SHIITAKE BROWN RICE

Brown rice is a staple of macrobiotic cuisine - the perfect food. The challenge, therefore, is to find sundry ways to prepare it and to construct meals around it. One of the surest complements to brown rice is the shiitake mushroom - a standard ingredient throughout Asian cookery. Brown rice with shiitake mushrooms is easy to prepare, nutritious and an excellent basis for hundreds of meals.

The method used here is straight forward. Take a solid-based cooking pot. Add a small quantity of any suitable oil such as sesame oil. Lightly saute the fresh shiitake mushrooms (destalked and halved if they are large). After a minute, add some mushroom stock (or any suitable vegetable stock) along with a pinch of sea salt. Simmer the mushrooms for another minute. 

Next add the required amount of precooked brown rice. Pressure-cooked short-grain organic or biodynamic rice is best, but in any case brown wholegrain rice. You should have a bowl of precooked, drained rice in the refrigerator at all times. 

Stir the rice and mushrooms together. Simmer until the stock is gone. 

This is your rice. It is the foundation of the meal. Then serve with any number of possible accompaniments including various pickles and steamed greens. It is one of the simplest and most centering macrobiotic meals. Once again, simplicity is a virtue. There is no need for complex and elaborate recipes. Keep it simple. Use simple, whole ingredients and gentle cooking methods.