Wild Mushroom Congee with Soft Boiled Egg and Bacon
The key to a good miso soup at home is, of course, good miso, but almost equally important is dashi. I spent ill researched years of my life attempting miso soup at home using water and miso paste, or even those instant miso soup packets, and never realized what I was missing. Dashi is what I was missing, and if you’re reading Japanese recipes from me, it’s probably what you’re missing too. There are a few varieties of dashi, but for this recipe I used kombu dashi made with kombu seaweed, which can be found at Asian grocers or health food stores. Use this dashi or chicken broth in the congee recipe below.
Servings: 6 –8
Ingredients
Kombu Dashi
- 1 4- x 5-inch sheet kombu seaweed
- 2 quarts cold water
Congee
- 1 12-ounce package bacon
- 1 bunch oyster mushrooms cut or torn into pieces
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 2 quarts Kombu dashi or chicken stock
- 1 tablespoon miso paste
- Soy sauce or tamari to taste
- 2 cups cooked short grain rice
- 1 tablespoon mirin or white wine
- 6 –16 eggs 1–2 eggs per person
- 1 bunch scallions sliced on an angle, for garnish
- Kimchee for garnish optional
Instructions
Kombu Dashi
- Add to soups, stocks, and anything brothy for an umami oomph.
- Add the kombu to the water and steep at room temperature for 3–10 hours, remove seaweed, and refrigerate if using later.
- If you need the dashi in a pinch, bring a pot of water to simmer, remove from heat, add the seaweed, cover, and brew for 10 minutes.
Congee
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Spread bacon on a baking sheet and cook for 15–20 minutes, until desirably crisp. Remove the bacon and drain, leaving drippings in the pan.
- Add half of the oyster mushroom pieces to the drippings, toss to cover with drippings. Bake until crisp. Crumble and set aside for garnish.
- Melt butter in a Dutch oven or large pot and add remaining mushrooms. Sauté until fragrant. Deglaze with mirin.
- Add dashi or chicken stock and bring to a low simmer.
- Add miso paste and stir to dissolve. Add a dash of soy sauce and mirin to taste.
- Add cooked rice to the simmering broth and cook, stirring occasionally, until the starchy rice shell begins to break and the rice becomes softer and thicker.
- While the rice is simmering (keep stirring occasionally), bring a pot of water to a rolling boil, add eggs, cover, and turn down the heat to a low boil. After 6 minutes, remove eggs and submerge them in ice an bath. After the eggs cool, peel and slice each in half.
- Serve the congee in bowls. Garnish with eggs and bacon and top with green onions. Add some kimchee, if desired.
Maverick and Dani Watson live in Chico and collaborate on creative projects ranging from photography, leather and wood craft. They also share a specific passion for food and food experiences. When we’re not in a pandemic, they host seasonal dinners with a focus on locally sourced ingredients and inventive California cuisine under the company name Steer+Arbor.
