can’t get your hands on it easily.

MUSHROOM AND EGG “GYUDON” JAPANESE RICE BOWL

“Gyudon” actually means beef rice in Japanese. I named this recipe such (with quotations around the word) because the method followed is basically taken from the preparation of Gyudon, where I’ve replaced sliced beef with mushrooms, hence I wanted to give credit to the dish by referencing it in the title of the recipe.

Prep: 10 minutes | Cook: 20 minutes | Total: 30 minutes | Recipe serves 4.

INGREDIENTS.

340g king oyster mushrooms, hand-shredded into strips (2 x 170g packages)

1 large or 2 small yellow onions (250g), thinly sliced

1 tbsp sugar

4 eggs

Neutral oil for sautéing (I use avocado oil)

For the sauce:

¼ C mirin (see recipe head note)

¼ C sake (see recipe head note)

3 tbsp light soy sauce (or tamari for gluten-free)

To serve:

Steamed Japanese short-grain rice (from 2½ cups of uncooked grains)

1 scallion, chopped

Shichimi togarashi (Japanese 7-blend chili pepper powder mixture) (optional - see recipe head note)

METHOD.

Prepare the rice: Wash and rinse 2½ cups of uncooked rice, gently rubbing grains against each other with your hand while swirling it in water, until water runs clearer but does not need to be fully transparent. Drain well so most excess water is drained off. Place drained rice in pot. Add 2½ cups of water. NOTE: I love my rice on the firmer side so my golden rule is 1-to-1 water-to-rice ratio for both long grain and short grain rice. If you prefer softer rice, use up 1-to-1¼ ratio by adding up to 3 cups plus 2 tablespoons of water for the 2½ cups of grains in this recipe. Allow short grain rice to soak in the measured water before cooking – anywhere between 10 to 60 minutes (OK so yes, this step technically makes this recipe more than 30 minutes but it is worth the passive time. If you don’t have the time, skip soaking but definitely use the maximum amount of water stated above to cook). After soaking, set pot over high heat. Cover with lid and cook until water is boiling and steam is escaping (usually 5-7 minutes) at which point, without lifting lid, turn heat ALL THE WAY DOWN TO LOWEST HEAT and let it continue to cook 20 minutes. Fluff and use.

Mix sauce ingredients and set aside. Shred king oyster mushrooms by hand into thin strips about 1/3” thick.

Heat skillet over medium-high heat. Drizzle oil and sauté shredded mushrooms in batches so as not to overcrowd (I do them in 2 batches in my 11” cast iron skillet). I don’t salt them because the sauce will be salty enough. Once edges are nice and brown, set aside.

Drizzle more oil into the skillet and sauté the onions. Add the tablespoon of sugar and saute until onions are softened and taken on some colour, about 3-5 minutes. Add back mushrooms. Pour the sauce into the pan. Lower heat to simmer 3-5 minutes.

Meanwhile, whisk eggs in a small bowl. After the mushroom-onion mixture has simmered, drizzle egg slowly into it all over. Cover and cook on medium-low until egg is just set but still a little runny.

Serve over rice with chopped scallions and shichimi togarashi. Enjoy!

Watch my IG Recipe Reel for Mushroom and Egg “Gyudon” Japanese Rice Bowl:

Let me know what you think of this recipe or drop any questions you may about in the blog comments. I’m always happy to help. And if you make this or any of my recipes, I’d love to hear about it so tag me on Instagram so I can see!