NOTE: We participate in the Wolfville Farmers Market WFM2GO Subscriptions here. This post references our April Subscription offering.
April’s spice subscription is pickled ginger. Along with it, we are offering you a recipe for a sushi bowl, which is much easier than what most Canadians think of as sushi.
A sushi bowl, also known as “Chirashi” sushi, consists of vinegared sushi rice topped with various ingredients. These may include things like raw fish, seafood, vegetables, or eggs. (Note: the raw fish is totally optional. Sushi is about the rice. The ingredients are what make the rice interesting.) The ingredients are arranged on top of the rick creating a colourful and visually appealing dish. Sushi bowls are popular in Japan and other countries as a quick, easy, and delicious way to enjoy sushi without the need for rolling or shaping individual pieces. What we usually think of as sushi is not something that is an everyday dish in Japan and is instead often saved for special occasions. It is time-consuming and requires a lot of skill to make well, unlike the sushi bowls, which are a simple mid-week meal that has the flexibility to allow you to include what you have on hand.
Although ginger is a tropical plant and is definitely not a native Nova Scotia plant, we have found that starting it in a warm room and transplanting it outside in mid-June it actually does really well. Ginger as a plan likes it warm, wet, and filtered or indirect sunlight. We don’t quite get the 10 months it takes for the plant to be fully mature, but the immature ginger is lovely because it doesn’t need to be peeled and has a lovely flavour.
The sushi bowl recipe we are sharing this month is one we make for ourselves on a regular basis. We personally do not do the raw fish and instead opt for cucumber, carrot, avocado, egg, and of course pickled ginger as toppings. But we will add in any fresh vegetable that sounds like it might be good. Add to that some good quality soy sauce and maybe a bit of wasabi for some heat, and you have a meal easily scaled for the whole family that takes only the amount of time required for the rice to cook.