Two Egg Inari Sushi
On my days off, I am faced with mountains of readings, seminar prep work and the banal job of tidying and cleaning my apartment. That’s just dead boring. Academia has turned me into a boring fool so of course, I turn away from the books, humour myself and my tummy with one day of absolute food whoring. What that entails is travelling through London for ingredients (rain or shine - that means I gotta have a wet weather plan ready), quick coffee stop to rest shopping-bag-tired me with extra time factored in to browse some interesting shops I find along my way, journey back home to cook up a storm (or not) before the sun sets and all hopes of decent food photos are dashed.
A very long sentence that was. But it aptly reflects how much I do within the space of about 2-4hours zipping back and forth via bus or tube with a gianormous shopping bag. Pretty much a whirlwind of things happening, to do and yet-to-do, which is probably why slow walkers and confused tourists with huge suitcases frustrate me a little when I’m rushing against time (the sun set remember?). And when some hoity toity lady with a Louis Vuitton bag decides to squeeze past me onto the tube, nearly trodding on my toes with that knife-like stiletto heel and catching the wire of my iPod earphones resulting in me having to discreetly follow her until I can safe dislodge that caught wire from her handbag WITHOUT appearing like I’m trying to pickpocket her, I’m just that close to giving up and jumping into a taxi like a true diva. But that I don’t do. I bite my lip, pull my cap lower and blast up the rock music. Simply have to live within my means, don’t I?
I love going out for sushi but unknown to many, sushi is a bit of an occasion food. It’s a treat and unless it’s bento-style, we don’t really have it unless there’s something to celebrate or someone to reward it with. But it’s also a very tasty, clean food that’s popularly marketed now as a ‘health food’ or an ‘on-the-go’ kinda snack. Sometimes, I have sushi for lunch at work or if I’ve had time to prep it the night before, that goes into my bento as well. It’s not messy to eat, looks great, tastes great and cheap to prepare as well (depending on your toppings of course). And because it’s a very special treat-food, it makes me feel like I’m taking care of myself well. But what with the cold, I’ve found myself sticking to hot soups and stews of late and therefore neglecting any cravings for sushi. I can safely say my day off is now very productive - I food-shopped, I made sushi enough to feed me for 2 meals and I totally whored it out.
Was watching something the other day and this sentence stuck with me: “Food is medicine for your body.” That’s very true as food is what feeds your body, repairs the muscles, looks after your bones and organs, etc. It is essential and something that shouldn’t be avoided like the plague but celebrated and enjoyed. Of course, don’t overdo it and become a million stone baby. A good balance is what should be had. So anyway, here my post dedicated to bringing some colour/happiness (despite the grey) to the kitchen and to enjoying the simple pleasures of food which should be an occasion in itself!
In a previous How to Prepare Sushi post, you might have seen my plain inari sushi, naked but for a humble sprinkling of black goma seeds. This time, I opted for a blast of sunshine in the form of 2 types of egg topping.
Recipe yields 8 sushi.
Two Egg Inari Sushi
Ingredients
sushi rice (recipe here)
- 8 inari age wraps (from abura-age - deep fried tofu)
ikura (salmon roe)
wasabi tobiko (wasabi-laced flying fish roe)
Tobiko roe is a lot smaller than ikura roe with a bit more of a crunch. Plain tobiko has a lovely bright orange colour but you can find them coloured with wasabi, squid ink and yuzu orange - the first two being my most favourite.
Ikura roe has a salty, oily flavour. If you’re a first timer to it, you might be put off by its strong taste of the sea and aftertaste. Gari sushi pickle will help remove that aftertaste and cleanse the palate.
Have used these lovely Burford Brown eggs for a denser flavour and colour
Ingredients for Scrambled Eggs
- 2 large free range eggs
1 tbs caster sugar
1/2 tbs sake
salt, for seasoning
To cook scrambled eggs for bento or sushi topping I recommend using a pair of chopsticks to get that fluffy scrambled texture. Japanese scrambled eggs will differ from the usual British grub scrambled eggs which tends to be a little wetter, milkier and held-together rather than beaten and fluffed up to resemble minced meat.
Beat the eggs in a bowl. Add the sugar, sake and a little salt to taste. Beat. Pour into a heated saucepan which has a few drops of vegetable oil in it. Cook initially on a medium heat.
When the outer edges starts to cook and pull away from the sides of the pan, turn the heat down to low. Using your chopsticks, stir quickly and continuously as though whipping the eggs. When you can see the eggs quickly losing its wetness (this cooking process can happen quite quickly depending on your cooking hob), you may want to pull the saucepan away from the heat but still stir the eggs until its all cooked through and has lost all wetness. Be careful not to expose it to too much heat or cook for too long as the eggs can start to colour from being fried and become too dry.
To assemble the sushi:
Have age wraps, sushi rice, scrambled eggs and fish roe neatly prepped in front of you from left to right respectively as you’ll move from the first ingredient onto the next left to right. I use a wooden chopping board to make the sushi on as well before transferring into a bento box or plate.
Gently split open the prepared age wraps down the middle. If you’ve made these age wraps from scratch, slice them down the middle and open it carefully from the sliced side. Don’t open them all the way or you’ll split the bottom of the age ‘bag’. Spoon about 2 tbs of sushi rice into the bag and gently press and mould into the bag. As I fill it, I give the bag a gentle tapping against the chopping board to give it a nice flat bottom so that it doesn’t topple over. Ensure your rice is evenly filled so that the inari sushi can stand fairly stable on its own.
Using a pair of chopsticks, fill half the inari with scrambled eggs. Make sure you fill round the sides of the scrambled egg half so that none of the rice can be seen. If there are any empty pockets between the age and the rice, you may fill it with scrambled egg as well.
Using a spoon for the ikura and chopsticks for the tobiko (I find chopsticks are easier to handle the smaller roe), fill the other half of the sushi and make sure you’re careful to fill the sides as well so that the age doesn’t end up pulling away from the rice or have any empty pockets showing.
Fill the rest of the age wraps and you’ve got 8 yummy two egg inari sushi.
