Gochisou-sama Deshita

"It was a feast!", the direct translation of the Japanese expression in the title of this post. It is usually said as appreciation when someone has a very good dining experience. When we taste our homemade sushi, we definitely have to say Gochisou-sama deshita to each other.

Sushi is one of the most complex food to really feast on. A good fresh sashimi is not enough when enjoying a plate of sushi. The term sushi means vinegared rice, which state the importance of rice for sushi. Finding a restaurant which is able to served the best sushi rice and sashimi is one in a zillion. So we decided to give it a try to make a proper sushi rice.

We trust our sashimi source to Sakura Restaurant, where we ate few months ago and happy with the salmon & maguro sashimi. Also thanks to a friend, we know which rice are good, a good vinegar, and the correct way to make sushi rice. The whole process took around 3 hours, from soaking the rice for 2 hours, cooking it in rice cooker, mixing with rice vinegar, then shape it to form nigiri sushi, topped with fresh sashimi.

The result is sushi feast enough for the day. The sushi rice is sticky enough without losing its texture when formed into nigiri. The rice vinegar need some tweaking by adding pinch of salt and ordinary vinegar to neutralize its sweetness. The thin layer of wasabi and slice of maguro/salmon give a real feast to your taste.

We are even more happier when we see the bill. The whole experience cost less than 1/4 of a decent meal at sushi restaurant. Plus that we have 2 meals instead of one.

Our Sushi Rice (Su-Meshi) Recipe
makes +/- 20 pcs

• 1,5 cup Japanese Rice (Kokuho)
• 3 tbsp Sushi Su (Japanese Sushi Mixture)
• 1 tbsp Vinegar (we used distilled white vinegar)
• Pinch of salt
• 75 gr chu toro (maguro)
• 75 gr sake (salmon)

Direction

• Soak the rice 2 hours in advance, then bring to cook using rice cooker. Water vs rice should be 1 cup rice : 1,2 cup water.
• When cooking was done, plug off the cable and start mixing the rice with sushi su, vinegar, and salt evenly to fold all mixture into the rice. Close the cooker lid and wait for 10 minutes.
• Spread the rice strictly over flat wooden base (we used “tampah” anyway) and let cool off. Start forming the rice with your hand comparing to fish size.
• Rub a small dab of wasabi over the rice, and press the fish firmly onto the rice. Served.

Tips

• If the rice sticks to your hand, wet your hand with mixture of water and white vinegar.
• Don’t worry if your su-meshi don’t look very neat. It takes at least 2 years practice in sushi kitchen restaurant.
• Trust yourself, and enjoy your try out.
• Wasabi should be assumed to have a very strong flavor unless otherwise proven (Translation: don't put too much wasabi between the rice and sashimi)
  

~~~~ Gochisou-sama Deshita ~~~~