Smoked Salmon Rice Bowl

by Rose Elder

When I was pregnant with Nicholas I craved Asian food more than I ever have. One of those evenings a friend invited a couple of us for dinner. Adriana is such an excellent cook that I was not only excited for the company but for the food as well. She has travelled to Japan and she is in love with anything Japan, specially the food.

She served us a sumptuous and flavorful salmon rice bowl. I enjoyed every bite, I mean it was spectacular. I immediately asked her for the recipe. She did more than that because a week later we drove to Mitsuwa, our local Japanese market, and she walked me through it. If you have visited Mitsuwa you know that you have to know what you are buying. 99% of their items are in Japanese with very poor or non existent translation. I had been there before but I wasn’t able to buy much because I was completely overwhelmed and lost on what to buy.

She took me isle by isle and explained each of the items she used in the salmon bowl. I immediately purchased all of them. Most of the ingredients you can find at Mitsuwa, but she purchases the smoked salmon from Costco. This smoked salmon makes the dish, but you can also make it with regular salmon and just poach it. You can also use beef or chicken if you are in the mood. I have made this recipe probably 50 times since. I make it at least twice a month. I have tweked it a little bit since my diet is so restricted due to my son’s allergies (I am still nursing him). But its pretty close to the original.

The ingredients you should preferably get at a Japanese market are:

The Furikake. I get the basic one with just sesame seeds and seaweed. There are a variation of them but I find I like the basic the best.
This rice vinegar is pretty expensive compared to the one at a regular supermarket. But it is so much more flavorful and it really adds to the dish. This one I believe was about $13. You will use very little so it will last you a long time.
Japanese sticky rice is the key to this bowl. It is actually brown rice, but the one from the regular supermarket doesn’t have the sticky rice factor this one has. I believe I payed $11 for this one. But you can make about 8-10 servings. You can also use white rice if you prefer. Any Japanese sticky rice is probably ok.
Spicy Sesame oil

This is the smoked salmon I find at Costco. For me its really important that the salmon is wild and this one is. It is a bit of a splurge, about $15, but it gives you about 4-5 servings.

Ingedients:

For the bowl:

Smoked Salmon with skin (the one from Costco comes with skin which I include in the recipe)

1/2 cup of rice per person

2/3 tablespoon of rice vinegar per cup of rice (you don’t want to add too much)

1 large avocado (preferably not over ripe)

Furikake

For the sauce (should be enough for 3 servings):

4 tablespoons of soy sauce (I use organic gluten free Tamari)

The juice of 1 lime

1-2 teaspoons of Sriracha

1/4 teaspoon of spicy sesame oil

Make it:

Take the salmon out of the fridge so it reaches room temperature.

Follow the rice bag instructions for the rice. When it is ready add the rice vinegar and mix carefully without mushing the rice. Serve the rice on each bowl to about 2/3 full.

Meanwhile take the skin off the salmon and saute it with a little bit of vegetable oil. Turn it over a couple of times until it starts getting crispy, about 15 minutes. Take it out of the pan and let it cool on a paper towel. When the salmon skin cools it crisps even more, so don’t worry about getting it too crispy on the pan.

Shred the salmon with two forks. It shreds really easily, specially at room temperature. Put the room temperature salmon on top of the hot rice of each bowl, just enough to cover the rice. You don’t want to eat this dish too hot. The hotness of the rice is just the right amount of heat to warm up the salmon.

Cut the avocado in 1/4 inch squares and add desired amount to each bowl. I like to add about 1/4 to 1/3 of a large avocado per serving.

Sprinkle Furikake on each bowl. You can top each bowl like I did on the picture with a slice of the salmon skin or you can also crumble it on top (not so pretty but easier to eat).

Add about 2 tablespoons of the sauce per bowl. The acidity of the lime and the spiciness of the sesame oil and the Sriracha really elevate the dish. Enjoy!