Braised “Tsukuda-ni” Mushrooms きのこの佃煮

We like mushrooms especially shiitake mushrooms 椎茸. Since Weee offers a wide variety of mushrooms we tend to go “over board” and order too many when we get groceries from them. This time we ordered shiitake, wood ear 木耳, and brown shimeji mushrooms しめじ. Among these mushrooms, shimeji last the longest (about 2 weeks) in the original package in the refrigerator without doing anything. For  shiitake, I removed the stems. (I tear them lengthwise, then chop them finely and sauté with finely chopped onion. I use this mixture in meat balls or other dishes. It adds a lovely umami flavor). I place the caps in a ziploc bag with a small sheet paper towel which absorbs moisture and keeps the mushrooms dry. The wood ear, I wash and blanch, wash it again and dry spreading them out over a dish towel for a few hours. I then pack them in a Ziploc bag like I do for shiitake. Even with these preparations, we need to use up the mushrooms within 1-2 weeks. So at the end, I need to cook them in some way. For the shiitake, I slice the caps thinly and sauté them with finely chopped shallots. We can used this for making “shiitake risotto” or other dishes. This time we had left-over shiitake, shimeji and wood ear. So I made this simmered dish which is similar to “Tsukuda-ni” 佃煮.

Ingredients:
Any mushrooms (Here I used shiitake, shimeji and wood ear), amounts arbitrary, cut into bite size pieces,
small amount of  water
Mirin and soy sauce (I used x4 concentrated Japanese “Mentsuyu” noodle sauce),

Directions:
Add the mushrooms to a small pan with a lid. Place the pan on low heat and add a small amount of water (more water will come out from the mushrooms, so just a small amount is needed so that the bottom will not scorch) and place on a tight lid.
After 10-15 minutes, the volume of the mushrooms reduces.
Add mirin and soy sauce in about equal amount (You could add more later if needed, so start with a small amount)
Without a lid, simmer and stir occasionally until the liquid almost all evaporated (see picture below)
Taste and if not seasoned enough add more seasonings and repeat the process*

* the name “Tsukuda-ni” 佃煮 derived from a small island called “Tsukuda-jima” 佃島 in  Sumida river 隅田川 in tokyo. In edo-era 江戸時代, it was famous for simmered and seasoned (sweet and salty or “ama-kara” 甘辛) seafood mostly small fish and “nori” seaweed or other items such as meat.)  This was good for “preserving” fish and meat and mainly consumed as condiments for rice.

I made this dish as a drinking snack but it was bit too weakly seasoned. So I added more seasoning and re-cooked it a few days later. If this is to be used as a condiment for rice or over a block of tofu, I would have seasoned it a bit more. This is a good dish to use up left-over mushrooms and works well as a snack with either red wine or sake.