Raw Fish

We decided to make a Japanese themed dinner with raw fish. The New York Times had an interesting recipe: Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s Fried Rice Cakes With Scallops, Honey Soy Sauce and Chipotle Mayonnaise. Who ever heard of Fried Sushi? The recipe sounded delicious and different.

We had eaten sushi several times in the last few weeks and saw no reason we couldn’t serve some raw fish. At Shibucho we had a delicious salad served over raw fish. We decided to make a similar dish. We talked to Nate at McCall’s Meat and Fish about the best choices. We decided to serve a Salad with Raw Hamachi. Cathy found some recipes for sauce from a definitive cookbook we have: Japanese Cooking A Simple Art by Shizuo Tsuji. This is an amazing compendium of Japanese food and cooking techniques. We used Three Flavors Vinegar to dress the greens. When we made the vinegar we left out the Dashi and replaced it with Yuzu (available at any Japanese market).

We invited Bea and Tom over to join us. It was wonderful. We would definitely make the Fried Sushi again. Frying the rice was difficult when we followed the recipe. Bea notified us a few days later that the recipe in the New York Times was corrected after we had made the dish. This is the revised recipe. It added that the rice was dredged in Rice Flour before frying. I am sure that would make it easier to fry.

We followed the dinner with a delicious Chocolate Tart from Proof Bakery.

Three-Flavors Vinegar (Sanbaizu)

Japanese Cooking A Simple Art by Shizuo Tsuji

makes 1-1/3 cups

1-1/2 Tbsps sugar (or mirin)

1/2 cup rice vinegar

2 Tbsps dark or light soy sauce

2/3 cup dashi or water

Mix in a saucepan over medium heat. Dissolve sugar in (or mix mm with) vinegar and add soy sauce, then stir in dashi to taste. Bring just to a boil, remove from heat, and cool to room temperature. Keeps indefinitely refrigerated.

Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s Fried RIce Cakes With Scallops, Honey Soy Sauce and Chipotle Mayonnaise

TOTAL TIME

About an hour, plus resting time

FOR THE RICE CAKES

        1 and 1/2 cups short-grain sushi rice

        2 tablespoons mirin

        1 and 1/2 tablespoons rice-wine vinegar

        2-inch piece konbu

        1 tablespoon salt

FOR THE CHIPOTLE MAYONNAISE

        1 egg yolk

        1 teaspoon red-wine vinegar

        1 and 1/2 teaspoons orange juice

        2 teaspoons lime juice

        1 tablespoon chipotle in adobo, including some of the liquid

        1 teaspoon salt

        3/4 cup grapeseed oil

        1/4 cup olive oil

FOR THE HONEY SOY SAUCE

        1/2 cup light soy sauce

        1/2 cup honey

        2 tablespoons sherry vinegar

        1 tablespoon rice-wine vinegar

FOR FRYING AND ASSEMBLING

        Rice flour, for dredging (or substitute all-purpose flour)

        Grapeseed oil

        Coarse salt

        Minced scallions

        6 big scallops, each sliced into 4 pieces

        Minced cilantro

PREPARATION

1.     Combine sushi rice, mirin, rice-wine vinegar, konbu and 1 tablespoon salt in a medium saucepan with 3 cups of water and bring to a boil. Cover with a lid wrapped in a damp cloth and reduce to a simmer. Cook for 20 minutes or until done. (Alternatively, use a rice cooker.) Remove from the heat and let sit for 15 minutes.

2.     Line an 8-by-8-inch baking dish with plastic wrap. Firmly press the rice into the pan. Refrigerate until set, preferably overnight. Remove the rice from the pan and, using a chef’s knife dipped in hot water to prevent sticking, cut into roughly 1-by-3-inch rectangles.

3.     Make the chipotle mayonnaise: Combine the egg yolk, red-wine vinegar, orange juice, lime juice, adobo and liquid and 1 teaspoon salt and purée in a food processor or blender. Add the 3/4 cup grapeseed oil and the olive oil in a drizzle and process until smooth, thick and creamy.

4.     Make the honey soy sauce: In a small saucepan, bring the soy sauce, honey, sherry vinegar and 1 tablespoon rice-wine vinegar to a boil and stir until smooth. Cool before using.

5.     Heat grapeseed oil in a pan, deep enough to just about cover the rectangles. A broad skillet will require more oil than a deep saucepan, but will allow you to cook more pieces at once. Allow oil temperature to reach 350 to 360 degrees. Dredge the rice rectangles in rice flour and cook until golden and crispy, about 5 minutes total, turning once; transfer to paper towels and season with salt

6.     Combine chipotle mayonnaise and scallions. Top each rectangle with a bit of the mayonnaise, then drape with a piece of raw scallop. Brush or drizzle with honey soy, then garnish with a bit of cilantro and a tiny pinch of salt.

YIELD

24 cakes, 6 to 12 servings.

NOTE

A recipe last Wednesday for Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s fried sushi cakes with scallops omitted a step. The sushi cakes should be dredged in rice flour or all-purpose flour before frying.