#FoodTrips Let's discover the world through our taste buds!

Passport & Plate - Bite-sized ScandinAsian Nigiri Sushi

Canada | Friday, March 14, 2014 | 5 photos

Ingredients
Fish (herring or salmon) - 15g salmon for each piece, sliced thinly
Prawn - 1 cooked prawn for each piece
Rice - 600ml short-grain sushi rice
1 tablespoon rice vinegar (sushi-zu)
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon sugar
A tube of wasabi paste
4 tbsp dark soy sauce
A jar of Japanese pickled ginger

 

How to prepare this recipe
To make nigiri sushi, cook a batch of short grained sticky rice and season it with a mixture of one tablespoon rice vinegar, one teaspoon sugar, and a pinch of salt to every cup of rice. Let the rice cool while you prepare your topping. Dip your hands in water to keep the rice from adhering and pick up a small handful of rice, compressing it so that it forms a clump. Then place the topping on top of the rice, using a dot of wasabi for glue if you are concerned that the topping will slip.

Serve with soy sauce and optional condiments like wasabi and ginger.

How to cook rice
Wash rice thoroughly. Mix 660ml of water with the rice in a pan. Place over a medium-low heat, cover. Leave it for 10–13 minutes until it comes to a boil, then reduce heat to its lowest for 30 minutes. Turn the heat off. Leave it for 15 minutes with the lid on.

How to season sushi rice
Put the hot rice in a bowl, sprinkle on the rice seasoning vinegar fairly evenly and mix it in gently with a wooden or plastic spatula. Let rice soak up all the vinegar. Leave it for 10–15 minutes until the rice is cool to the touch.

 

The story behind this recipe
After a long transatlantic flight, I was so excited to join my host in Stockholm for a home-cooked meal. Will it be a game dish or my favourite iconic Swedish meatballs?

After the pleasantries over shots of vodka, dinner was served & it was … sushi!

I often hear people compare Sweden with Japan – same aesthetic values, design philosophy & love for sauna, but sushi? Really?

Then it all clicked. Of course it's natural for the Nordics to embrace sushi. Its simplicity is very, well, Ikea-ish, isn't it? Simple, no fuss, but very pretty & appealing. Surrounded by bodies of water, there is an abundance of fish in the Nordic region so it makes sense for them to adopt this Asian cuisine.

Nigiri sushi has 2 main ingredients: sushi rice & a topping. Because the fish is clearly on display, it is cut meticulously so it’s aesthetically pleasing. I was enthralled at the dinner table. The sushi was served on a plank of spruce wood native to Sweden. It was a treat to see the fusion of Scandinavian designs & Asian flavour: perfect combination!

Since then I noticed the popularity of sushi in Scandinavia. Sushi kiosks seem to have sprouted everywhere. In fact, the best sushi chef in the world, 2013 World Sushi Cup winner Pepi Anevski is from Copenhagen.

A sushi chef in Japan once told me that when making sushi, it should have a touch of the country you’re from. My host picked cured salmon & pickled herring as toppings, & paired it with vodka instead of sake for an authentic ScandinAsian cuisine!

The meal left a mark on me. I’m fascinated with travel, people & the culture of food – the meal represented all those I love. It also represented me, being of mixed cultures (Asian & English, not Scandinavian, but whatever!)

The Scandinavian-inflected nigiri sushi found a special spot in my tummy & my heart. It’s very easy to make too – perfect for a working woman like me who barely has time to prepare elaborate dishes between commuting to & from work & watching The Amazing Race on TV.