Watch: Sushi Nigiri with salmon and bluefin tuna

250 gms bluefin tuna

250 gms salmon

125 ml rice vinegar (recipe below)

4 tbsp monk fruit sweetner - a healthy replacement for white sugar

2 tbsp kosher or sea salt

1 piece dashi konbu or Japanese soup stock

10 gms wasabi paste

1 sushi seaweed sheet

2 tbsp gari or pickled sushi ginger

Gari recipe

Use young ginger for a slight pink colour, or else regular ginger will do. Peel the skin of the ginger, thinly slice them, you can use a grater to cut it into equal lengths. Mix salt and keep it aside for 5 minutes. This will reduce the spiciness of the ginger and help absorb the vinegar later. Blanch the ginger for about 1-2 minutes. If using mature ginger, blanch longer for 3-4 minutes. Drain the excess water and let it cool for a while. Spread them on a bonzaru or bamboo sieve to remove any moisture. Strain the ginger with your hands to remove water and put them in a clean and dry jar. Pout the rice vinegar (recipe below) in the jar, close it and keep it aside. In about 4 - 5 hours the ginger will begin changing colour to slightly pink.

How to cook sushi rice:

1. Use a rice cooker. Using this will ensure that each rice grain is perfectly cooked and separate.

2. Rinse rice under cold running water to remove any extra starch. Wash until the water is clear.

3. Soak the rice in water for 15 minutes, follow water to rice ratio. Soaking it ahead makes sure that the rice does not turn mushy.

4. Cook the rice for 50 to 60 minutes in a rice cooker.

In the meantime, prepare the sushi rice vinegar or sharizu.

5. Add vinegar, salt and monk fruit sugar and one piece of dashi konbu in a pan and cook for 3 to 4 minutes.

6. Once the rice is cooked, remove it, upturn in a bowl and scrape the botton layer of the rice and discard.

7. Break the rice to begin adding sharizu and mix it well.

8. Moisten the spatula so that rice does not stick to it and keep mixing.

9. Spread the rice so that any extra heat is released. Cover with a damp cloth to keep the rice moist

10. Serve at lukewarm temperature.

To make the wasabi paste:

11. Grate fresh wasabi on a Oroshigane, a fine grater that is typcially made using sharkskin but for hygiene reasosn Chef Iwata prefers a metal one.

Finely grate wasabi Image Credit: Stefan Lindeque/Gulf News

12. Slice the bluefin tuna and salmon, slice into 3/4th inches each.

Slice the tuna into 3/4 inch slices Image Credit: Stefan Lindeque/Gulf News

14. Take a pinch of wasabi and stick it on the inside of the tuna.

Wasabi paste — Take a pinch of wasabi paste Image Credit: Stefan Lindeque/Gulf News

Stick Wasabi Image Credit: Stefan Lindeque/Gulf News

15. Moisten your hands so that rice does not stick. Gently take a small portion, about 15 gms of the sticky rice into your hands and begin rolling it.

Moisten hands Image Credit: Stefan Lindeque/Gulf News

Roll rice into a ball Image Credit: Stefan Lindeque/Gulf News

16. Place the rice on the tuna. Press it gently using your index and middle finger for a couple of seconds so that rice, wasabi and tuna stick together.

15. Repeat this to make remaining sushi nigiri.

Photo gallery

Slice the salmon into thin slices

Stick Wasabi on the salmon

Wasabi on salmon

Place the rice onto the salmon

16. To plate - place the rice side of the nigiri onto the plate, some gari and wasabi paste on the side and serve. Sushi nigiri is best enjoyed fresh.