Mushroom Rice Bowl

My husband is such a trooper.  I admit that my taste buds aren't all together "normal", but my man just goes along with me and gratefully eats what he is served.  He admits to being a bit skeptical when he heard my answer to his question of what we were having for dinner on this particular night, but after the first couple of bites, he suggested I "cook like this" more often.  Needless to say, we both thoroughly enjoyed this satisfying meal.  I didn't have shichimi sauce, which I guess was the intended star of the original recipe, but I thought the red pepper flakes were enough to add a kick without killing the natural flavors.


2 cups cooked brown rice
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
2 cloves garlic, very thinly sliced
sea salt
12 ounces chanterelles or mushrooms of your choice, sliced 1/4-inch thick
8 ounces firm tofu, cut into tiny cubes (I prefer extra firm)
1 bunch kale, well chopped
Shichimi Togarashi or red pepper flakes, to taste


Heat the olive oil and butter in a large skillet over high heat.  Add the mushrooms in a single layer, stir well, and cook until the mushrooms release their liquid, and then brown, about 5 minutes more.  Stir a few times along the way, but don't overdo it; you want the mushrooms to be deeply browned on both sides.  Stir in the garlic roughly 20 seconds before the mushrooms finish cooking.  If you need to cook the mushrooms in two batches; do so.  Transfer the mushrooms to a plate, set aside.

Using the same large skillet, no need to clean it out, cook the tofu along with a couple pinches of salt over medium-high heat until heated through, and until it starts to brown a bit.  Roughly one minute before the tofu is finished cooking, stir in the kale.  It should collapse and cook down over the next 60 seconds.

Season all components with Shichimi Togarashi (or red pepper flakes) and salt to taste.  For each serving, dish up a heaping spoonful of brown rice along with some of the tofu/kale mixture and some of the mushrooms.