Chirashi sushi is a type of sushi.

Chirashi sushi is more like a homemade family dish as you can choose ingredients depending on your preference and budget though it still looks fancy. Unlike usual “sushi” which sounds difficult to cook, and you might think of professional chefs, Chirashi sushi is easier to cook and more casual. Therefore, anyone in the world can enjoy Chirashi sushi with local fresh fish and vegetables.

What is different in Chirashi sushi?

The main ingredients are vinegared rice and other toppings, such as sliced raw fish (sashimi), prawns, shiso leaf, thin egg strips and cucumbers. The ingredients vary depending on restaurants and family. You can even put meat or shellfish. It is one of the best parts of Chirashi sushi, meaning that you can cook it in your own way.

The only secret of Chirashi sushi recipe is to cook vinegared rice well, which is very important.

We would like to show you how to prepare vinegared rice and a recipe with ingredients you can easily get anywhere.

Ingredients (2-3 servings)

• (A) 2 gō (1 gō=180 ml) rice
• (A) 1 piece Dried sea kelp
• (A) 1 tbsp sake
• (B) 3 tbsp vinegar
• (B) 3 tbsp sugar
• (B) 1 tsp salt
• Your favorite toppings

Method

1. Cook vinegared rice

Before cooking rice, mix the ingredients marked with (B) above to prepare “sushi vinegar” which you will put into warm cooked rice. It is recommended to make sushi vinegar on the previous day because it takes time for sugar and salt to dissolve. Otherwise stirring well will help them to dissolve faster.

Next, cook rice. Put the ingredients marked with (A) into a rice cooker. A piece of dried sea kelp will enrich the flavor. Sake removes unwanted smell of sea kelp as well as makes rice shiny. It is recommended to use a little less water than usually instructed so that rice will be slightly harder. This is to prevent rice getting too soft and watery when you mix sushi vinegar with it.

Once rice is cooked, put it into a container (usually called “Handai”) and mix sushi vinegar with it. To spread vinegar overall, mix well, but do NOT put pressure on rice like kneading. Try to move your hand like cutting rice with a spatula. Putting too much pressure will make rice sticky and spoil the texture. It is very important to mix rice like slashing, not kneading.

When vinegared rice is completed, you are almost done with everything!

2. Put your favorite ingredients on top

Below are representative ingredients relatively easy to get regardless of country or region.

• Salmon
• Tuna
• Prawn
• Canned tuna
• Carrot
• Lotus root
• Cucumber
• Mushrooms
• Roe (Salmon roe or caviar)
• Dried seaweed etc.

In my opinion, fresh raw fish is highly recommend if you like sushi or sashimi. Cooked minced meat would be nice too even though it is not very common in Japan.

There is no rule or standard for Chirashi sushi - It is totally up to you what to put there. As long as you prepare vinegared rice well, you can customize other ingredients and enjoy your original Chirashi sushi with your favorite people.