chirashi/"Gomoku chirashi"

chirashi
[chee-RAH-shee] A term meaning "scattered sushi" and referring to a Japanese dish consisting of sushi meshi (vinegared rice) served with various ingredients including chopped vegetables, sashimi, cured fish, roe, nori and omelet slices. In Japanese homes, the ingredients are either scattered on top of or mixed throughout the rice. In sushi bars, chirashi is more formal-ingredients are separately arranged on top of the rice for a more elegant presentation.



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gomoku chirashi sushi | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

- [ 翻譯此頁 ]with lotus root, bamboo shoot, konyaku, carrots, shiitake, string beans, egg and shiso leaves.

JAPANESE HOME COOKING: "Gomoku chirashi"

2011/03/17

"Gomoku chirashi" (Provided by Katsumi Oyama)

"Gomoku chirashi" is sushi rice topped with a variety of colorful vegetables and others. "All you have to do is to stir-fry the ingredients together. You will get the perfect flavor that way," says cooking expert Atsuko Matsumoto.

INGREDIENTS (serves four to five)

540 cc (about 3 cups) rice

Vinegar seasoning (1/2 cup vinegar, 2 Tbsp sugar, 1.5 tsp salt)

Ingredients (60 grams dried shiitake mushrooms soaked in water, 1/2 piece konjac, 80 grams each of burdock root (gobo) and carrots, 2 pockets of deep-fried tofu (abura-age))

1 Tbsp cooking oil

Cooking stock (1 cup dashi, 2 Tbsp each of sake and sweet mirin sake, 3 Tbsp each of sugar and soy sauce, 1/2 tsp salt)

3 eggs

Young rapeseed flowers (nanohana)

Pickled ginger strips (benishoga)

METHOD

Cut all ingredients into 3-cm matchsticks. Soak burdock root in water to remove bitterness.

Beat eggs with a dash of salt (not listed above), and strain through a metal sieve for a smooth texture. Heat pan, coat inside with oil and pour out any excess oil. Add drops of egg left in sieve to absorb excess oil. Then pour in enough egg liquid to cook a thin layer. Remove. Repeat, stack the egg sheets and cut into thin strips.

Boil rapeseed flowers.

Rinse rice, soak in water for 30 minutes and cook with a little less water than usual. In a pot, bring ingredients for vinegar seasoning to a boil and cool. When rice is cooked, transfer rice into a bowl, pour vinegar seasoning over the rice and mix it in with a rice paddle.

Add cooking oil to a pot and stir-fry ingredients other than carrots. Add cooking stock and stir with chopsticks over high heat for 7 to 8 minutes. Add carrots and cook for another few minutes. Remove from heat and let the flavors seep in.

When the sushi rice has cooled to body temperature, squeeze out some of the liquid in the cooked ingredients and scatter on top. Divide the rice into quarters in the bowl, and blend the ingredients and rice in quartered segments.

Serve in a bowl, cover with egg strips. Garnish with rapeseed flowers and pickled ginger.

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From The Asahi Shimbun's Okazu Renshucho column