SPICY SALMON SUSHI BAKE!

Column: Cooking with Sam

After trying sushi for the first time during summer, I’ve had cravings since!! So I will be attempting a variation of sushi, called the “Sushi Bake.” My cousin introduced me to the idea. I don’t cook too much but we're going to see how it goes. This recipe was inspired by The Food Blog.

INGREDIENTS I USED + QUANTITIES:

1. Gochujang (6 tablespoons)

2. Soy sauce (3 tablespoons)

3. Seasoned Rice Vinegar

4. Salmon (3 fillets)

5. Imitation Crab (any amount preferred, or none at all)

6. Sriracha (6 tablespoons)

7. Rice (1 cup)

8. Mayonnaise (¼ cup)

9. Furikake 1 ½ cup (note: to make homemade furikake take ¾ tsp of seaweed and ¾ tsp sesame for 3 teaspoons of salt and 6 teaspoons of sugar and toast on low heat)

10. Salt (3 tsp)

11. Sugar (6 tsp)

So it’s the morning of my sister’s 11th birthday party. I have until 3 P.M. to make sure that this dish is ready. I would have made it the day prior but my Mom wanted it to be fresh. I’m going to write the steps I took down below.

My first step was making the furikake. I’d never heard of it before. It's a Japanese seasoning that consists of dried seaweed, sesame seeds, salt, and sugar. One teaspoon of salt and two teaspoons of sugar with ¾ cup of seaweed and ¾ of sesame seeds. I used brown sugar. To toast it I put it on a pan with low heat. Typically furikake would also have fish flakes, but I couldn’t find those at Food 4 Less.

While I was making the furikake, I washed the rice (1 cup) and put it into my rice cooker with ¼ cup of rice vinegar for 10 minutes.

I also had to defrost my salmon, so I let it lay in hot water for 20 minutes. After that was done, I rubbed just a little bit of soy sauce on it to season. It didn’t really need anything because the mix I’d add afterward would give it flavor.

While the salmon was cooking, I started making the sauce mix. It consisted of the furikake seasoning, gochujang, sriracha, mayo, and soy sauce. I made about 3 different batches of this because it wasn’t enough. I used 1 cup and a half of furikake seasoning, ¾ cup of mayo, 6 tablespoons of sriracha and gochujang, and 3 tablespoons of soy sauce. (I used Kikkoman soy sauce, which had a little bit too much sodium). So add as much as YOU desire.

Next, I shredded the imitation crab to pieces. Then I shredded the salmon as well. You can use a fork or your hands to make this easier. Then I put them together after adding the sauce.

After this step, I began to put the rice in the casserole dish. A nice even layer. Then another layer. With the salmon and imitation crab mixture. And into the oven, it goes! Make sure to have your oven at 475 degrees for about 15 minutes.

Once cooked this is how it turned out.

Pretty amazing.

Overall thoughts: I think it turned out pretty well, just a tad bit salty. I blame the soy sauce. Maybe I should also have added cream cheese to it for a creamier texture. But, the party guests enjoyed it and there wasn’t any left when the party was over, so it's still a win. Plus I enjoyed making it.

And that’s a wrap.

Thanks for reading the first edition of Cooking with Sammy!!