Citrus Sushi Bowl
25
I don’t get asked this very often but whenever I am asked what my favourite food is, the answer is always sushi. I first had sushi seven years ago and things have never been the same. There was a time when I first started enjoying sushi that I would eat it everyday – every single day. Diligently. For about six months. The novelty finally started wearing off and I phased that compulsion out eventually. But it still remains my go to lunch when I am too busy to cook or out and about. It makes me happy, wasabi makes me cry but sushi makes me happy!
When my boys expressed a love for sushi, I was quick to get a sushi maker and roll out sushi for playdates, parties and after school snacks. One of my biggest frustrations was getting the sushi rice right. Making sushi rice is an art that can be perfected with a little trial and error and some perseverance. The most important thing to remember is that sushi rice is Japanese rice, a short grained rice with a sticky texture. It is also known as shari or uruchimai. It is not arborio rice or glutinous rice. In time, I learned the art of getting sushi rice right and that opened up a whole new world of recipe creation for me.
A few months ago Sunrice Australia sent me a sushi pack. Encased in a collapsible shopping basket was a Japanese sashimi knife, some bottles of soy sauce and wasabi, a sushi rolling mat and three packs of microwaveable sushi rice. Microwaveable!! Already cooked and ready to heat!! I felt a tinge of excitement that only comes from discovering a new product that would prove to be of immense value in the kitchen. I set to test it immediately and within minutes I had a bowl of steaming sushi rice ready to be cooled and rolled to my hearts desire. I loved it. The grain was cooked just right, the sticky texture was amazing and it was so easy. I couldn’t wait to share it with you because I knew there would be home cooks out there who have braved sushi rice and given up.
I also wanted to share a recipe that was wholesome, full of colour and texture with the fresh clean flavours of sushi that I love so much. A recipe that required no fancy gadgets or sushi rolling skills. A recipe that I first put together for lunch one slow afternoon many years ago and perfected over time. I called it simply – The Sushi Bowl. My original recipe featured salmon but this is a vegetarian version with pan charred eggplant and very strong citrus notes with the addition of fruit and ponzu sauce. The pomegranate and dressing was something I saw in Jamie magazine and was keen to adapt and try. If you try it, it is a very personal recipe that will reflect your tastes. Adapt it and make it your own with your favourite fresh ingredients.
CITRUS SUSHI BOWL
A nourishing and wholesome recipe of fresh and clean ingredients that are put together to celebrate the glorious Japanese flavours of sushi.
Makes – To Serve 3
Ingredients
1 packet Sunrice Microwave Sushi Rice (or 3 cups cooked sushi rice)
1 cup blanched edamame beans
4 strips of dried wakame
1/2 cup pomegranate seeds
1 small eggplant, sliced
1 sheet nori, cut into strips
1 bunch chives, chopped
1/2 cup coriander leaves, chopped
Japanese Citrus Dressing
juice and zest of 1 lemon
juice and zest of 1 orange
2 tablespoons mirin
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons tamari sauce
1 tablespoon ponzu sauce
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoons sesame seeds
Method
To prepare the dressing – Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Set aside.
To blanch edamame beans – I used frozen edamame beans available at Japanese stores/Asian grocers. I plunged them in boiling water for a minute and refreshed with cold water.
To char eggplant slices – Heat a frying pan on medium-high. When hot, place eggplant slices on the pan and cook each side for 3 to 4 minutes until slightly cooked and charred to liking. Adding a tablespoon of oil might help them cook faster but I like to avoid adding oil as the eggplant can soak it all up and go soggy.
To prepare the wakame – Soak dried wakame in cold water for 10 to 20 minutes. It will swell to about 3 times it’s original size and become tender. Drain water and set aside.
To prepare sushi rice – If using the Sunrice microwaveable rice, the instructions to prepare are on the packet. If using dried sushi rice, follow instructions on packet to cook rice. Drain and mix the citrus dressing with the rice.
To prepare sushi bowl – Place rice in three bowls. Arrange edamame beans, eggplant, pomegranate and wakame on the rice. Top with chives, coriander and nori.
My Notes
This recipe can also be made with brown rice, quinoa or couscous. The version with white Japanese sushi rice is the most authentic.
Try chia seeds instead of sesame seeds.
Instead of eggplant, serve with karaage chicken/smoked eel/prawn/salmon/tofu.
Serve with a side of miso soup and green tea for a cleansing sushi party.
WIN A SASHIMI KNIFE/SUSHI RICE PACK WORTH $95
The lovely people at Sunrice are offering a lucky reader of Cook Republic a Sushi Rice-Sashimi Knife Pack worth $95. The pack will have along with a beautiful Japanese sashimi knife, several packets of Sunrice microwaveable fast and easy sushi rice. To be in the running to win this very useful prize pack, you MUST be in Australia and you MUST COMMENT below starting with the word "Edamame" and tell me what creative delight you will make with the cooked sushi rice! Contest runs until March 20, 2013. Winner will be announced via email and on Cook Republic’s Facebook Page, so go follow if you aren’t already. Good luck!!
**————–** WINNER ANNOUNCED **————–**
Congratulations JJ! I loved the simple but ingenious idea of a sushi sandwich stack. So you have won yourself a beautiful Sashimi Knife & Rice pack. Enjoy!
Note – My sushi pack was sent courtesy of Sunrice Australia via Slingshot Digital.
A beautiful dish and healthy recipe! I really like that idea.
Cheers,
Rosa
Edamame! – What a simple and elegant meal – sounds perfect. I do adore sushi as well and started making my own a few years back, humm I would make sushi ‘sandwiches’ with stacked layers of nori, sushi rice, torched salmon, cucumber and fresh wasabi. I think I need to go make a roll or two for dinner now!
JJ – 84thand3rd´s last [type] ..WIN Tickets to Taste of Sydney 2013!
Def looks wholesome and full of texture. I love it
tania@mykitchenstories.com.au´s last [type] ..Carrot and Pineapple Cake
Love the colours (n eyeing your bowl at the same time ;P)
Lisa H.´s last [type] ..Yee Sang / Raw Fish salad
Edamame. I recently got back from a trip to Japan and I miss so much the little sushi rice pockets wrapped in seaweed that you could pick up at any convenience store or market for a quick ,delicious,fresh lunch while you were travelling.I just started back at uni for the year and i want to get some of the microwave sushi rice to make my own little rice pockets to take with me for lunch and snacks, then i can try out different fillings with seaweed, sashimi or different veggies. Maybe some of that delicious pickled ginger they use. Lots of experimentation to be done now I know there are the microwave packs!
Oh my goodness! This looks so good! I love how versatile it can be made too!
Milynn´s last [type] ..City Tour: Misred Outfitters
The dish looks very pretty and healthy!
ami@naivecookcooks´s last [type] ..Ras Malai (Indian Cheese Balls in Saffron Scented Milk Gravy)
The first sushi bowl I had was in Japan and loved it. I’ve never made sushi at home in fear of contamination and doing something wrong, in terms sending the whole family to hospital. Will give this vegetarian version a try.
Lail | With A Spin´s last [type] ..Shami Kabab – Minced meat and yellow split pea kabab
Gorgeous. I am always on the look out for quick, healthy, and filling lunches, this is perfect. I, too, love sushi and it is in my top 10 favorite foods. WE have yet to find a sushi place we like near our new house. We use to have a place within walking distance and went often. Cannot wait to try this.
Denise´s last [type] ..Potato Gnocchi with Minty Pea Sauce
Sneh, this is just absolutely gorgeous.
What a fresh idea and the dressing is lovely. I’m putting
it on the menu for tonight – might add some shrimp!
Colette @ JFF!´s last [type] ..Homegrown: Herbed Feta & Fresh Tomato Pasta
I’m sold… this looks so refreshing! Love all the flavors in here!
Brian @ A Thought For Food´s last [type] ..Leek Salad with Grilled Haloumi and Triticale Berries
Edamame……this looks like a wonderful, nourishing meal.
I would make little sushi rice cakes flavoured with miso paste and sesame seeds and topped with a little piece of teriyaki salmon as little bite-sized entrees or cocktail finger food.
Deepa´s last [type] ..The Tale of Gilbert (Watermelon, Mint and Ginger Sorbet)
I love edamame! They are such a yummy snack. With sushi rice I would make a vegetarian version of the spam musubi I grew up with in hawaii and can’t find here in australia!
Edamame!
I’ve tried making sushi before, and you’re right – the rice is the hardest part to get right! Microwavable rice would make it much easier…
Amanda @ Gourmanda´s last [type] ..Recipe: Poached Eggs on a Baked Bean Salsa (Tomato-Free)
Loving this idea! Healthy, delicious and beautiful looking bowl.
najwa kronfel´s last [type] ..I had to get it out of my chest
How utterly divine. I am really interested in this product because more often than not, I shy away from home made sushi because of the work involved in getting the rice perfect. I looove your ingredients and that dressing is to die for. I am definitely making this dressing.
Anna @ The Littlest Anchovy´s last [type] ..Dutch Baby with Tea Poached Plums
Endamame, how I love your salty goodness. Please, please, please don’t tell my son that you can get microwavable sushi rice as my excuse for not making him sushi every single day (he is seriously addicted)for his afternoon tea is that it takes too long. Will definately have to make him the sushi bowl, he will love it.
Edamame, Quite a lot of people in my partners family can’t eat wheat… so making a sushi platter at the next family gathering is sure to be a hit!
I made this for dinner tonite. Wild blue shrimp & bean sprouts were my only changes to your recipe.
It was a
H
I
T
!
Colette´s last [type] ..Homegrown: Herbed Feta & Fresh Tomato Pasta
Edamame can be used quite effectively with the combination of cooked sushi rice and pickled vegetable. So I would make cooked sushi rice salad with edamame & pickled veg. Can provide the recipe if asked….
Rony´s last [type] ..10 Green Cocktail Recipes for Saint Patrick’s Day
Edamame. I’d celebrate being able to make authentic sushi with exquisite, super-fresh raw kingfish and a touch of soy. Simple and so divine.
That is one gorgeous colorful sushi bowl! It’s just perfect for summer lunches
chinmayie @ love food eat´s last [type] ..Red Earth, Kabini
[...] Citrus sushi bowl. Looks delicious. [...]
[...] I am in love with everything about this sushi bowl. [...]
“Edamame” – Even though I do enjoy the fiddly process of making nori rolls I don’t often have the time to make them. I must look out for the microwave sushi rice next trip to the supermarket (how genius is that?) and I just LOVE the idea of the sushi bowl. I would probably make a bowl version of my favourite California Rolls by using sushi rice, some julienne cucumber, perhaps a little carrot too for colour, cubes of avocado, lovely sweet crab (the real stuff not those rubbery sticks) or, if I feel like splurging at the fish market, some beautiful thin slices of sashimi grade tuna. Then I would finish it all off with a drizzle of ponzu dressing, a little dollop of wasabe mayonnaise, slithers of pickled ginger, toasted sesame seeds and shredded nori. Okay…now I’m hungry!