Gomokuzushi (Sushi Rice with Vegetables)

Oh no! Another Japanese dish!  J

Gomokuzushi or Kansai-style sushi is a sushi dish made with cooked or uncooked ingredients mixed in the body of the rice in the bowl. “Gomoku" means five, or more than five different ingredients. It is different than Chirashizushi (called Tirashi in several Japanese restaurants) in the sense that Tirashi is sushi rice topped with sashimi and other delicacies.

I like my Japanese seasonings less sweet than most recipes ask for. The thin omelet takes 1 teaspoon of corn starch, I didn’t use it. Besides toppings A and B, I added green peas and a wonderful tea-smoked salmon, a recipe from a blogger, Miriam from Madrid. Check Miriam from Madrid’s web site here.

Gomokuzushi (Sushi Rice with Vegetables)

4 Servings

Ingredients:

Sushi Rice:

2 cups Japanese rice, cooked

2 ½ inch piece of kelp seaweed (kombu)

5 tablespoons rice vinegar

1 tablespoon sugar

1 ½ teaspoons salt

Toppings A:

4 medium dry shiitake, softened by soaking in hot water, stems trimmed, cut into thin strips

1 small carrot, cut in 1 “ long, thin strips

1 small burdock root, cut in 1” long, thin strips

1 tablespoon sugar

2 tablespoon soy sauce

1 teaspoon mirin

Toppings B:

thin omelet

1 sheet of nori seaweed, cut in 1” long, thin strips

1 tablespoon sesame seeds, toasted and slightly crushed

1 tablespoon pickled ginger, squeezed, cut into thin strips

Thin omelet:

3 eggs

1 teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoons mirin

pinch of salt

1 teaspoon cornstarch

Toppings C, more ideas (optional):

1 cup cooked green peas

4 oz smoked salmon or salmon grilled in salt, shredded

1 English cucumber, thinly sliced, salted, squeezed

1 cup canned bamboo, lotus root or water chestnut cut into thin sticks

2 aburage, deep-fried tofu pouches, thinly sliced into strips

4 oz small squids, cooked and sliced crosswise (round sections) or

4 oz shredded crab imitation

Directions:

Rice:

Cook rice with kelp and water. Remove kelp when water boils. Put hot cooked rice into a mixing tub (wooden or glass) and spread evenly over the bottom. Mix vinegar, sugar and salt in a cup, stir well. Sprinkle vinegar mixture generously over the rice. With a large wooden spoon, mix rice with a slicing motion, very gently. You want to keep the rice grains intact. While you mix, use a hand fan. This is not to cool the sushi rice, but to puff the extra liquid away. Keep the sushi rice in the tub, covered with a damp towel.

Toppings A:

Cook burdock in a small pan in medium-low heat until almost all the liquid is absorbed. Add carrots and shiitake when burdock is almost done, mix well.

Thin omelet:

Add mirin, sugar, salt and cornstarch to beaten eggs. Grease a non-stick skillet over medium low heat. Pour in just enough beaten egg to cover the bottom of the skillet. Rotate the skillet. The omelet is ready to turn when the edges curl up and the surface becomes glossy. Turn omelet with your hands and wait about 10 seconds. Remove from pan. The omelet should be paper thin. Pile the omelets. When they are done, roll them jelly roll fashion and cut into very thin strips.

Assembly:

Add all ingredients except nori and the egg omelet to the rice and mix. Turn into a large serving platter or individual bowls and garnish with egg topped with nori.

Soboro (Meat and Egg Japanese Style)

I love this dish. It is the typical Japanese comfort food. The combination of ginger with the teriyaki in the meat and the slight sweetness in the egg is delicious. You can use any meat: beef, chicken, pork, turkey. I used organic turkey. The eggs were super fresh from the CSA box that I've got on the same day. I am assuming you know by now that everything I use is organic. Well, maybe 99%...

Soboro (Meat and Egg Japanese Style)

4 Servings

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon sesame oil

16 ounces ground chicken or turkey (or any other meat)

2 tablespoons mirin

2 teaspoons sugar

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon grated ginger

1 teaspoon vegetable oil

4 eggs

2 teaspoons sugar

½ tablespoon mirin

pinch of salt

2 cups cooked short grain brown or white rice

2 tablespoons thinly chopped green onions

1 nori seaweed sheet cut in thin strips

Directions:

Heat oil in a skillet. Add the meat, mirin, sugar, ginger and in a medium to low heat, break the meat.  After the meat is cooked, about 15 minutes, add the soy sauce. If there is too much liquid, turn up the heat until the meat looks moist but there is no excess liquid.

While meat is cooking, beat eggs in a medium bowl and add sugar, mirin, and salt. Heat a skillet with vegetable oil, add the eggs, and scramble until cooked. Don’t overcook the eggs.

Serve ½ cup of short brown or white rice into four bowls. Top with soboro, then the egg, green onions and nori. You can optionally add hot green tea to this dish. Serve immediately.

Shake Ochazuke (Salmon with Rice and Green Tea)

Ochazuke is one of my favorite Japanese dishes. It can be as simple as rice, nori, tea and some savory protein or vegetable. Since my mom is here and can direct my cooking, today I am making a more sophisticated one, with sushi grade salmon, yummmm!!!!! I am serving it with kinpira (cooked burdock root) on the side.

Shake Ochazuke (Salmon with Rice and Green Tea)

Servings 4

Ingredients

4C white or brown short grain rice, cooked

1 lb sushi grade salmon

2 tablespoons wasabi

¼ cup light soy sauce

¼ cup green onion springs, very thinly sliced

1 sheet nori cut into thin ribbons

2 tablespoons toasted white sesame seeds, slightly crushed

(In Japanese cuisine we use a sesame grinder)

Very hot, high quality green tea, prepared in a teapot

Directions

Prepare rice in a rice-cooker or boil as instructed on package.

Cut salmon sashimi style. In a medium bowl, mix soy sauce, wasabi, sesame and green onions. Pour on the fish and toss. Marinate in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Serve 1 cup of rice in a medium bowl, top with the seasoned salmon and pour green tea to cover the salmon.

Cover and wait a couple of minutes so that the fish gets slightly cooked with the tea heat. Top with nori right before serving.