For those of you that have never had it, chirashi sushi i a bowl of vinegared sushi rice topped with a bunch of colorful stuff. At most sushi restaurants this means covering the rice with slices of various raw fish, but that’s not always how it’s made.
Growing up my mom used to make a vegetarian version with simmered shitake mushrooms, carrots, egg, sugar peas and benishoga (red ginger) for any potluck or party we’d go to. It makes for a great party dish because it’s something you eat at room temperature and the ticker-tape-confetti of toppings makes it look very festive.
My rendition is a bit more decadent, capturing the essence of the sea. The ingredients aren’t cheap, but it’s still cheaper than going to a local sushi restaurant and it isn’t nearly as hard to prepare as it looks. I made this in about an hour, but if you make some of the stuff ahead of time it can be assembled in even less time.
If you’re squeamish about uni (or any of the other ingredients) you could obviously sub them out, but steamed uni is not nearly as off-putting as the raw kind they have at sushi restaurants. Cooking it gives it more structure making it more cheese like in texture (though not flavour) while retaining its sweet creaminess.
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I had some bass left over from another dish I made, so I dropped it in some all-purpose Japanese marinade and turned it into this donburi.
There’s a layer of dashi tamago (japanese style scrambled eggs) between the rice and the bass that adds some sweet richness to the dish and the sansho (a.k.a. sichuan pepper) powder on top adds an herbal kick. This works best with an oily fish like sea bass or salmon, but you could use other fish as well if you’re looking for something lighter.
cooked rice
for grilled bass
1 batch of Japanese marinade
2 pieces of fish with high oil content (sea bass, yellow tail, salmon)
for dashi tamago
2 eggs
3 tsp concentrated dashi
1/8 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp Mirin
1 heaping tsp sugar
Marinate the fish in the Japanese marinade overnight.
Prepare some rice.
Grill the fish either over a barbeque or in a broiler until cooked and the marinade has caramelized to form a deep mahogany finish on the surface of the fish.
For the dashi tamago, whisk the ingredients together, heat a non-stick pan over medium heat until hot. Swirl a bit of oil around then add the egg. Turn down the heat to medium low and use a heat-proof silicon spatula to scrape up the cooked egg from the bottom. Let another layer cook then scrape it up too. Repeat until you have big fluffy curds of egg that are still a little wet (it will be fully cooked by the time you plate it).
Put some cooked rice down in a bowl, layer some egg on top and set the fish on top of the egg. Garnish with a sprinkle of powdered sansho and some green shiso.
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