Happy What's for Dinner? Wednesday! Today's dinner is a Japanese dish that combines all the great flavors of your favorite sushi spot in a way that can safely be prepared in your kitchen. That's because instead of making this meal with raw fish, you'll be using smoked salmon. If you're like me and you wish that you could eat Japanese food every night, but just aren't ready to trust your ability to select sushi-grade fish, I know you'll enjoy this dish.
This recipe for Japanese Fish Rice Balls and Edamame Salad has been modified from one I found in MiNDFOOD, a magazine I fell in love with while in Australia.
To serve it to four people, you'll need the following ingredients:
2 cups short grain rice
4 tbsp sesame seeds
2 nori sheets (dried seaweed)
8 oz smoked fish (I'm using salmon)
7 oz edamame
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp sesame seeds, toasted
Salad leaves, ginger, wasabi, and miso soup
Step One: Get your rice ready. Rinse your rice in cold water until the water runs clear. Drain the rice and then place it in a microwavable container. Cover the rice with 2.5 cups of cold water and heat it in the microwave for about 20 mins or until it is tender. Leave the rice to cool.
Step Two: Prepare the fish ball coating. In a dry frying pan, heat up 5 tbsp of sesame seeds so they become toasted. Allow them to cool while you heat up the nori sheets in the same dry frying pan. Use a coffee grinder to make a powder out of 4 tbsp of the sesame seeds and the nori sheets. Set aside the extra 1 tbsp of sesame seeds for later.
Step Three: Make your fish balls. Wet your hands and use them to shape the rice into 1 inch balls. Use your thumb to make a hollow in each ball and fill it with your smoked fish before sealing and reshaping the ball. Finish each ball off by rolling it in your sesame seed and nori powder.
Step Four: Make your salad. Blanch the edamame in boiling water. When cooked, rinse the beans in cold water before tossing them with the rice vinegar, sugar, sesame oil, and the remaining 1 tbsp of sesame seeds.
Step Five: Put it all together! Serve the fish balls on top of a bed of salad topped with wasabi, ginger, and edamame. Heat up miso soup to serve on the side.
Now you can enjoy a quick Japanese food fix without needing to visit a sushi restaurant.
Would you try this dish? Share your thoughts with a comment below. Know someone who might enjoy it? Spread the word by sharing this page.
