Not Baking but Stir-Frying This Time - Mentaiko Mushrooms 2017 Version

Only until I finished editing all the pictures and started searching other mentaiko recipes on my blog, surprisingly there was already one old post back in 2012 for mentaiko mushrooms. So I carefully compared the 2012 post with the most up-to-date version here. Well, they're almost the same with just a slight variance on the ingredients used.

This 2017 version did not include Japanese mayonnaise, but with the addition of garlic slices. In a way the older version tastes more like an otsumami/beer food, and this updated version serves better as a side dish, especially if you are looking for something that works well for bento box.

So here it is, the mushrooms made with lunchbox side dish in mind.

Mentaiko mushrooms 2017 -

Ingredients?

• 1 bundle enoki mushroom
• 1 bundle bunapi mushrooms
• 1 bundle shimeji mushrooms
• 3 1/2 to 4 tablespoons mentaiko (about 2 sacs)
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 garlic cloves
• Small pinch salt
• Some dried seaweed threads or flakes

How?

Peel and slice the garlic cloves. Trim off any tougher ends then rinse and pat dry all three kinds of mushrooms.

Remove fish roe from the sac/membrane -

Add the butter and garlic slices to the pan and turn to medium high heat. Add a small pinch of salt. Wait till the butter starts to melt and gently cooking the garlic slices. 

Just a little bit of salt at first to help drawing out some excess moisture from the mushrooms. The mentaiko can be quite salty, so try to avoid over-salting the dish, you can always add more salt in the end.

Transfer all the mushrooms to the pan and stir-fry till softened and shrink by about half of their original size.

Mix in mentaiko and cook for another minute. Taste and adjust the flavor with more salt if needed.

Plate the mushrooms and garnish with dried seaweed threads or dried seaweed flakes.

Some people like to add salt last minute when cooking mushrooms, that way the mushrooms won't shrivel too much. It's completely up to you. The amount of salt used here were so little, looking at these images you'll see that the mushrooms are still "plump" in some way. Moreover, by drawing out some moisture early on and just let these mushrooms cook in their own juice create another kind of deliciousness. Give it a try and you'll see.


Other recipe using mentaiko -

• Just keep rolling and rolling that mentaiko tamagoyaki