Chirashi Sushi ちらし寿司

Ingredients

• 2 cups Japanese short grain rice (*1)
• 1.8 cups water
• 1 5cm strip of Kombu Kelp (*2)
• 4 tbsp vinegar
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 2 tsp sea salt
• 4 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked in a night before (*3)
• ½ carrot (cut into matchstick like) (or 70g)
• ¼ kanpyo (*4)
• ⅔ cup Shiitake dashi (*5)
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 2 tbsp mirin
• 2 tsp soy sauce
• ¼ tsp salt
• 3 eggs (large)
• 2 tsp sugar
• ½ tsp salt
• 2 tbsp water
• 1 tsp cooking oil
• 4 snow peas (parboiled and cut)
• ¼ cup renkon sliced thinly (*6)
• 2 tbsp Sakura denbu(pink cod flake) (*7)
• 2 myoga flower buds (for garnish) (*8)
• 2-3 Green Shiso leaves (for garnish) (*9)
• 1 tbsp white sesame seeds

Steps

1. 1

   Wash the rice a few times till the water becomes clear.

2. 2

   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.

3. 3

   Set the rice to cook as per your rice cooker.

4. 4

   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.

5. 5

   Moisten the wooden tub with water and wipe excess water off with a cloth.

6. 6

   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.

7. 7

   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.

8. 8

   Remove the stem off the soaked mushrooms and slice mushrooms thinly.

9. 9

   Place shiitake dashi, sliced shiitake mushrooms, carrot, kanpyo and all seasonings in a saucepan.

10. 10

    Bring it to boil, then simmer until most of the liquid evaporates.

11. 11

    Turn the heat off, Drain any excess liquid left with a sieve.

12. 12

    Make tamagoyaki. Crack the eggs into a small mixing bowl and add all seasonings for tamagoyaki, and whisk all together.

13. 13

    Strain the egg mixture with a sieve twice.

14. 14

    Heat the oil in a rectangular frying pan over medium heat.

15. 15

    Pour 1/3 of the egg mixture into the pan. Break any bubbles formed with a pair of chopsticks and scramble gently.

16. 16

    When the surface is solidified a little, fold and push the egg to one end of the pan with chopsticks

17. 17

    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.

18. 18

    Lift the folded egg up to let the egg mixture run under it.

19. 19

    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.

20. 20

    Pour the last 1/3 of egg mixture and repeat fold and roll.

21. 21

    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.

22. 22

    Defrost frozen lotus roots and string snow peas and parboil them and set aside.

23. 23

    Mix the cooked and drained excess liquid mixing-in ingredients into the sushi rice. Do not mush it, rather by cutting motion. *10

24. 24

    Scatter tamagoyaki cubes, snow peas, renkon lotus roots and sakura denbu over the sushi rice.

25. 25

    Garnish with chopped shiso leaves and thinly sliced myoga Japanese ginger.

26. 26

    Sprinkle white sesame seeds.