December 16, 2014

Pink Guava and Mango Bar Sushi

I never tried sushi until we moved to Hong Kong. Initially, the “raw fish” thing used to put me off, until one day I tried a box of salmon sushi reluctantly. Before trying sushi, I had a mental block that it will smell raw and probably I will throw up if I eat it. But when I gathered some courage to taste it for the first time, I fell in love immediately. There is something so fresh about it. After eating sushi, I felt that eating fish in this way is the perfect justice and respect any great fish deserves. It preserves all its nutritional value and the umami flavour. The texture of the fish in any sushi is unexplainable until you taste one. Well, after tasting that box of salmon sushi and till today, I have become addicted to sashimi and sushi. Sushi is one of the tastiest (and healthiest) Asian dishes that I have tasted so far!

Sushi rice is a special kind of Japanese rice which is short-grained. On cooking, the rice is stickier as compared to Basmati.

This sushi creation of mine is especially for those who never tried sushi before. It would be nice to start with a vegetarian sushi. But mind you, this fruit sushi is not a dessert sushi at all. It has interesting sweet, spicy and sour notes. The super thinly sliced pink guavas have an Indian accent to them, coming from a yummy kick of chaat masala (mixed with a dash of mirin). Some would say, “Hello, chaat masala in a sushi?” Yes, because I am using pink guavas here. And any Indian would tell you that guava tastes fabulous with chaat masala! Although I have used a little mirin to give the flavours an Asian impact, I have made full use of the evergreen combo of pink guavas with chaat masala. Try this Indo-Japanese fusion recipe!

Mango bars (called as aampapad, amawat or aamsotto in India) are always stacked up in my pantry. The kids have these as snacks and I love to make a kind of traditional Bengali sweet chutney with these. Besides, these bars come handy when I am craving for mangoes in December! I have also used salted caramel sauce (homemade) to give the vinegar-treated sushi rice a subtle caramelised flavour.

Pink Guava and Mango Bar Sushi

Ingredients:

Nori sheet: 1

Sushi rice: ¼ cup

Water: ½ cup

Japanese brown rice vinegar: 1.5 tbsp

Salted caramel sauce: 1.5 tsp

Mango bar (sliced lengthwise; don’t choose the oversweet ones for this recipe): 1 slice

Pink guava slices (very thinly sliced and no seeds, marinated with little chaat masala and a drizzle of Mirin): 10 slices

Method:

To make the rice for sushi, wash the rice thoroughly and leave it to dry in a sieve for 30 min. Place the water and the rice together in a pan and boil on a medium heat for 15 min. Switch off the gas and leave the rice covered for 15 min.

Adding salted caramel sauce to the cooked vinegar-added sushi rice.

Pour the hot rice over a tray or a container. Sprinkle the vinegar and mix it evenly with the rice. Switch on the fan and let this vinegar get completely absorbed. While the rice is still warm, add the salted caramel sauce evenly and wait for 2 min.

Place the Nori sheet near the bottom of a sushi rolling mat. The rough side of the sheet should face up. Place the rice at the centre and spread it evenly all over the Nori sheet, with the help of your fingers. The top edge of the Nori (the edge farthest from you) should have a little gap, so don’t spread the rice there.

Place the mango bar a little below the middle of the sheet. Arrange the guava slices as shown.

Roll the sushi tightly with the help of the mat, starting from the edge nearest to you. Gently squeeze the mat to form a tight roll. Remove the sushi mat.

Using a very sharp knife dipped in water, cut the sushi into evenly sized pieces. Wipe the knife in between each cut.

Serve the sushi a bit chilled.

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