Japan in a Bowl

    Really soon I will be going on my first trip to Japan :) Although it will be just a quick stop before going to Vietnam I'm really excited and can't stop thinking about sushi (and also Pho). So one night I was trying to think of what to eat and couldn't stop thinking about sushi (which I often do). I wasn't really in the mood to stand in the kitchen all evening which tends to happen when I make sushi so I thought of coming up with something else. I tried to think of all the ingredients I had at home and guess what?.... I ended up making a sushi inspired dish afterall. All I needed to buy was some fresh salmon. I ended up making this incredible bowl of food from the contents of my fridge. I made a salmon tartar with some pickled ginger, sushi rice, avocado, spinach, beansprouts and wasabi flavoured sesame seeds :) this was soooo yummy that I'm sure to make it again soon. You should too!

You will need:

Sushi rice (cook according to instructions on the package)
1/2 Avocado sliced
handful of beansprouts
handful of fresh baby spinach leaves
Salmon 200g (or depending on how hungry you are)
Fresh ginger approximately 40g thinly sliced
sugar
sushi vinegar or rice vinegar
soy sauce
Roasted sesame seeds or if you have any kind of sesame seed mix. I used two different kinds that I had in my kitchen. I used wasabi flavoured sesame seeds and also a mix called Furikake from Renee Voltaire which contains sesame seeds, seaweed and shizo leaves.

The Salmon 

Dice the salmon into cubes, marinate with some soy sauce and mix with the Furikake sesame mix. Pour in the liquid from the marinated ginger to get some extra flavour.

I also prepared some slices of salmon using the blowtorch to get a nice grilled flavour. Just sprinkle a little bit of salt and sugar on them first (but only a little bit you don't want them too sweet).

The Ginger

Slice the ginger thinly. Put into a small pot and cover with rice wine vinegar (approximately 2 tbsp) add some sugar to balance the sourness (approximately 2 tsp). Bring to the boil. Let it simmer till the sugar has dissolved and the liquid is a bit syrup like.

The Rice

Wash the rice well. Be gentle with the rice grains. Treat them like something small, delicate and fragile. Wash until the water is clear. Cook the rice according to cooking instructions. I don't have a rice cooker which would be the best so I just cooked the rice in a pot. When the rice is ready splash in some sushi vinegar or rice wine vinegar and mix in carefully. Add only a little at a time so your rice doesn't end up too lose. You kind of just make a criss cross pattern not to ruin the rice grains. You want to end up with rice grains that are whole but still stick a little bit together. The worst for me is when the rice is so overcooked and mushed together so it stick to your teeth.

Just put all the ingredients in a bowl and enjoy!

Aaah now just from remembering this dish I become so hungry and would like to eat it again tonight....however I already checked the contents of my fridge and will be making Salmon soup tonight....maybe tomorrow :)



And in just a few days I will be off to Tokyo to eat some real Sushi :) :) :) Can't wait!!!