![good chirashi restaurant wa good chirashi restaurant wa](http://s3-media4.fl.yelpcdn.com/bphoto/bKVJ7wXUvPRZ6McxS72WSg/348s.jpg)
Traditional sushi rice has a touch of sugar, but even Sakai says she skips it sometimes. This helps ensure your rice will be especially tender and fluffy, but not damp or sticky. Cookbook author Sonoko Sakai strongly recommends soaking the rice before cooking. This recipe makes enough for two servings, but it’s easily halved or doubled. “But whatever you do, let it soak and cook it slowly so you don’t end up with mushy rice!”ĭelicately scented sushi rice, smoked or sushi-grade salmon, egg ribbons and a few vegetables are all you need to make a riff on a chirashi sushi bowl at home. “You can treat it like a pilaf for chirashi,” she says. She likes to add a small piece of kombu to her rice while it cooks, and sometimes seasons the cooked rice with fresh ginger, a splash of sake, toasted sesame seeds or minced herbs. “Soaking ensures your rice will cook evenly and be firm but tender.” “This starts the cooking process, the rice begins to soak in some of the water in this step,” Sakai explains. Measure out the amount you want to make, then rinse it and let it soak in cool water for 15 to 30 minutes - or up to overnight. To make proper sushi rice, you’ll need to buy Japanese sushi rice. The only thing you must make the day you plan to serve the chirashi is the rice.
![good chirashi restaurant wa good chirashi restaurant wa](https://s3-media3.fl.yelpcdn.com/bphoto/gDWWEw-uFHKrYsSFs8Gkqg/168s.jpg)
In this recipe, especially if you opt for smoked salmon instead of fresh, all of the toppings can be prepared in advance. Neither pomegranate seeds nor asparagus are traditional ingredients, but Sakai says “we’ve always adapted our cuisine to where we live, using local ingredients in a Japanese way.” In the spring, Sakai says she might top her sushi rice with shelled and blanched green peas, sliced snap peas, or even steamed or blanched asparagus.
![good chirashi restaurant wa good chirashi restaurant wa](https://threebestrated.com/images/MINAMOTO-Bellevue-WA-1.jpeg)
The rouge fruit, alongside carrots, provides a touch of red, and is a nod to her longtime home in Los Angeles, where pomegranate trees thrive. “They are not a traditional ingredient in sushi, but they work!” she writes. In her cookbook, “Japanese Home Cooking,” Sakai includes a recipe for chirashi sushi for autumn that features pomegranate seeds. Once you understand the elements, you can swap in ingredients based on what you have and what you’re in the mood for.Īs with sushi - and all Japanese dishes - seasonality is a factor. A variety of flavors and all five color groups appear in this spring-into-summer chirashi sushi recipe - but think of it as a template. It’s a way to think about using all of your senses (while cooking and eating), all of the flavors (sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami) and the five basic colors - white, yellow, red, green (or blue), and black (or brown or purple) - as you compose a dish. It’s not absolutely essential, but the one overarching concept to keep in mind when preparing chirashi sushi is gogyosetsu, or the Japanese system of grouping things into fives. Nori, furikaki, sesame seeds, fresh ginger and tender shiso leaves are common seasonings. Eggs, gently fried into thin sheets and sliced into ribbons, are a traditional addition. Raw fish and shellfish are popular options. To make it, sushi rice is prepared, seasoned and then topped with a smattering of fresh, cooked, pickled, preserved, smoked, dried, seared or otherwise cooked vegetables, fruits and/or proteins. It can be all vegan or vegetarian if you want.” Really, the possibilities of a chirashi are infinite, because it doesn’t have to be about the seafood. “For chirashi sushi, you can use whatever you have. “When I teach a sushi class, I never teach nigiri sushi or anything you would have at a sushi bar, because that’s reserved for sushi chefs,” says Sonoko Sakai, a cooking instructor, author and grain activist who makes chirashi almost weekly. Literally translated as “scattered sushi,” it’s a homestyle preparation that’s far more casual than what you’ll find at most sushi restaurants. Then, please invite me over for dinner!)īut there’s another way to prepare sushi at home - no fancy knife skills required. (Unless you are, or live with, a sushi chef. You can certainly make sushi in your home kitchen, but it is, in my mind, impossible to re-create the omakase experience at home. There’s an intimacy to it, an unspoken trust and palpable respect for the ingredients, for the skill of the chef and the palate of the diner.
![good chirashi restaurant wa good chirashi restaurant wa](https://s3-media3.fl.yelpcdn.com/bphoto/8-8gUqCNhocRecIINQFVug/348s.jpg)
I miss sitting at a slim restaurant bar, a sushi chef on the other side confidently passing composed bites across the invisible line separating the dining room from the kitchen. One of the things I’ve missed most during these past few years of limited social engagement and near-constant uncertainty is the calm elegance of omakase.