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Nigiri Sushi with Bavette and Fresh Wasabi
Recipe: Charlotte Hamilton (Charlotte's Foodweb)
Nigiri sushi is a well-known sushi style that consists of an oval-shaped mound of rice with a slice of (usually) raw fish on top. The word nigiri comes from the Japanese nigirizushi, which translates as ‘hand-pressed sushi. So nigiri is a type of sushi where the rice is shaped by hand and the fish or other topping is pressed onto the rice by hand. Often the topping is glued to the rice with a little wasabi.
For this nigiri, we use broiled bavette. A tender piece of meat from the flank of the cow. You can ‘stick’ the sliced steak with the fresh wasabi or finish off with a little bit of freshly grated wasabi on the top.
Recipe
4 people
45 minutes
Ingredients
- 250 grams of sushi rice
- 375 ml cold water
- 3 tablespoons of rice vinegar
- 2 teaspoons of sugar
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 2 tablespoons of neutral oil
- 1 tablespoon of butter
- 250 grams of bavette
- salt and pepper
- 1 small, fresh wasabirhi hem (take note, you can only grate these with a real wasabi grater. An ordinary kitchen grater is unsuitable)
Preparation
- Put the rice in the pan and add the water. Put the lid on the pan, bring the sushi rice to a boil and let it cook for 2 minutes. Then turn the heat down to low and let the rice continue to cook for about 10 minutes on low heat with the lid on the pan. After this, let the rice stand with the lid on the pan for another 15 minutes. To do this, wrap a tea towel around the lid so that the condensation does not drip onto the rice.
- For good sushi, the temperature of the rice is very important. The sushi rice should be at room temperature. You can cool the rice evenly by blowing with a magazine, for example, or just letting it stand for a while.
- To complete sushi rice, season the rice with rice vinegar. Heat the rice vinegar along with the sugar and salt and stir until the sugar and salt are dissolved. Let the vinegar cool slightly and then mix into the rice.
- Heat the neutral oil in a frying pan. When the oil is hot, add the meat. Fry for about 2-3 minutes per side, then add the creamed butter. Season with salt and pepper, shake the pan once and turn off the heat. Let the meat rest covered for 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, make rice balls the size the width of the meat. Do this with wet hands, that way the rice won't stick to your fingers. Grate the wasabirhi hem with a good wasabi grater and spread on the nigiri rice balls. Cut the meat into very thin slices and place over the nigiri. Serve with soy or teriyaki sauce.