Unagi Nigiri

I grew up in a shellfish-free house. In her early 20's, my mom developed a severe shellfish allergy that put our house under lock down when it came to seafood. We could still have fish, but that was about it. There were a few special times, however, when we got to have crab or oysters. But when we did, we had to completely separate the shellfish from any other food in the house. This meaning; my mom would make her dinner first (usually a fancy steak), and then she would go to another room and eat while my dad, my brother, and myself would eat our dinner. After we were done, we had to bag up and throw out any shellfish remains, sanitize the kitchen from top to bottom, and then brush our teeth and wash our hands and faces because even an innocent kiss to my mom would cause her throat to swell shut! It was a huge production for just a little shellfish. So consequently, seafood was hardly on the menu. No clam chowder, no sushi, no seafood fettuccine, no shrimp cocktail... It was ironic that we lived in the Northwest, seafood central, and yet our seafood options at home were so limited.

Soon, shellfish became a rare and glorified treat. When we would go out to a restaurant, my brother and I would almost always order something with shellfish because it was the one time we could eat it without having to clean up and sanitize everything afterwards. We still couldn't come near our mom until we went home and washed up, but it was still less hassle than normal. My mom always felt bad about it. She wanted so desperately for us to be able to enjoy shellfish in its many delicious forms. But after growing up without it, I couldn't really miss what I never really had. So it never really bothered me. I still had it from time to time (I think I was the only kid I knew who was excited to get a small can of smoked oysters in her stocking each Christmas), but for the most part, I grew accustom to living without it.

But then I met my husband....

My husband grew up in a family of seafood nuts! I was completely weirded out one New Years Eve when I saw shrimp cocktail on their table sitting there amongst all the other foods. Other times, for dinner, they made shrimp tacos or crab cakes. When they went out for family style meals at Italian restaurants, they would order the frutti de mare. (I remember the idea of mixing shellfish into a marinara sauce seemed absolutely foreign to me, and I was honestly hesitant to try it.) Suddenly a whole new world of food options were opening up to me and I was a little intimidated by it. Even with my mom miles away, I still found myself obsessively washing my hands and face every time, trying to sanitize everything top to bottom. My husband looked at me like I had completely lost my mind. After explaining my history with shellfish--or lack thereof--he came to a sudden realization. "Have you ever had sushi?" He asked.
"Well...kind of. I had one of the little sushi samplers from the grocery store once. It wasn't very good. Otherwise, we never went out for sushi in fear of cross-contamination."
His jaw dropped. "A sushi sampler from the grocery store?! That's not real sushi! You're telling me you have never tried fresh sushi?!"
I nodded sheepishly.
"That's it!" He declared, "We're going out for real sushi!"
And so we did. I wiggled excitedly, watching all the brightly colored foods slide past me on the conveyor belt that circled the chefs in the middle of the room. Plate after plate, my husband grabbed different types of sushi for me to try, teaching me how to properly pronounce their names in Japanese. And although I was stuffed only a few plates in, I continued to cram more sushi into my full belly until I felt like I would pop. I was in love! I had no idea what I had been missing all these years. For the first time ever, I didn't worry about protecting my mom from her shellfish allergy. I was in sushi heaven! But out of all the rainbow of colors and flavor combinations, there was one type of sushi that I loved the most: unagi nigiri. The cruel irony of it all is that: there is no shellfish in unagi nigiri, so I could have been eating it all along with no worries!

Years later, after many more trips to the sushi restaurant, I finally decided to learn how to make unagi nigiri (not to mention it's one of the few sushi options I can eat while pregnant since it doesn't contain any raw fish and it has low mercury levels). For those of you who don't know what unagi nigiri is: unagi is grilled eel, and nigiri is the style of sushi that it is. Although grilled eel may sound somewhat intimidating, well prepared unagi offers a rich sweet and smoky flavor with a texture that is crisp on the outside but succulent and tender on the inside. The unagi sits on top of a small oval mound of sticky rice, all held together by a strip of nori, also known as dried seaweed. I was surprised how easy this dish was to make. And I think my husband just about imploded from the excitement of coming home to a plate full of homemade sushi, which made it all the more worth it. The only tip I have for this recipe is: make sure to invest in a good quality rice. It really makes all the difference! I have tried to make sticky rice on many occasions and have failed miserably. But after a little research, I found a brand of rice that made flawless sticky rice. The brand I used was Tamaki Gold. You can find it at most local Asian markets. I found all of my ingredients for this recipe at the Bellevue Uwajimaya. It was surprisingly inexpensive, which is always a plus.

Unagi Nigiri

Ingredients:
*Sushi Rice
Unagi (grilled eel)
Nori (dried seaweed)
*Kabaraki Sauce

*see recipes below

Cut nori into long, 1 inch wide strips and set aside.

Moisten hands and form rice into small oval mounds, about 2-3 inches long. It is important to wet your hands each time you form a new rice mound, otherwise the rice will stick to your fingers and make it really difficult to shape the rice.

Cut unagi into small strips. Microwave until warm. Place strips of warm unagi on top of rice mounds.

With a moist hand, take one rice mound with the unagi on top and wrap it once, width-wise, around the middle with a nori strip. Cut the nori strip so the ends meet on the bottom of the nori. Discard the excess nori or, if long enough, use the extra nori to wrap another rice mound. Repeat until all rice mounds with unagi on top have been wrapped once around the middle.

When finished wrapping with nori, you can microwave the unagi nigiri for an additional 30 seconds to warm everything up.

Drizzle with kabaraki sauce and serve warm.

*Sushi Rice
Ingredients:
2 cups rice
2 cups water (+ water for rinsing)
2 Tbs sugar
1 Tbs salt
2 Tbs rice vinegar

Rinse the rice in a bowl until the water runs clear, making sure to churn the rice with your hands as you rinse. It may take 4-6 times or rinsing before the water runs clear. Drain out all excess water and let the rice stand for about 30 minutes.

In a rice steamer, or a pot, combine 2 cups of rice with 2 cups of water. If using a rice steamer, simply turn on the steamer and let it do its work. If you don’t have a rice steamer and you are cooking the rice on the stove top, cover the rice and cook on medium-high heat for about 15 minutes or until the rice is tender. After finished cooking, remove from heat and let the rice sit covered for 10 minutes.

Combine sugar, salt, and rice vinegar in a bowl and microwave for about 20-30 seconds to help dissolve the sugar and salt. Stir the vinegar mixture until the sugar and salt have dissolved.

After the rice has sat for 10 minutes after cooking, transfer the rice into a large bowl and fluff the rice with a fork. While fluffing the rice with the fork, gradually drizzle on the vinegar mixture one tablespoon at a time.

As you continue to fluff the rice with the fork, fan the rice with a paper plate (or whatever you want to use as a fan. A piece of paper would work just fine.) to help cool the rice until brought to room temperature. This will only take a couple minutes. Fanning the rice will also help the vinegar mixture to dry on the rice, giving it a nice shine.

When brought to room temperature, cover the bowl of rice with a damp towel and place in a cool spot in your kitchen (NOT the refrigerator!) and let it sit until ready to form into Nigiri.

*Kabaraki Sauce
Ingredients:
½ cup of soy sauce
½ of mirin (I didn’t have any mirin so I substituted it with some sweet sherry. You can also substitute it with sake)
¼ cup sugar

Combine all ingredients in a sauce pan. On low heat, simmer the mixture for a few minutes, or until the sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and allow the mixture to cool before transferring to a container to be stored in the fridge. Keep refrigerated until needed.