When I was in my 20’s, I would often visit my brother in Los Angeles, CA. I had not yet cultivated a love for sushi and he was on a mission to forever change my taste buds. I remember him bringing me to a revolving sushi bar that had little boats floating by and he tried to make me eat some of the raw sushi and I thought I was going to die.
It wasn’t until he brought me to Koi in Los Angeles that my love affair with sushi began. And it all began with this dish. At the time, I believe that Koi was one of the only restaurants I had ever been to that made this dish. I tried many times to find it at other sushi restaurants as I traveled the country and was never able to find it on the menu until a few years ago.
Because of the scarcity at the time and the fact that there is no Koi in Dallas, TX, my brother and I did our best to recreate the recipe at home. Now, its a very common appetizer at sushi restaurants, but it is still fun to make it at home.
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Spicy Tuna Crispy Rice
Course: SushiCuisine: JapaneseDifficulty: Easy4
servings30
minutes40
minutesIngredients
- Spicy Tuna Tartare:
1/2 lb 1/2 sushi grade tuna
3 tbsp 3 Japanese mayonnaise
1 tsp 1 “Rooster” brand chili sauce
1 green onion, minced
1 – 2 tbsp Flying fish eggs (small orange)
1/2 tsp 1/2 hot sesame oil
salt and black pepper, to taste
- Crispy Rice:
1 1/2 cups 1 1/2 uncooked sushi rice
1 tsp 1 rice wine vinegar
2 tsp 2 Aji-Mirin rice seasoning
1/2 tsp 1/2 salt
1 cup 1 Vegetable oil
1 Serrano pepper or jalapeño pepper, seeded and sliced thin
1 avocado, pitted and sliced
3 tbsp 3 Eel sauce
Soy Sauce
Wasabi paste, to taste
Directions
- Spicy Tuna Tartare:
- Mince the sushi grade tuna by using the pulse mode on a blender or food processor. In a medium bowl mix the tuna, Japanese mayonnaise and chili sauce. Stir in the minced green onions, flying fish eggs, hot sesame oil, and salt and pepper, to taste. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
- Crispy Rice:
- Rinse the sushi rice in order to get some of the starch out of it. In a medium saucepan or rice cooker, combine the rice, 2 cups of water, mirin and rice vinegar. Cover and cook on low heat for 20 minutes. Remove from the heat, add the salt and fluff the rice with a fork.
- Heat the vegetable oil in a skillet to 350°F.
- Ensure that your hands remain wet while working with the rice so it doesn’t stick to your fingers.
- Use a piece of cling wrap and scoop the rice into ¼ cup balls. Pack tightly so the rice does not fall apart when it is fried. Press the rice ball down so it is shaped like a tightly packed rectangle.
- Fry only a few pieces of rice at a time in the pan. Cook, rotating so that the rice is golden brown on all sides, about 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from the pan and place on a paper towel-lined plate.
- Place each crispy rice on top of a leaf of butter lettuce (optional). Top each of the pieces of fried rice with a tablespoon size of the spicy tuna mixture. Top each crispy rice and spicy tuna with a slice of avocado, a slice of Serrano or jalapeño pepper and drizzle with eel sauce. Serve immediately.
- If you’d like, you can mix soy sauce and wasabi paste and use it to dip the crispy tuna rice in
Notes
- Regular mayonnaise with a ½ teaspoon of mirin can be used as a substitute for Kewpie Japanese mayonnaise.
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