Three Way Salmon Chirashi Sushi

Sushi rice:

Wash your rice under cold running water and rub it gently between your fingers, without breaking the grains. Wash until the water nearly comes clean.

Put the rice in a pan or in a rice cooker, add the water accordingly and let sit for 30 minutes. Start cooking and as soon as the water boils, cover your pan tightly, turn to minimum heat and let cook for 15 solid minutes. Turn off the heat, cover the pan with a thick towel and let it sit again for about 10 minutes. If you have a rice cooker, you don’t have to worry about a thing, just don’t remove the lid for up to 10 minutes after the cooking is finished.

Meanwhile, prepare the seasoned vinegar: mix the vinegar, sugar and salt until dissolved.

Pour your rice into a large bowl. Add the seasoned rice vinegar and with a wide wooden spoon, pick up the rice from under and fold it gently. You just want to blend in the vinegar without breaking the grains. Fold until the vinegar is completely absorbed. Cover the rice until you are ready to use it.

Roasted salmon skin:

Start by cutting out the skin from the salmon, leaving a little less than 1 cm of flesh on it. Sprinkle with a little salt on both sides.

Lay it on a nonstick pan, skin side down, turn up the heat and let it roast gently. It should take about 10 minutes to get a nice golden color without actually burning it. If you feel the need, add just a tiny little bit of oil to the pan. My salmon was quite fatty, so I didn’t need to do that. Keep checking on it and adjust the heat accordingly. When it’s done, turn off the heat and flip the skin to the fleshy side. It will finish cooking all by itself and without drying out (3 to 4 minutes). Remove the skin from the pan, set aside.

Tempura and panko fried salmon:

In a small bowl, beat the egg with 2 tablespoons of flour and add enough cold water to get a smooth pancake-like batter. In another bowl, pour the panko bread crumbs.

Cut the raw salmon you have in half and slice one half into thick strips, cover them in batter and dredge them in panko. Fry until nice and golden. Remove and let it drain on a paper towel.

Sashimi salmon:

This is pretty easy. Just take the remaining salmon and cut it in bite-size pieces. I usually keep the fattiest pieces for the sashimi. (If you don’t like raw fish, it’s fine to skip this!)

Now, let’s put everything together:

Take two large serving bowls, add about 1/4 of the rice you made for each bowl (1 cup each bowl).

Top with half of the salmon (I usually leave the tempura for last), cucumbers, green onion and avocado. Give it a good sprinkling of roasted sesame seeds, drizzle with teriyaki and serve with panko-covered salmon sticks on top.

Enjoy!