Okowa

• 2 cups mochi rice or short-grain glutinous rice
• 1 tablespoon dark sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons dashi stock traditional or vegan, or 2 cups of water with some dashi stock granules
• 2 tablespoons mirin
• 1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar optional
• 5 dried shiitake mushrooms soaked and re-hydrated, you can use the soaking liquid as the stock
• 1 carrot large
• 3 aburaage fried tofu skins; or 6 inarizushi skins, well drained
• 1 piece fresh ginger about 1 inch square

1. Wash the mochi rice as per the instructions here. Strain into a sieve or colander and let it sit a while to drain away all the water.
2. Mix the sesame oil with the drained rice. Add the other 'base' ingredients, mix well and let it steep for at least 20 minutes.
3. In the meantime, dice the carrots, chop up the shiitake mushrooms, finely chop the ginger, and cut up the fried tofu skins. If you're doing the meat version, chop up the meat if needed, and chop up the green onions.
4. If you're cooking this in a rice cooker, put the rice, liquid and the 'things you add to it' into a rice cooker, and cook using the regular setting. When it's cooked, fluff it up well and take it out of the cooker. Do not keep okowa in the rice cooker the Keep Warm setting - it will start to go funny rather fast.
5. If you're using a microwave, put the rice, liquid and the 'things you add' in a bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic film. Microwave on HIGH for 12 minutes. Take out, and mix well. Re-cover, and microwave on HIGH for another 3 minutes. Mix well and recover. Let it sit, covered, for at least 10 minutes. (This method was featured on a recent issue of "Today's Cooking Beginners" (); they nuked it for 12 minutes - then 2 minutes - 2 minutes, but I found that 12 minutes - 3 minutes works fine.)
6. Let the okowa cool to room temperature. You can use it as-is, garnished with a little pickled red ginger as shown in the photo. You can also make onigiri (no filling needed) - just wet your hand slightly and form into balls, or use the plastic wrap method (without the salt). The rice will stick together very well.
7. You can freeze okowa - I like to make them into onigiri first. Then you can take one one onigiri at a time.
8. Variationsnou mix in any kind of vegetable and/or meat combination with the basic rice and flavorings. Some traditional additions include fresh mushrooms of all kinds, boiled bamboo shoot, precooked chestnuts, sweet potato, various mountain greens, and so on. On the meaty side you could add roast duck, char siu pork, finely diced sausage...
9. You can also vary the flavor by using another oil instead of sesame, using chicken stock instead of the dashi, and so on. Experiment!

mochi rice, sesame oil, vegan, mirin, soy sauce, salt, brown sugar, mushrooms, carrot, ginger

Taken from www.yummly.com/recipe/Okowa-1007339 (may not work)