Last Updated on February 14, 2021
Another recipe with our favorite mushroom, maitake, in Japanese style cooking! This Soy Sauce “Butter” Maitake is super flavorful but cooks in no time! It’s packed with umami, savory and crunchy bite from the maitake, it’s so addictive that you won’t stop eating!
Soy Sauce “Butter”
When it comes to typical Japanese ingredients, you would think of soy sauce as one of them. Now, while using soy sauce itself is common, there’s another flavor combination that the Japanese uses often;
- Soy Sauce + Butter
There’s something about this particular combination that makes any food so appetizing! It’s savory, buttery, and rich. When soy sauce is cooked, it slightly changes the flavor profile which gives a slight smokiness. As a result, that adds an another dimension and it just works magically with the creamy rich buttery taste. For the butter part, we use vegan butter from Miyoko’s Creamery. It’s vegan, organic, and tastes great!
The soy sauce butter can work with variety of ingredients and dishes. For example, it’s great for cabbage, potatoes, tofu, corn, pastas, fried rice, just to name a few.
Maitake and the Dilemma
Maitake in the U.S. is still not a common ingredient while shiitake has gained popularity. If you never tried it before and love umami taste, we highly recommend trying maitake over shiitake or any other mushrooms.
The only downside about buying maitake for us is the package! We buy 98% of produce package free. It breaks our heart every time we grab maitake at a grocery store. Other mushrooms such as cremini, shiitake, and portobello have package-free option but not maitake. We can’t wait for it to gain more popularity so that stores will start selling package-free in the near future…
The Garnishes
The dish tastes great by itself! But to enhance the experience, we suggest you to make this dish with these garnishes;
- Grated daikon radish
- Shichimi pepper
- Scallion
Grated daikon radish adds some freshness to cut through the richness of soy sauce butter. To add some heat, shichimi pepper (Japanese hot chili pepper blends) will be great! Scallions gives a slight onion-like flavor without dominating too much.
If anything, the grated daikon radish is the one you really want to eat this dish with. Now, typical Japanese household has a daikon radish grater. But if you don’t have one and wondering how to grate daikon radish, here is how.
- Peel the skin
- Use a cheese grater or something similar over a bowl (to catch the liquid)
- Scoop up the grated flesh and use it (the liquid can be too sharp and strong so discard it)
Lastly, it’s best to serve this with a bowl of rice! Enjoy!
Feeling Inspired?
Try other maitake recipe and Japanese dishes!
Sweet & Savory Daikon Radish Leaves
Pan-Fried Okra in Sweet & Savory Miso Sauce
Vegan Butter Shoyu Maitake Mushrooms
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp unsalted vegan butter
- 8 oz maitake mushrooms tear into small pieces (trim off the bottom if needed)
- 2 tsp soy sauce
- Pinch of sea salt adjust to taste
- 2 oz daikon radish peeled and grated (optional)
- Japanese shichimi pepper optional
Instructions
- Heat up a frying pan at medium high heat. Add vegan butter. Once the butter is melted add maitake mushrooms. Cook for 3-5 minutes or so until the maitake has shrunk down and slightly caramelized.
- Reduce the heat to medium low. Add soy sauce give a quick stir. Add a pinch of sea salt to adjust the seasoning.
- Serve as is or with grated daikon radish and/or shichimi pepper.
Notes
Choice of Butter
- Use unsalted vegan butter for this recipe.
- If using salted butter, adjust the amount of salt to season accordingly.
Maitake Mushrooms
- Maitake is one of a popular mushroom in Japan. The Japanese word “maitake” means "dancing mushrooms" in Japanese.
- Maitake mushroom is rich in umami and delicate but slightly crispy texture. It’s also rich in fiber.
How to Serve
- It’s best to serve with a bowl of Japanese rice!
![THE MAKING OF JAPANESE STYLE SEASONED OKRA (VEGAN)
[和風オクラの和え物（ヴィーガン）]
Recipe by @plantbased_matters
Recipe link in bio or at plantbasedmatters.net
Do you enjoy okra?
Okra is one of those veggies you either adore or dislike. If you love them, try my Japanese Style Seasoned Okra🇯🇵 It's a vegan-friendly Japanese side dish that goes perfectly with a bowl of rice. It's prepared simply with basic ingredients such as soy sauce, sesame, a pinch of sugar, etc.
The dish is a very light home cooking style food that represents the Japanese way of appreciating seasonal ingredients with a "minimally invasive" cooking.👩🍳
Japanese Style Seasoned Okra recipe is available at plantbasedmatters.net](https://plantbasedmatters.net/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed/img/placeholder.png)