Chirashi Zushi |Cooking With Amanda

Sushi is not just rolled sushi with nori sheets. There are many different types of sushi that exist in Japan, and I am going to share one common and popular sushi called Chirashi zushi.

Chirashi zushi is also called scattered sushi in English. As the name suggests, Chirashi zushi is the easiest type of sushi that anyone can make because as long as you prepare the sushi rice and toppings, then you just scatter the toppings over the sushi rice.

It is such a simple sushi so the sushi rice and toppings need to be great in order to have a great Chirashi zushi.

You need to use Japanese short grain rice, if possible. "Koshihikari" is the best, or you could use specifically marked "sushi rice". I usually cook rice in a rice cooker.

Whatever the method you use to cook rice, it is very important when you add sushi vinegar to it. It needs to be cooled down quickly with a fan.

That makes the rice grain shine and look good when the sushi rice is served. I have a post on how to make perfect sushi rice, so if you are interested, head over to Chopstick Chronicles.

Now the toppings, I used shiitake mushrooms, carrots, eggs and sugar snap peas and sakura denbu. These are suggestions, and you can swap with anything like prawns, sashimi grade fish, scallops, and green beans.

I particularly like Sakura denbu. Sakura denbu is the pink coloured topping that you can see in the photos.

Sakura Denbu is sweet and pink fluffy flaked fish condiment. Sakura refers pink cherry blossom flower. You can buy this from an Asian grocery store or on line shop, but also you can make this yourself using white fish like cod.

I made it myself I made Sushi cake. Chirashi zushi is often served when we celebrate something such as girls' day or children's day and the nice pink colour definitely lights up the table.

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Chirashi Zushi Recipe

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Ingredients

1 cup Uncooked Short Grain Rice
10 cms Dry Wakame Sheet, or 1/2 teaspoon Dashi Powder
3 Eggs
2 Radishes
20 grams Dried Shiitake Mushrooms
30 grams Carrot
30 grams Sugar Snap Peas
Shiso Leaves, for garnish
Sakura Denbu, (also known as fish flakes - optional)

Directions

Soak the shiitake mushrooms in a cup of water.
Cook 1 cup of rice in a rice cooker with dry wakame or with ½ dashi powder (If you use wakame sheet, remove wakame sheet when the rice is cooked).
Parboil sugar peas, slice thinly and set aside.
Cut the carrots into thin matchstick like shape.
Make Japanese rolled egg and cut into small cubes (if you can not make rolled egg, the egg can be just fired flat and sliced into thin strips instead).
Make sushi vinegar. Put all sushi vinegar ingredients into a small saucepan and bring it to boil over medium heat. Turn the heat off and let cool.
Put 100ml of the water that the mushroom soaked in and 2 tbs of sugar, 2 tbs sake, and 2 tbs of soy sauce into a saucepan.
Put the sliced mushrooms and carrots into the saucepan and bring it to boil then reduce the heat to low and allow it to simmer until the most of the liquid has reduced and the carrots are soft.
Remove from heat and allow to cool down
When the rice is cooked, pour the sushi vinegar over the rice and mix using a cutting action with a wooden spatula.
Add drained mushrooms and carrots into the sushi rice and mix them together.
Serve 1/4 of the rice on a plate and scatter all toppings prepared previously. Garnish with thinly slice Shiso leaves and sakura denbu.