Something to Make: "Everything Bagel" Sushi
Sans bagel
I am four days out from handing in the first draft of my book, and in retrospect, I did not have time to make homemade sushi. That was quite dumb. Make it worth it for me, and take my advice: it’s really good, especially if you are willing to bastardise Japanese culture!
This is basically a jacked-up Philadelphia Roll, which combines cream cheese and salmon, by adding in an everything bagel sprinkle and, if you like, some extra bagel toppings. Plus, below, what to do with leftovers and on lazy days, and some cheeky book, movie and music recommendations.
For the sushi rice:
300g sushi rice
400ml water
About 80 ml rice vinegar
Pinch of salt
25g sugar (I used maple syrup in a pinch, in a 1:3 ratio with the vinegar, and it was tasty)
For the fillings and toppings:
A package of full-size nori sheets (this makes 3 rolls)
A cucumber, thinly sliced into batons, slice the watery centre part out and eat as a snack (my dog likes them too)
A ripe avocado, sliced into thin strips
Smoked salmon, sliced into thin strips
Package of cream cheese, I’d go for herbed Philly!
Togarashi (also called shichimi), optional but highly recommended
Everything Bagel mix, shop-bought or see below to make your own
Mayo - sriracha, kewpie, or Hellman’s (to your liking)
Soy sauce, to serve
Shop-bought crispy onions (optional)
Sushi rolling mat OR a tea towel in a plastic freezer bag or parchment paper.
You could also add:
Thinly sliced red onion
Dill
Capers
Squeeze of lemon
Everything Bagel seasoning*
- Essentially equal parts of each, this makes a small jar. Taste and up any ingredient you particularly like by half a tbsp.
1 tbsp poppy seeds
1 tbsp sesame seeds, white, black or a mix
1 tbsp dried garlic flakes
1 tbsp dried onion flakes
1 tbsp flaky sea salt
1 tbsp nutritional yeast (optional - this is Katrina Meynink’s tip)
* If you’re in North America you should be able to buy this at big supermarkets. If you do make it from scratch, don’t worry, it’ll keep for ages and you will find lots of uses for it — especially good mixed into ricotta as a dip. Also a very good gift for any North Americans in your life.
The biggest part of this recipe is making the seasoned sushi rice—everything else is honestly pretty easy. You can follow any method online, they are pretty similar (the proportions above I adapted from Tim Anderson’s Vegan Japaneasy — but you may want to find a recipe online that works for you.) If you want to make this on a weeknight, just get your rice soaking early and the rest of it will take about 45 minutes, with some of that hands-off.
The important thing is you need to rinse the rice as thoroughly as you can (until the water gets pretty clear), and then let it soak for at least 15 minutes to an hour, whatever you have time for. This always seems like a faff but with sushi rice apparently you have to do it or your rice will be kind of gummy and gross.
Once that’s done, put the rice in the pan with the water. You might have your own method but this worked for me: bring up to a boil with the lid off, and once it starts to bubble vigorously, put the lid on and bring the heat down to the lowest setting. (I have a gas burner so the lowest setting can still be a bit intense, adjust so you have a light simmer.) Leave it for 15 minutes and don’t touch. After the time is up, turn off the heat and gently fluff it with a fork (do not mash!!), put the lid back on and let the rice steam for another five to 10 minutes.
The rice prep means time to basically do everything else: chop your veggies, mix the bagel seasoning, get a chopping board ready and lay on top of a sushi mat wrapped in a large freezer bag, or put a folded tea towel in a freezer bag. You could also put a layer of parchment paper over the tea towel. (You basically need something solid + flexible on the bottom, and something non-stick on the top. Cling film is usually used and you can use that too.) Get a little bowl of water too.
When the rice is done, fluff it again, and spread out on a large plate or baking sheet to help it cool quickly. Mix the rice vinegar, sugar and salt together in a little cup and stir to dissolve. Drizzle it over the rice evenly (I also sprinkled with togarashi), and then gently fold the rice to mix. Let it cool to around room temp. Some recipes suggest getting out your hair dryer . . . but it doesn’t take that long to cool down!
In terms of rolling the sushi, if you haven’t done it before, watch a little video to get the technique! Look, I’m no pro, I’m very clumsy, and I managed just fine—we’re not here to compete with real sushi chefs. You just want to make sure your hands are damp, the roll is nice and tight and you secure the end of the nori with a little water to prevent it unravelling.
The order I did was rice, cream cheese, cucumber, smoked salmon, avocado, and everything bagel sprinkle. But just try as you like and have fun with it. To cut it, make sure you have a nice sharp knife, get it a little damp, and go really slow as you cut each chunk, or all your work will (literally) unravel. Once you have all your little bites arranged as you like, drizzle with the mayo, some crispy onions, and a liberal sprinkle of the bagel seasoning and the togarashi. Serve with soy sauce for dipping.
Make it veggie / vegan:
If you want to make it veggie, just leave out the salmon. It’ll still be good! You could also try Max Le Manna’s marinated lox-style carrots — they don’t actually taste like salmon tbh (they’re not fishy), but they are addictive and tasty. Buying liquid smoke might sound like a bridge too far, but it is a fun and useful ingredient if you want low-key BBQ energy without the home-smoker. (Try my charred cherry BBQ relish.) He also gives tips for a cashew cream cheese, which even non-vegans will like.
This is too hard:
You don’t want to hand-roll sushi. Fair! People swear by a Hawaiian-style sushi bake (here’s the NY Times’ recipe), which you can then scoop and serve on crispy seaweed snacks with cucumber and avocado for similar flavours, less fuss. Or serve without the seaweed if you’re my sister, who hates seaweed. (Good luck in Japan next month Laura!!)
You’ve got leftovers:
This recipe will leave you with leftover cream cheese, salmon, cucumbers, nori sheets, and bagel sprinkle. Which means you can top actual bagels, or—if you make extra rice—you can do a cheat’s sushi bake or poké bowl the next day. I just tore up extra nori sheets into smaller sheets and used to scoop the toppings, plus I added yuzu to my rice for a little kick. It was delicious and very messy.
Lightly blitzed nori sheets, so they form little flakes, are also pretty good as a little topper for ramen or rice, or mix with gochugaru chilli, sesame, garlic powder/flakes and crushed potato chips/crisps for a cheat’s furikake inspired by Katrina Meynink.
I tried to include a photo, but I was worried the bad lighting and poor styling would actually put you off. It looked good in real life! Needless to say, for a date night or a fun dinner party, you could just prep loads of rice and lots of different fillings and let everyone have a go; it’s also something that would be really good to accommodate a lot of different diets or intolerances.
Famously, Japanese cuisine is not usually one to fuck around with, and the recipe above definitely fucks around. But why not try it out? Meanwhile, race through the sweet, moving and mouth-watering Restaurant of Lost Recipes, by Hisashi Kashiwai.
In terms of Japanese cookbooks, I actually only own one— Vegan Japaneasy, by Tim Anderson. I do recommend it (everything I’ve made has been banging, including French Onion Ramen, Cauliflower Katsu, Rough Night Rice, and teriyaki carrots), but it’s not actually easy or fast. He is obviously not Japanese, but he’s a useful route in for beginners (aka people like me), and he also has a newsletter called “24 Hour Pancake People” which is mostly about American food. Here’s his guide to turkey ramen.
I also really rate Emiko Davies, who is an Australian-Japanese chef living in Tuscany (she mostly writes about Italian food), so if I was going to buy another, I’d start with her book Gohan: Everyday Japanese Cooking.
Other random stuff:
- I love pop music and I, too, am from Calgary. But I’m sorry to say I do not get Tate McRae. The dancing is making me feel like I’m an old prude and I wasn’t into this in 2005 and I’m definitely not into it now. This was good and so funny, though.
- I am reading endless hot takes on the Meghan Markle Netflix show, but only enjoying the snarky ones. I love an incredibly low-stakes cooking show in a beautiful house, and yet I am, unfortunately, a hater. If you too would like to become a committed hater, get Tina Brown’s The Palace Papers, which I read SO FAST. Then tee up Nigella on the iPlayer to see how it’s really done. (Nigella doesn’t use her own house either, for what it’s worth.)
- I have suggested everyone read Holly Bourne’s So Thrilled For You, and then had to un-suggest it to several pregnant women. (Contains infertility, postpartum depression, lots of industrial grade unspoken resentment.) Four college friends in their 30s with very different relationships to motherhood gather for the baby shower from hell, and a peony wall goes up in flames!!! It’s a whodunnit and a scorching depiction of an under-appreciated division in female friendships. I also loved her book How Do You Like Me Now? — her books are marketed as if they might be fluffy reads, but they are more like psychological thrillers for 30-something women.
- After that I read How to Win An Information War by Peter Pomerantsev, which is so topical it made me feel ill. (It is VERY GOOD and I really recommend it. It can’t really make you feel worse than the news.) Now I’m reading The Cook of Castamar, an old-school historical novel with intrigue, secrets, and romance— zero zeitgeisty energy, and engrossing. A great one if you just need a good book that will hit the spot. My next “Hear Me Out” will be for how much I love the Southwark Library network.
- I loved Anora so much and was thrilled for Mikey Madison, who is a self-described “weird horse girl” and over-achiever who taught herself to pole dance for what became a … 10 second scene. Go Mikey! I also absolutely loved A Real Pain, which I thought was a funny, personal, NOT OVERLY LONG, sad and elegant little movie that is almost impossible to pull off, and not enough writers/directors try. It was great to see two funny, touching movies do so well — an under-appreciated genre! Conclave was also good, but mostly I just loved the outfits, and like to listen to the very, very good score while I write my terrifying non-fiction book about bombs.
- When I’m not listening to film scores, I’ve been listening to the new Sam Fender album, People Watching. It’s stadium-ready sad bangers with lots of sax. I really think this guy can write. I too fear for this crippled island!