Cedar Board Thick-Cut Salmon Nigiri
Thick slices, well chilled, so every piece feels like a small luxury. Shaping nigiri is easier than it looks once the rice is seasoned properly and your hands are damp.
- Prep
- 40 min
- Cook
- 25 min
- Total
- 1 hr 5 min
- Serves
- 2
- Level
- Medium
Photo: Jonathan Borba / Pexels
Cedar Board Thick-Cut Salmon Nigiri is all about balance between cool fish and warm, lightly seasoned rice. Buy salmon labeled for raw eating and keep it on ice right up to the moment you slice it; cold fish cuts cleaner and tastes sweeter. Set everything out before you start so assembly flows without stopping.
Method
Place 2 cups of rice in a large bowl, cover with cold water and stir with an open hand. Pour off the milky water, repeat until clear, then drain well.
Add the rice and 2 1/4 cups of cold water to your rice cooker with a strip of kombu and use the white rice setting. When it clicks off, leave it closed for 10 more minutes.
Stir together the rice vinegar, sugar and salt until clear. Turn the hot rice into a shallow bowl, pour the seasoning evenly over it and cut through the rice with a paddle, fanning as you go so it cools quickly and turns shiny.
As the rice rests, pat the salmon dry and cut it against the grain into slices about 1/4 inch thick and 3 inches long.
Moisten your palms with vinegared water and form small, loosely packed ovals of rice, each about the length of two fingers. Line them up on a damp tray.
Lay each topping over its rice, then use your index and middle fingers to press it down along the length so it curves neatly.
Serve immediately, garnished with microgreens. Dip the fish side, not the rice, lightly into soy sauce.
Chef's note
Aim for rice that is body temperature. Cold rice feels hard and hot rice warms the fish.
From the Nigiri and Gunkan counter
Hand-pressed rice, one perfect topping. Explore more recipes that use the same techniques and pantry.
Browse Nigiri and GunkanNext on the belt
