Funky Fusion Sushi, Home Style
10 March 2009
When I first told my Japanese friends I wanted to prepare sushi at home, they gave me kind of a weird look. As it turned out, home-made sushi is not very common, as most people prefer to just buy it from someone who really knows what he's doing. Making sushi the right way is considered a very skillful art which "amateurs" don’t want to meddle with (it requires years of training to qualify as a sushi chef). And also, there’s just no need to make it yourself – sushi boxes (generally of better quality and lower price than we are used to in Europe) are readily available.
Still, I wanted to give it a shot myself – not because I am trying to compete with any "real" sushi chef (I would never even dare to compare my sushi to theirs), but rather because I have for some time been imagining some slightly different toppings to add to the fish or to mix with the usual wasabi paste, which I was eager to try out.
Lacking some of the essential skills of sushi making, I took a few convenient shortcuts. First of all, I didn’t even attempt to cut the fish the right way myself – I just bought some nice sashimi (please don’t tell any sushi chef).
I prepared and seasoned the rice (another essential feature) according to my usual mixture I’ve been using all along, but then I made use of another little trick to shape it: clingfilm. This is supposed to be a method often used by the few amateur chefs who actually do attempt home-made sushi, and I have to say it really worked surprisingly well. As opposed to "proper" nigiri sushi, which is shaped into little ovals by hand, clingfilm sushi doesn’t require any particular skill or aptitude to get the little pieces into regular shape. Just wrap some rice in clingfilm, squeeze it tightly, and there you have a pretty little rice ball which sticks together perfectly and doesn’t tend to fall apart. It comes out round, not oval-shaped, but who cares… (again, please don’t tell any sushi chef).
Great – basics went smoothly, so I could concentrate on my experimental toppings. With all the tiny little pastes I prepared to garnish the three types of different fish the kitchen soon resembled a chemistry laboratory. The amounts I needed were so minute I mixed the ingredients together in the smallest possible cups I could find. This is why, unlike usual, I don’t give any absolute amounts in the shopping list below, but rather just the proportion of ingredients to each other in the recipe itself. Of course, the absolute amount required will depend on the amount of sushi you want to prepare (and on your taste), but generally you will just need very little.
All this said, my somewhat daring combinations tasted really good. Not to ever replace traditional sushi, of course, but very nice for a change. The basis of it all, of course, was the excellent quality of the fish, which was extremely tender. Then I made sure not to over-season it, adding only moderate amounts of my arty-farty mixtures, so they would not dominate over the original taste of the fish. It was all quite an abundant experience of new flavours, just exactly right for a starter, eating one or two pieces of each type.
Variation of Clingfilm Sushi
for the rice (per 100g rice, yielding about 10 pieces) |
| 100g Japanese rice (=1 unit) |
| 1 1/4 units of water |
| 1/4 unit of sushi vinegar |
| 1/2 teaspoon of salt |
| 1 1/2 teaspoons of fine white sugar |
| some clingfilm |
| some soy sauce to serve with |
for the tuna topping |
| sashimi of lean tuna (akami) |
| some Dijon mustard |
| some honey |
| some crème fraîche |
| some dill weed (fresh or dried) |
| a few fine slices of Japanese (i.e. thin) cucumber |
for the sea bream topping |
| sashimi of sea bream |
| some wasabi paste |
| some freshly grated ginger |
| some basil leaves |
for the scallop topping |
| sashimi of scallop (or the like) |
| some wasabi paste |
| some ground white sesame |
| some black sesame seeds |
| some grated yuzu zest |
Once you have cooked the rice and cautiously stirred in the seasoned sushi vinegar while letting it cool down (see above link), it is ready to be shaped for sushi. Before you further process the rice, prepare a bowl of water with a dash of sushi vinegar, and moist your hands with it before you touch the rice (otherwise it will hopelessly stick to your hands, making it impossible to put into any shape, and making your fingers look like yeti the snow monster).
For each piece of sushi, take a little heap of rice (roundabout 10g) into your hands, shape it roughly to the form of a ball and place it in the middle of a square of clingfilm. Wrap the clingfilm around the rice, lifting up the four corners and twisting them together tightly, bringing the little rice ball into a regular round shape.
To prepare the tuna and mustard topping, mix some Dijon mustard with about half as much of honey and a quarter the amount of crème fraîche and add a pinch of dill weed. Cut some slices off a thin cucumber and set aside.
For the sea bream and ginger topping, mix a bit of wasabi paste with about the same amount of freshly grated ginger.
For the scallop and sesame topping, mix some wasabi paste with about the same amount of ground white sesame. Grate some yuzu zest (alternatively replace with lemon or lime) and set aside.
Once you've got it all prepared, unwrap the rice balls. To assemble the sushi, spread some of the respective paste on the rice balls (be cautious with those containing wasabi, while you can use the mustard dressing more abundantly), place the matching pieces of sashimi on top and, if you wish, garnish with another dot of the paste. Finish the tuna sushi with a slice of cucumber, the sea bream sushi with a tiny little piece of basil (should not dominate) and the scallop sushi with a little pinch of black sesame seeds as well as some grated yuzu zest.
| Suggestions to Combine |
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