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1
Soak the peeled, chamfered renkon and satoimo separately in cold water acidulated with rice vinegar; soak the gobo in plain cold water. Hold each until required. Rehydrate the dried shiitake in cold water; reserve the soaking liquid. All browning in the finished dish traces to neglected soaking at this stage — the vegetables must be pale and clean before any heat is applied. They are ready when cut surfaces show no oxidation.
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2
Drain the gobo. Place it in a saucepan, cover with rice-washing water (togijiru), bring to a simmer, and cook for 15 minutes to draw out harsh tannins. Drain, discard the liquid. The water will be dark; the gobo, tasted, should be earthy but no longer aggressively bitter.
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3
Chamfer (mentori) every cut edge of the root vegetables — renkon, carrot, satoimo, and bamboo shoots — with the tip of a knife, rounding each sharp corner to a smooth bevel. The finished pieces should have no angular edges. This step prevents breakage during long simmering and produces the polished silhouette of formal preparation. Pieces are ready when no sharp ridges remain under the fingertip.
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4
Score each konnyaku rectangle with a lengthwise central slit; fold one end through the slit to form a tazuna (reef-knot) shape. Blanch the knotted konnyaku in plain boiling water for 2 minutes to remove surface off-notes, then drain. The pieces should hold their knot shape firmly and feel dense and resilient.
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5
Divide the dashi into separate portions — one per ingredient group. This is the governing principle of nishime: each component simmers in its own seasoned liquid so that no ingredient imposes its flavour on another, and each reaches its own optimal texture without compromise. Season each portion with sake and mirin at the outset; reserve all soy sauce. Simmer each ingredient group separately: gobo (most robust, longest) through to carrot and bamboo shoots (most delicate, shortest). The drop lid (otoshibuta) — a sheet of baking parchment cut to fit the pan and laid directly on the surface — must be in place for every simmer; lift it to check that the liquid is gently but actively simmering, not boiling. Each vegetable is done when a skewer passes through with slight resistance — not hard, not collapsing.
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6
This is where the dish lives or dies. In the final 20 per cent of each component's cooking time — and no earlier — add soy sauce to each pan in measured increments, tasting the liquid after each addition. Early soy penetrates too deeply, darkening the vegetables and over-salting them; soy added at the correct moment glazes rather than saturates. The liquid at this stage should taste clearly seasoned — a balanced salt-sweet-umami dashi — and the vegetables should have absorbed that balance without their own character being overwhelmed. Taste a piece of each: the vegetable's identity (starchy lotus root, earthy burdock, creamy taro) must still be perceptible beneath the seasoning.
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7
Combine all cooked components in a single wide pan with any remaining cooking liquid. Raise the heat and stir gently, reducing the liquid to a glaze. The shime (final reduction) is complete when a spoon drawn across the base of the pan leaves a momentarily clear line and each piece of vegetable carries a visible, glossy coat. No liquid should pool at the bottom of the pan.
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8
Transfer to a lidded container and refrigerate for a minimum of 24 hours before serving. The seasoning will distribute evenly through each ingredient during this rest; the flavour depth at 48 hours is measurably greater than at service immediately after cooking. The dish is ready when a piece of renkon eaten cold from the refrigerator is uniformly seasoned from surface to centre.