Chutoro Nigiri on a Teal Plate
Marbled belly tuna sliced a touch thinner than usual. Perfect as the opening course of a homemade omakase night.
- Prep
- 30 min
- Cook
- 20 min
- Total
- 50 min
- Serves
- 2
- Level
- Medium
Photo: Viridiana Rivera / Pexels
Great nigiri starts long before shaping, with the right fish and properly seasoned rice. Look for tuna with a clear, glassy red color and no rainbow sheen; a single even block is far easier to slice than trimmed pieces. Invite someone to help; this is a fun recipe to make together.
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 tuna dry and cut it against the grain into slices about 1/4 inch thick and 3 inches long.
Mix a small bowl of tezu: water with a splash of rice vinegar. Wet your hands, take about 20 g of rice and squeeze it gently into an oval pillow. Make 12 to 14 pillows, keeping them loose inside.
Swipe a dab of wasabi on the underside of each slice, drape it over a rice pillow and press lightly with two fingers so the topping hugs the rice.
Serve immediately, garnished with pickled ginger. Dip the fish side, not the rice, lightly into soy sauce.
Chef's note
Use about 20 g of rice per piece. Too much rice overwhelms the topping.
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