Any time the weather is warm enough to be outdoors, you are liable to find me out in the woods (Chele too, though the upper limit of her heat tolerance is significantly lower than mine). Part of it is simply to enjoy nature. Part of it is to get away from the civilized world and reset. And part of it is to do a little foraging.
I love looking for wild foods. Not only does it let you enjoy the outdoors and engage in some healthy hiking, you can bring home a tremendous variety of foods to stock your kitchen with. And even better, it’s free food. Sometimes you can haul home a wild substitute for something you would normally buy from the store. Sometimes you find something unique and unavailable in most stores. And sometimes you happen across something that is actually a little of both, like when Chele and I ran across these on a recent hike:
Those are chicken of the woods mushrooms (not to be confused with the similarly named hen of the woods, which is also known as maitake). They are also simply called “chicken mushrooms”, which is honestly the name I prefer – but search engines can’t distinguish between “chicken mushroom recipes” and “chicken AND mushroom recipes”, so I am forced to use the longer name for sake of improved visibility on the internet. Unlike many other wild mushrooms, the name has little to do with appearance. Rather, it refers to the fact that when cooked, these mushrooms really can pass for chicken breast in both flavor and texture! This makes them a favorite of mushroom hunters and vegans alike.
After getting them home, it was time to decide what to make out of them. The same hike had also yielded a sizable patch of wild onions, so I wanted to use some of those as well. I found myself in the mood for something Japanese-inspired, so I started a pot of rice on the stove, dug out some frozen lotus root slices that had been hiding in the freezer, and set about making this chicken of the woods donburi. A donburi, if you are not familiar with them, is a Japanese dish that is basically a bowl of rice topped with some sort of cooked (typically simmered) meat or vegetables. I sliced the mushrooms and gave them a bit of a pan sear before simmering them in with the lotus root and onions. And you know what? It would not have been very hard to serve this and pass it off as a chicken dish.
I used dashi broth as the base for my simmering sauce, which gives it a more authentic Japanese flavor (we included a basic dashi recipe as part of our Mushroom and Burdock Root Noodle Bowl recipe that you can use for this). You can also use instant Hondashi if you would rather not make your own, or even substitute chicken or vegetable broth.
Toppings are both optional and completely up to what you would like to try. I prefer a little seaweed furikake sprinkled over the rice, and some benishoga (red pickled ginger) on top. A poached or soft boiled egg is also a fantastic topping, especially if you are looking for some added protein.
Chicken of the Woods Donburi
Ingredients
- 2 Tbs oil
- 2 cups chicken of the woods mushroom sliced into bite sized pieces
- 10 slices lotus root fresh or frozen
- ¼ cup wild onions, green onions, or garlic scapes sliced into ½ inch pieces
- ¾ cup dashi broth, Hondashi, or chicken or vegetable broth
- ½ cup cooking sake (or dry drinking sake)
- 3 Tbs soy sauce
- 1½ Tbs sugar (more or less to taste)
- ½ tsp ginger
- 4 cups cooked rice (preferably Japanese short- or medium-grain)
Instructions
- Bring a small pot of water to a boil. Add lotus root slices and blanch for 2-3 minutes. Drain and set aside to cool.
- Heat oil in a large wok or saute pan over medium-high heat. Working in batches to avoid crowding, add cleaned, sliced chicken of the woods and sear until golden on all sides. Remove from pan and set aside.
- Cut lotus root slices into quarters. Add to pan and stir fry for a minute or two. Return mushroom to the pan, along with onions, dashi, cooking sake, soy sauce, and sugar. Stir to combine.
- Bring mixture to a simmer and reduce heat to low. Allow to simmer for 10-15 minutes, or until the liquid has been reduced by about 75%. Remove from heat.
- Portion about a cup of cooked rice into bowls. Top with mushroom mixture and any desired toppings (optional).
Notes
- Chicken of the Woods, or chicken mushrooms, grown on dead or injured trees from late spring through fall. Eat only fresh, tender mushrooms (they become tough and fibrous as they age). Be sure to consult a reputable field guide or knowledgeable mushroom hunter if you are collecting them yourself, and only harvest from where you are legally permitted to (check local laws before you head out!)
- Lotus root, also called renkon, is readily available both fresh and frozen at most Asian markets (we buy most of ours from Mitsuwa and H Mart here in the Chicago area). It also occasionally makes an appearance in mainstream supermarkets that stock specialty produce (we’ve found it at Tony’s Fresh Market, Jewel, and Whole Foods).
- To make this vegan: if you are making your own dashi, omit the bonito flakes and make a pure konbu (kelp) dashi. Or use vegetable broth.
- To make this gluten free: use tamari or a certified gluten-free soy sauce.
