Tekone-zushi (手こね寿司, Mie fisherman's bowl)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Hangiri (wooden sushi rice tub), or a wide nonreactive bowl or baking dish
• •Shamoji (rice paddle), or a flat wooden spatula
• •Yanagiba (sashimi knife), or a long sharp chef's knife
• •Rice cooker, or a heavy pot with a tight lid

Instructions

1. 1

   Wash the rice

   Rinse the rice in several changes of cold water, rubbing the grains gently with your fingers, until the water runs almost clear. Soak it for 20 minutes, then drain well. Washing removes loose surface starch so the finished sushi rice tastes clean rather than pasty, and soaking lets the center of each grain cook at the same pace as the outside.

2. 2

   Cook with konbu

   Put the drained rice, water, and wiped konbu in a rice cooker, or in a heavy pot with a tight lid. Cook as you would plain rice, then let it rest covered for 10 minutes before removing the konbu. The kelp gives the rice a quiet sea fragrance; it should support the fish, not announce itself like a temple bell.

   Wipe konbu, don't wash it. The pale bloom on its surface is flavor, and rinsing sends it down the drain.
3. 3

   Season the rice

   Warm the rice vinegar, 2 tablespoons sugar, and salt just until dissolved, then take it off the heat. Turn the hot rice into a hangiri, a wooden sushi rice tub, or a wide nonreactive bowl. Sprinkle the vinegar mixture over the rice and fold with a shamoji, cutting through the grains and turning them over without pressing. Fan as you fold until the rice is glossy and just warm. Hot rice would mark the fish; cold rice won't take the seasoning properly.

4. 4

   Make the marinade

   Put the mirin, sake, and 1 teaspoon sugar in a small pan and bring it to a brief simmer for 1 minute. Cool completely, then stir in the shōyu. Reserve 1 tablespoon of this clean marinade for final adjustment. Simmering softens the raw edge of the alcohol, and cooling matters because warm marinade would tighten the surface of the fish before it ever meets the rice.

5. 5

   Slice the fish

   Keep the fish chilled until your board is ready. Pat it dry, then slice it across the grain about 5mm thick, using one clean pull of a sharp knife. A smooth cut leaves a wet, glossy face and lets the marinade cling evenly. Saw at the fish and you bruise it. Let the knife do the seasoning.

   Sourcing first, always. Ask for fish suitable to eat raw that day. If it smells strong or looks dull, don't make tekone-zushi with it. Cook another dish and keep the meal honest.
6. 6

   Marinate briefly

   Lay the fish slices in a shallow dish and spoon over the cooled marinade. Turn once and leave for 8 to 10 minutes, no longer. The soy should season the surface and deepen the color, while the fish still tastes like itself. Leave it too long and the texture firms, the sweetness dulls, and the dish loses the very freshness it depends on.

7. 7

   Fold by hand

   Dampen clean hands with cold water, or use a rice paddle if you prefer. Scatter half the sesame, half the shiso, and the chopped pickled ginger over the vinegared rice. Lift the fish from the marinade, letting the excess drip back into the dish, and fold the slices through the rice with open fingers. Use only the marinade clinging to the fish, plus the reserved clean spoonful if the rice needs it. This keeps the grains glossy, not wet.

8. 8

   Finish and serve

   Mound the rice gently in shallow bowls, keeping a little height instead of spreading it flat. Finish with the remaining shiso, sesame, nori strips, pickled ginger, and myōga if using. Serve at room temperature, not refrigerator-cold. The rice should be soft, the fish cool and clean, and the bowl should have room to breathe.

Chef Tips

• •Katsuo is the old heart of this dish, especially hatsu-gatsuo in spring and early summer or the richer modori-gatsuo in autumn. If good raw bonito isn't in front of you, use maguro. Honmono begins with the fish that's actually fresh today.
• •The label sushi grade is not a law in many places. Ask the fishmonger a better question: what came in today that you would eat raw? A good answer is worth more than a sticker.
• •Don't overmarinate. Ten minutes gives the fish color and savor; thirty minutes gives you soy-flavored fish with a tired texture. There is nothing to hide here.
• •Seasoned rice for sushi should be just warm when the fish goes in. Too hot and it tightens the fish; too cold and the grains harden. Body-warm is a good old measure, and your hands know it before a thermometer does.
• •Serve less than the bowl can hold. Five or seven visible slices on top, a little green, a little black nori, and open space around the mound. Leave it room.

Advance Preparation

• •The sushi vinegar can be made up to 1 week ahead and kept refrigerated. Warm it only enough to loosen before using.
• •The marinade, before it touches fish, keeps 3 days refrigerated. Cool it completely before adding the shōyu and before using it on raw fish.
• •The rice can be cooked and seasoned up to 2 hours before serving. Keep it covered at cool room temperature with a barely damp cloth; refrigerating makes the grains hard.
• •Slice and marinate the fish close to serving. Once raw fish is mixed with the rice, eat the tekone-zushi the same day.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 345g)