Chirashi Sushi for Hinamatsuri Girl's Day
 
Ingredients
  • FOR SUSHI RICE:
  • 5 cups uncooked rice
  • 2 tablespoons cookingsake
  • 18 cm piece of dried konbu dashi
  • FOR AWASE-ZU (VINEGAR MIXTURE FOR SEASONING SUSHI RICE):
  • ¼ + ⅓ cup rice vinegar
  • 5 tablespoons sugar
  • 2½ teaspoons salt
  • Note: The above awase-zu measurements are specifically for 5 cups (uncooked) rice. If you are serving a large party, for 10 cups of uncooked rice, I recommend using my friend Cat's Mom's awase-zu recipe: 1 cup sugar to 1 cup rice vinegar, dash of salt to taste.
  • FOR GOMOKU MIX (5 INGREDIENTS FOR GOMOKU SUSHI)
  • 1 cup inari-age (fried tofu), sliced (approximately 3½ pieces of inari; NOTE: I purchased pre-sliced inari age sold at Marukai)
  • 8 pieces dried shiitake mushrooms, sliced
  • 2 small carrots, sliced into large matchstick slices
  • Approximately ⅓ piece of takenoko (bamboo), sliced; NOTE: I purchased pre-boiled takenoko packed in water, not canned)
  • 1 block konnyaku (devils tongue Japanese yam), sliced into large matchsticks
  • 1⅔ cup dashi (if you don't use homemade dashi, replace dashi with water and 1½ teaspoons dried katsuo (bonito) or konbu (kelp) dashi powder)
  • 3½ tablespoons shoyu (soy sauce)
  • 3½ tablespoons sugar
  • CHIRASHI SUSHI TOPPINGS ~
  • FOR AMAZU RENKON (SWEET PICKLED LOTUS ROOT):
  • 1 piece fresh renkon (lotus root); Note: also sold pre-sliced and packed in water but fresh is best
  • ⅓ + ½ cup rice vinegar
  • ⅓ + ½ cup dashi
  • 3½ tablespoons sugar
  • dash of salt
  • Water & 1 tablespoon rice vinegar for "aku nuki" or removing bitterness and residue from the renkon
  • FOR ALL OTHER TOPPINGS:
  • 4 sashimi -grade hotate (scallops), sliced horizontally into thin pieces
  • 10 pieces cooked ebi (shrimp)
  • ½ piece of cooked unagi (fresh water eel) or anago (salt water eel) with
  • teriyaki sauce, chopped into bite-sized pieces (sold pre-cooked)
  • 1 piece fancy or decorative kamaboko (fishcake)
  • 5 eggs
  • Low-fat milk for kinshi tamago (shredded, thin egg omelette) - optional
  • 1 cup snow peas, deveined
  • 1 cup cooked edamame beans (shells removed); Note: I purchased frozen pre-shelled edamame
  • 1 package kaiware (daikon radish sprouts), ends removed
  • Roasted white sesame seeds
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Kizami nori (cut, dried seasoned seaweed) - optional
  • Gari shoga (pickled, seasoned ginger often served with sushi) - optional
Instructions
  1. PREPARE SUSHI RICE:
  2. Wash rice, add 5 cups water according to your rice cooker's measurement.
  3. Add sake and dried konbu dashi. Let sit for 30 minutes. Remove konbu from the rice cooker and cook rice according to your rice cooker's setting for white rice.
  4. Once the rice is cooked, allow the rice to finish steaming and then using a
  5. shamoji (rice paddle) gently mix the rice to "loosen" it. Then, allow the rice to rest in warming mode until you are ready to make your vinegared sushi rice. NOTE: Do not remove rice from the cooker until all of the other elements of the chirashi sushi are prepared.
  6. PREPARE AMAZU RENKON:
  7. Using a vegetable peeler, remove the skin of the renkon and cut-off both ends of the renkon. The ends will be dry and thick.
  8. Similar to a potato, the renkon will have what look like "eyes" which must be removed. They resemble dark or discolored patches.
  9. Slice the renkon lengthwise in half, then thinly slice horizontally.
  10. Soak uncooked renkon slices in a bowl of cold water and 1 tablespoon rice vinegar for 10 minutes. This process is called, aku-nuki in Japanese, where any unwanted residue or bitter flavor from the renkon is drawn-out in the vinegar-water solution.
  11. Drain the renkon.
  12. In a small glass bowl, prepare the amazu marinade by combining the dashi, rice vinegar, sugar and a dash of salt and gently stirring with chopsticks. Set this aside.
  13. Next, in a small sauce pan, boil water and add the drained renkon and blanch for 2 minutes.
  14. Add the drained renkon to this ama-zu marinade. After the renkon cools, transfered to a plastic storage container and store in the fridge.
  15. PREPARE GOMOKU SUSHI MIX:
  16. Soak the dried shiitake mushrooms in hot water, reserve soaking liquid. Remove stems of shiitake and slice in thick pieces.
  17. Slice carrots into chunky matchsticks, as well as konnyaku.
  18. Rinse the takenoko, then slice into thin rectangular pieces.
  19. Defrost Pre-Sliced Inari-Age (Fried Tofu)
  20. Make the gomoku simmering sauce - In a small sauce pan, combine dashi, shoyu and sugar. If you don't have homemade dashi, use a combination of the reserved shiitake soaking liquid and water, then use 1½ teaspoons dried dashi powder.
  21. Bring sauce to gentle boil, add ingredients and reduce heat and allow to simmer for 15 minutes.
  22. PREPARE KINSHI TAMAGO (EGG OMELETTE):
  23. Crack all 5 eggs and gently mix.
  24. Season with a dash of salt and lighten with a splash of milk.
  25. Heat tamagoyaki pan and coat lightly with oil. Pour a very small amount of egg into the pan to create a very thin layer. Cook through and remove from pan.
  26. Allow the omelette to cool completely, then slice into very thin strips.
  27. PREPARE SCALLOPS (HOTATE):
  28. Slice the scallops horizontally into thin pieces.
  29. Season with a generous amount of black pepper and just a hint of salt.
  30. Heat a small pan on medium and coat with olive oil. Gently sear the scallops for just a few seconds on each side so that they are just barely cooked. Remove from pan and set aside.
  31. PREPARE SHRIMP:
  32. Peel and devein shrimp.
  33. Cook gently in boiling water and drain.
  34. Allow the shrimp to cool and cut into bite-sized pieces. Set shrimp aside.
  35. PREPARE UNAGI (FRESH WATER EEL):
  36. Cut in half, pour seasoning sauce (this is included with the unagi when purchased at the Asian supermarket) over and then microwave for 15 seconds.
  37. Chop into bite-sized pieces and set aside.
  38. PREPARE SNOW PEAS, EDAMAME, KAIWARE (RADISH SPROUTS) AND KAMABOKO (FISH CAKE):
  39. Make sure you devein the snow peas by pinching the tip of each of the snow pea and pulling of the stringy, fibrous vein.
  40. In a small pot boil water and quickly blanch the snow peas for about 2 -3 minutes.
  41. Drain and shock with ice water to preserve the bright green color of the snow peas.
  42. Rough chop the snow peas into diagonal pieces. Set aside.
  43. In the microwave, heat frozen edamame beans in a bowl of water and cover with plastic wrap. Probably only need a minute in the microwave. Drain and shock with cold water. Set aside.
  44. Kaiware is packaged similarly to alfalfa sprouts. Cut the kaiware away from the sponge and rinse gently. Be sure to remove all of the brown seed covers. These don't look pretty on the chirashi sushi.
  45. Slice kamaboko into thin round pieces.
  46. PREPARE AWASE-ZU (VINEGAR SEASONING FOR SUSHI RICE):
  47. Combine the rice vinegar, sugar and salt in a small bowl and heat in a small saucepan until the sugar is melted. Do not overcook.
  48. Transfer cooked rice to a wooden hangiri sushi one (sushi rice platter).
  49. It is important to make the sushi rice while the rice is still hot to properly season the sushi rice.
  50. Gently poor the awase-zu onto the shamoji, allowing the awase-zu to gently trickle onto the hot rice. Pour the awase-zu all over the rice and quickly, using the edge of the shamoji, use a top to bottom cutting motion to gently mix the rice.
  51. ASSEMBLE CHIRASHI SUSHI:
  52. Fold the gomoku mixture into the sushi rice. This should be done while the rice is still warm.
  53. Scatter the remaining ingredients over the gomoku sushi rice: ebi (shrimp) hotate (scallop), edamame, kamaboko, snow peas, amazu-renkon (sweet vinegared lotus root), kinshi tamago (egg omelette), anago (salt water eel), kaiware (radish sprouts)
Recipe by Bebe Love Okazu at https://bebeloveokazu.com/2011/03/21/chirashi-sushi-hinamatsuri/