← Nouns Cooking · Japanese

Ingredients

• 400 g Japanese short-grain rice
• 440 ml Water
• 80 ml Rice vinegar
• 2½ tbsp Sugar
• 1½ tsp Salt
• 6 dried shiitake mushrooms
• 1½ tbsp Soy sauce
• 1½ tbsp Mirin
• 1 tbsp Sugar
• ½ Carrot, cut into fine matchsticks
• 2 Eggs
• 1 tsp Sugar
• 1 pinch Salt
• 1 tsp Vegetable oil
• 8 raw prawns, peeled with tails on
• 60 g Mangetout (snow peas)
• 100 g sashimi-grade salmon, diced (optional)
• 1 tbsp Sesame seeds
• 1 sheet Nori, cut into fine strips
• 2 tbsp Pickled sushi ginger (gari) (optional)

Method

1. Soak the dried shiitake in 250 ml warm water for 20 min. Rinse the rice until the water runs nearly clear and cook it with the measured water; meanwhile warm the vinegar, sugar and salt until dissolved.
2. Squeeze the shiitake (keep the liquid), slice thinly and simmer with 150 ml of the soaking liquid, the soy, mirin, sugar and carrot over medium-low heat for 12–15 min, until almost dry and glossy.
3. Beat the eggs with the sugar and salt. Cook paper-thin omelettes in a lightly oiled non-stick pan over low heat, about 1 minute each, then roll up and slice into fine ribbons.
4. Boil the prawns for 2 min, until pink and opaque; blanch the snow peas in the same water for 1 minute, then cool both in cold water. Halve the prawns lengthways and slice the snow peas thinly.
5. Tip the hot rice into a wide bowl, pour over the vinegar mix and fold it in with a slicing motion while fanning the rice to cool it quickly. Mix in the drained shiitake and carrot and the sesame seeds.
6. Spread the rice on a platter, scatter with nori, then the egg ribbons, prawns, snow peas and salmon. Serve with pickled ginger.

Tips

• Raw salmon must be sold as sashimi-grade and kept very cold; leave it out, or use smoked salmon, for pregnancy and young children.
• Make the shiitake and egg a day ahead and assemble on the day.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Just One Cookbook RecipeTin Japan Japanese Cooking 101