It’s made from a bed of sushi rice that is adorned with a variety of toppings such as egg, fresh vegetables, cooked seafood, and sashimi. I hope you enjoy the recipe.Chirashizushi (literally “scattered sushi”) is served on special occasions in Japan including New Year’s Day. I imagine it’s best enjoyed while sitting at a kotatsu (Japanese heated table), but if you’re like me and don’t have one of those at your home, eat this dish while snuggling up under your favorite cozy blanket on the couch. The recipe I’m giving you is actually the most common recipe and there are many other varieties of Chirashi Sushi. This is a traditional Japanese dish dating back from the old days of Japan. Ironically, we made this dish around that day and ate it along with a group of young women. There is also a special event call ‘Hinamaturi,’ a day to celebrate health of young women, on March 3rd, for which this dish will certainly be a part of the food spread. Japanese families cook this for visitors, birthday celebrations, or graduations. Think of it like cake or champagne in our culture. You can tell by the ingredients like mirin, a Japanese sweet cooking wine, and lotus root (one of my favorite Japanese vegetables), both can be found at the Oriental food market in town.Ĭhirashi Sushi is a party dish for times of celebration in Japanese culture. This recipe for deconstructed sushi is much more than an Americanized ‘sushi bowl’, the flavors and style of cooking of this dish originate in Japan. I did however eliminate the step of chopping the carrot in such a way to make it into a flower. Also, in Japanese fashion, I have very detailed instructions for you so you don’t have to worry about getting it wrong. They all share similar cooking ingredients: vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, mirin, stock, and salt. The part that looks hard is that each vegetable has a specific way of being cooked. Its actually not that difficult: cook rice, cook vegetables, mix vegetables with rice. The recipe looks complicated but don’t be intimidated. And as we chopped, we talked… about the foods we like, where we shop for groceries, and different cultural traditions surrounding food. But the beautiful thing about all of the chopping was that each of us played a role in making this dish. Many of the women, giggled at my lack of chopping skills or tried to help me by taking my knife away. I also quickly discovered that I am not a skilled chopper. And we did a lot of chopping for this dish. I’m not sure if I got the quote exactly right but you get the point. One of the other women in my class gave me a good explanation of Asian foods that stuck with me: The sushi required a lot of chopping as do many Japanese dishes. She taught us all how to cook Chirashi Sushi and Pork Miso Soup. One of our last cooking adventures included two Japanese recipes from one of my students. I teach four hours a week but we like to get together regularly cook and share a meal with one another. One of the highlights of my weekly routine is getting to teach ESL (English as a Second Language) to 15 women from all over the world. This deconstructed sushi recipe is actually called, Chirashi Sushi (Garnished Sushi), and the beautiful dish is an authentic Japanese recipe from my friend Yuki. And not only is the food tasty but the stories and cultural traditions behind the food are always intriguing to me as well. If Josh and I are gong out to eat, we eat ethnic foods about 75% of the time. Something you should know about me, I love food from other countries.
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