Soothe your soul this autumn with stew, sticky rice and mushrooms
There are trays of mushrooms in the shops – craggy-capped shiitake, brown and white chestnut, oyster mushrooms like Chinese soup spoons and chanterelles the colour of ripe apricots. I particularly like the shimeji mushrooms that grow in clusters, their soft brown caps and thin stems huddled together. I cut off threads from their spongy base and separate them, tossing them in melted butter, parsley and lemon juice or adding them to sticky rice – the sort you use for sushi.
For dinner earlier this week we ate sushi rice stirred into a paste of spinach, roasted cashews and red curry paste. The seasoning was mild, a soft red-brown warmth – and the texture as soothing as a spoonful of porridge. We added our mushrooms to this – a mixture of oyster, chestnut and shimeji (though we could have used any) – fried quickly with a handful of parsley.
