Breath of the Wild: Mushroom Risotto

This past November, my husband and I finally picked up a Switch and a copy of Breath of the Wild. I just finished my first playthrough of the game last week. It is extremely easy to wander in a direction and lose all sense of time and focus on the main story objective. There is so much to do as you adventure around. There have been plenty of times I would place a point to head towards and quickly become distracted by at least 5 different activities. One side activity that ate a decent amount of my time was building up Tarrey Town. Helping Hudson out is a long journey and a lot of chopping trees but I loved seeing the town slowly grow. Once the town was completed, I was excited to see all the individuals who now lived in this city. It became my little hub to recollect materials and relax.

One of my favorite additions to the franchise was the cooking system. I love being able to take several ingredients and try to create new recipes. Throughout the world, there is a large variety of mushrooms and mushroom specialized dishes. A dish I have wanted to try making for some time now is mushroom risotto. Breath of the Wild motivated me to figure out what would work best. Since the game was developed by a Japanese company, I decided to make this dish Japanese inspired. Instead of a boring chicken stock, I made a miso dashi stock and used mushrooms that are more popular in that region of the world. The dish comes together to make a deliciously, earthy tasting risotto. Keep in mind that risotto needs to be babysat as you are making it. It is a slow process to allow the arborio rice to absorb all the liquid and cook properly.

Ingredients:
Miso Dashi Stock
4 ½ cups water
1 piece of dried kombu
2 dried shiitake mushrooms
4 tbsp bonito flakes
3 tbsp shiro (white) miso

2 cups arborio rice
¼ cup sake
2 tbsp butter
2 shallots, chopped
5 garlic cloves, chopped
6 shiitake mushrooms, sliced
1 cluster of songnee mushrooms, sliced
150 g brown beech mushrooms, chopped
1 king oyster mushroom, sliced
¼ cup parmesan cheese, grated
salt
pepper

Begin by making the miso dashi stock. In a large pot, combine the water, kombu, dried shiitake mushrooms, and bonito flakes. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and allow it to simmer for at least 15 minutes. The longer you let the stock cook, the stronger the dashi will be. Strain any foam that forms during this process. When the broth is ready, place a mesh strainer over a bowl and strain the broth.

Return the broth to the pot over low heat and slowly introduce the miso. Take a ladle and place the miso in it. Take about half a ladle full of the stock and mix the miso with the stock until it is combined. Keep the broth heated but not simmering.

In a small pan, heat the mushrooms over medium-high heat and cook until they have turned slightly golden brown. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Melt butter in a large pan over medium heat. Add the shallot and garlic and cook until the shallots become translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the arborio rice and cook for 2 minutes.

Add the sake and stir in well. Cook until all the sake has been absorbed by the rice. Begin to add the miso dashi stock in ½ cup increments. Stir until the rice fully absorbs the liquid. Repeat this until all of the liquid is used.

Remove from the heat and stir in the mushrooms and parmesan cheese. Season with salt and pepper.