Chirashi Bowl

I don’t know about you, but for me right now, it’s full on summer and we’re in the middle of a heatwave. That means I really don’t want to turn on the stove and make the kitchen any hotter than it already is! Cold food is what you need in weather like this – and even better if it’s a change from a salad. Don’t get me wrong, I love salads, but sometimes you just want something a little more substantial. A Chirashi Bowl ticks all the boxes. No cooking, cold food, filling, and of course, utterly delicious…

What is a Chirashi Bowl?

A chirashi bowl is a Japanese dish where sashimi (raw fish) and sliced vegetables are presented on a bed of short grain rice. It’s also known as chirashizushi. Essentially, all the same ingredients are used as if you were making sushi. But instead of rolling up a maki roll, you’re tossing the ingredients over the rice. The word chirashi literally means “scattered” – scattered sushi.

How to Make a Chirashi Bowl

Firstly, you need to have some cooked sushi rice ready to go. Sushi rice is short grain rice that has been cooked and seasoned with a sushi mix (rice vinegar, salt and sugar). If you’re looking for how to do it, there are instructions in my sushi bowl recipe that tells you all you need to know. Another non-negotiable is the nori seaweed sheet. But the rest of the ingredients are up to you.

What are your favorite toppings and fillings for sushi? That’s where to start. I love salmon and avocado for one. Throw in some cucumber and radishes and I’m in heaven. Some other classic additional to a chirashi bowl are cooked seafood, like shrimp or octopus, pickled ginger, carrots, daikon radish, and wasabi. Many people also add tamagoyaki, a type of Japanese rolled omelet. Well, I didn’t do that, but I did have the brain wave of including a soy egg. I first made them for a ramen bowl a while back, and they’re so good that I’ve been adding them as toppings to plenty of things recently. Full instructions in this recipe: Homemade Ramen.

The Secret

A chirashi bowl is all in the presentation. That means you’re going to want to take some time preparing all the ingredients to look as beautiful as possible. Shred the nori seaweed into strips and halve or quarter the soy egg. You could just dice the avocado if you want, but I think it looks nicest when you slice it almost all the way through and then fan it out. I also like to have different shapes of vegetables on my bowl, for a visual variation. Here, I opted to cut the cucumber into matchsticks and to thinly slice the radishes, but you could do it the other way around, or even choose different shapes entirely.

Sashimi in Chirashi Bowls

Whenever you’re going to eat fish raw, make sure you tell your fishmonger and get hold of “sashimi-grade” fish, as fresh as possible. And you really want to eat it on the same day as purchase.

Firstly, trim the edges off the salmon, so that you have a neat, fat block of fish, free from bones and with no ragged edges. Use a very sharp knife – made from Japanese steel, if you have one – and slice cleanly through the fish, cutting against the grain. I aim for slices of about one quarter inch. If you’re finding that the fish is too soft to slice cleanly, placing it in the freezer for about 20 minutes will help it to firm up and get you more perfect slices.

Assembly

Time to get creative! Now you have all your ingredients prepared and sliced to perfection, you want to take a little time to arrange them beautifully. I find it far easier to do this with my hands than with any kind of implement, so wash up and get to work.

And More…

Looking for more Japanese and Korean rice recipes? I’ve got you covered. Check out one of these:

• Dragon Rolls
• Tekka Don
• Sushi Bowl
• Spicy Broiled Korean Salmon
• Easy Salmon Sushi Bake

Conclusion

Salmon or tuna, soy egg or tamagoyaki, radish or daikon? What are you going to put on your chirashi bowl? When the temperature rises, that’s the time to get out the Japanese blade and practise your knife skills. Get slicing, dicing and shredding like a pro, and stay cool with chirashizushi this summer.