Chirashi-Zushi
(Chirashi means "scattered" in Japanese.) The recipe
calls for tofu cakes soaked in dashi, sugar, mirin, and soy sauce. It's probably
delicious, but I've never added it, simply because I was avoiding the fat.
3 1/2 Cups Cooked Sushi Rice (I always use Brown Rice.)
2 dried shitaki mushrooms
1 carrot
Stock for cooking carrot and mushroom:
1/4 cup dashi stock (recipe for dashi will follow)
1/4 cup shitaki soaking water
2 TBS. mirin (a heavily sweetened sake, used for cooking)
1 1/2 TBS. soy sauce
1 TBS. sake
1/4 oz. seasoned, canned bamboo shoots
1/4 cup shredded Bok Choy
1/4 cup sliced radishes
1/2 cup cooked snow peas
1/4 cup raisins
2 hard boiled egg whites
1. Soak the shitake mushrooms in lukewarm water until soft (30 min.) Put Liquid
aside. Trim off stems of mushrooms and slice thinly.
2. Peel Carrot, make 2 inch matchsticks.
3. Mix ingredients for stock to cook mushrooms and carrots. Cook carrot in it.
Add shitake mushrooms and continue to cook until done.
4. Dice bamboo shoot into 1/2 inch cubes.
5. Mix carrot, shitake mushrooms, bamboo shoots, radish, Bok Choy, and Sushi
rice.
6. Slice cooked snow peas.
7. Add raisins, snow peas, and hard boiled egg for decoration.
DASHI STOCK is Japanese clear soup stock. There are four types made from kelp,
dried bonito, shitake mushroom, or dried fish. Dashi stock is the secret of
Japanese cooking. To keep this strictly vegetarian, I omit the dried bonito
flakes and substitute with soy bean sprouts and or mushrooms. It seems to work
out fine. (I found this recipe for Dashi in the March/April '94 edition of the
EATING WELL magazine, which also has some great recipes for using Japanese
noodles) It's exactly how I make mine, except I substitute one cup of bean
sprouts or several Shitake mushrooms for 1 cup of Bonito Flakes.
1 oz. dried Kombu (10 inches) (Dried Kelp)
1 cup soy bean sprouts
Lightly brush kombu clean without removing its coating of white dust. Place in a
large saucepan with 6 cups of cold water. Slowly bring to a simmer over low heat
and cook for 5 minutes. Remove the kombu and discard it. Add 1 cup cold water
and the sprouts to the broth. Return to simmer for 5 minutes. Increase heat to
high. Once the stock boils, remove from the heat. Strain the stock through a
cheesecloth-lined sieve, discarding the sprouts. Stock may be stored in
refrigerator for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 6 months. Makes 5 cups.