Europe from "In Between"

Passport & Plate - Chirashi sushi with salmon and sesame seeds

Finland | Sunday, March 1, 2015 | 4 photos

Ingredients
6 dl round grain rice
6,5 dl water
1,2dl rice vinegar (preferably Japanese)
5 tbs sugar
a pinch of salt
4 eggs
1 tsp soy source
1 piece (175-200g) open flamed or smoked salmon, bones and skins removed, roughly flaked
2 tbs sesame seeds
cucumber, cherry tomatoes, marinated ginger, shrimps etc. as toppings

 

How to prepare this recipe
To cook the rice, rinse the rice well with cold water and drain. Put the rice and water into a thick bottomed pan with a lid. Place the pan on medium heat and bring to boil slowly. (You are not supposed to open the lid, but if you have never cooked rice before, open it and take a look how your rice is doing and how fast your “medium heat” boils the water. I hate to clean up if the water boils over.) When the water boils, turn the heat down and let simmer for about 15 minutes. Keep the rice on the hob with the lid on for another 10 min. The rice should be al dante, rather a little too hard than too soft.

Or, if you have a rice cooker, of course you can cook the rice with it.

While the rice is cooking: Make the vinegar mixture. Put the vinegar, sugar and salt into a pan and heat gently, stirring. Just enough for the sugar to melt. Put aside to cool.

Make the omelet: Break the eggs into a bowl and add the soya source. Mix well. Heat a frying pan and spread a thin coating of vegetable oil. Pour in the beaten egg and make thin, crepe-like omelet. When cool, cut into thin strips.

Dry-roast the sesame seeds: Roast the sesame seeds a few minutes on a dry pan, shaking the pan now and then. Keep watch, the seeds turn black quickly once the pan is hot.

When the rice is ready, put it into a wooden bowl. Pour the vinegar mixture evenly all over the rice. Using a wooden spoon, mix swiftly with sideways cutting motion so that you won’t mush the rice. Add the salmon, half the omelet (rest of the omelet is for the topping) and the sesame seeds and mix with the rice.

Traditionally chirashi zushi is served in a rice bowl with the toppings of striped omelet, chopped marinated red ginger and crumbled sea weed. But from here on, how to serve the sushi is up to your imagination and what is available in your kitchen for the toppings and decoration!

 

The story behind this recipe
I am not sure if you would call this a travel recipe, but this recipe traveled with me from my childhood home of Japan to my current home in Finland and to beyond, to my friends.

After having lived in Finland for 20 years, I am still a rice eater and proudly so. After 2-3 days of eating potatoes, I just need rice. When I lived with my parents I didn’t cook. After I have moved to Finland, I had to teach myself to cook. This is the first recipe I asked my mother to teach me.
She used to make this for family gatherings, family member’s birthday or on weekends sometimes. As it is very common in our neighborhood, she distributed small portions of sushi to closest neighbors when she made this. This was everybody’s favorite.

Now this recipe is my version. This sushi appears on our table on Christmas table, birthdays or weekends. When I invite friends, I may prepare a big bowl of sushi and plates of toppings and let the gang make their own plate. Or I can make finger-food style small portions for a party. I like the way the recipe adopted itself from traditional Japanese to a little of fusion that suits our table in Finland.

It seems I have passed my rice addiction on to my children. When we started giving our first daughter solid food, I started with finely pureed vegetables. Then I was ready to proceed to puree with chunks of vegetables and meat. Our daughter disagreed with this. She didn’t like the texture of it and refused to eat solid food. Not knowing what to do, I called my mother in Japan. She said “Give her rice, cook it soft.” In Japan, naturally, the first solid food a child gets is usually rice. So I cooked rice and surprise surprise, she ate! My mother was overjoyed. Since then, all our 3 children are rice eaters, especially the youngest. Even now my parents send us a package of new rice of the autumn every year.