4dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked in a night before*3
½carrot (cut into matchstick like)or 70g
¼kanpyo*4
⅔cupShiitake dashi*5
2tbspsugar
2tbspmirin
2tspsoy sauce
¼tspsalt
Topping Ingredients
3eggs (large)
2tsp sugar
½tspsalt
2tbsp water
1tsp cooking oil
4snow peas (parboiled and cut)
¼cuprenkon sliced thinly*6
2tbsp Sakura denbu(pink cod flake) *7
2myoga flower buds (for garnish)*8
2-3Green Shiso leaves (for garnish)*9
1tbspwhite sesame seeds
Instructions
Sushi Rice
Wash the rice a few times till the water becomes clear.
Drain the water and place the rice in a rice cooker. Add 10% less amount of water than rice and the piece of kombu kelp if you have.
Set the rice to cook as per your rice cooker.
While the rice is cooking, in a small pot, heat the rice vinegar, sugar, and salt together to make the sushi vinegar on medium heat until the sugar dissolves.
Moisten the wooden tub with water and wipe excess water off with a cloth.
Once the rice is cooked, remove the kelp strip (if you used a kelp strip) from the rice and place the rice into the wooden tub. Pour the sushi vinegar over it and mix with a wooden spatula to flavour the rice while fanning it to cool it down.
MIxing-in Ingredients
While the rice is being cooked, prepare "mixing in" ingredients. Squeeze excess water out of shiitake mushrooms. Don't discard the water because it is "shiitake dashi" and will be used to cook other ingredients.
Remove the stem off the soaked mushrooms and slice mushrooms thinly.
Place shiitake dashi, sliced shiitake mushrooms, carrot, kanpyo and all seasonings in a saucepan.
Bring it to boil, then simmer until most of the liquid evaporates.
Turn the heat off, Drain any excess liquid left with a sieve.
Toppings
Make tamagoyaki. Crack the eggs into a small mixing bowl and add all seasonings for tamagoyaki, and whisk all together.
Strain the egg mixture with a sieve twice.
Heat the oil in a rectangular frying pan over medium heat.
Pour 1/3 of the egg mixture into the pan. Break any bubbles formed with a pair of chopsticks and scramble gently.
When the surface is solidified a little, fold and push the egg to one end of the pan with chopsticks
Wipe the empty side of the pan with oil-soaked kitchen paper and pour another 1/3 of the egg mixture into the empty space of the pan.
Lift the folded egg up to let the egg mixture run under it.
Fold and roll the egg from one side of the pan and wipe the empty space of the pan with the oil-soaked kitchen paper.
Pour the last 1/3 of egg mixture and repeat fold and roll.
Turn the heat off and remove the tamagoyaki egg roll from the pan. When it is cooled down, cut it into small cubes and set aside.
Defrost frozen lotus roots and string snow peas and parboil them and set aside.
Assemble Chirashi
Mix the cooked and drained excess liquid mixing-in ingredients into the sushi rice. Do not mush it, rather by cutting motion. *10
Scatter tamagoyaki cubes, snow peas, renkon lotus roots and sakura denbu over the sushi rice.
Garnish with chopped shiso leaves and thinly sliced myoga Japanese ginger.
Sprinkle white sesame seeds.
Notes
*1 See the detailed instruction and explanation in Make Sushi Rice Perfectly post. Also, there is a sushi rice ingredient calculator to adjust the amount. You need equivalent to 4 sushi rolls for this recipe. *2 You can omit Kombu kelp if you don't have access to this ingredient, however, if you have it, definitely use it as it gives extra umami kick to the sushi rice. *3 Do not discard the soaking water. It is shiitake mushroom dashi packed with umami and will be used for cooking mixing in ingredients. *4 I used ready-made Kanpyo packet from a local Japanese grocery store. If you can not access Kanpyo, you could substitute this with a-ge deep-fried tofu or koya dofu or konjac *5 Use the water used for soaking dried shiitake mushrooms (Shiitake Dashi). *6 I used already sliced and frozen Renkon that I bought from a Japanese grocery store. *7 You can purchase from Japanese grocery stores or online. If you cannot access this ingredient, you can replace with something that adds a pinkish colour like salmon roe, cod roe, or radish or cooked carrot cut out into flower shape. *8 Myoga is growing in my backyard. Myoga is in season in Summer and Autumn, you may find fresh myoga at Japanese/Asian grocery. If you can not access, you can omit this ingredient, or substitute with match stick like cut ginger. *9 I grow Shiso leaves in my backyard too as I love this Japanese herb. If you can't get shiso leaves, replace with chopped scallions or cilantro for green colour. *10 You can use the hangiri wooden tub to serve, but if you are going to serve in a different bowl, you need to remove mixed sushi rice into a bowl to serve at this point.