Sizzling Mushroom Pepper Rice (Pepper-Lunch Style)

Ingredients

• 1/2 lb fresh shiitake mushrooms ( or other mushrooms of choice - thinly sliced or broken apart)
• 1/2 tbsp vegan butter (for cooking)
• 1 1/2 cups cooked and cooled short grain or sushi rice (- leftover is the best!)
• 1 tbsp vegan mayonnaise or vegan butter ((see notes))
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper (, add more or less depending on how peppery you want it)
• 2 tbsp cooked corn kernels
• 1 tbsp chopped scallions (or green onions)
• 2-3 tbsp homemade sweet brown sauce (, adjust to taste (recipe below), see notes for sub)
• 2 tbsp maple syrup (or other liquid sweetener or choice)
• 2 tbsp soy sauce ( or tamari, if gluten-free)
• 1-2 tbsp water (, adjust depending on desired consitency)
• 1 tsp garlic powder (or 1 clove garlic, minced)
• 2 tbsp room temperature water
• 1 tbsp corn starch

Instructions

1. 1

   To make the brown sauce, see below.

2. 2

   --- PEPPER RICE ---

3. 3

   Heat your cast iron pan over high heat. Once it’s smoking, lower to medium. Add in some vegan butter or oil. Add in the mushrooms

4. 4

   Cook down the shiitake mushrooms until lightly browned over medium to medium high heat. I like to leave the mushrooms untouched for 2-3 minutes at a time to lightly brown each side.

5. 5

   Once the mushrooms are cooked to your liking, move them to the sides of the pan.

6. 6

   Add a bit more oil or butter on the centre of the pan.

7. 7

   Rice: place the rice in the centre of the pan. I packed my rice in a bowl and then flipped the bowl over to create a dome shape.

8. 8

   Add the vegan mayo/butter over the rice, pepper, corn kernels, and scallions over the rice. Drizzle generous amount of your sauce of choice (sweet brown sauce or teriyaki sauce) over the rice and mushrooms.

9. 9

   Mix together until everything is well coated in the sauce and butter/mayo. Finish off with more pepper, if you like.

10. 10

    Enjoy immediately while still hot.

11. 11

    --- BROWN SAUCE ---

12. 12

    Note: Double or triple the brown sauce ingredients if you're making 2-3 servings of the pepper rice.

13. 13

    Heat a small sauce pan over medium. Ad in 1 tbsp water, garlic powder, sweetener, and soy sauce. Stir and leave to simmer and come to boil over medium heat. Feel free to add more sweetener if you want it sweeter.

14. 14

    Meanwhile, mix together the corn starch and water in a small bowl until you have a slurry.

15. 15

    When the sauce has come to a boil, lower the heat to medium low and then stir-in the slurry. Give the sauce a good mix. It’ll slowly start to thicken. Turn off the heat. The sauce will continue to thicken as it cools. If you want a runnier sauce, feel free to add a bit more (around 1 tbsp more) water.You can also adjust the sauce depending on your desired taste.

16. 16

    Storage and making ahead: you can store this in the refrigerator until ready to use. It can thickened form some clumps when refrigeratred so you can simply reheat this quicklythe microwave and give it a good stir to dissolve any clumps from the starch.