Fanned Avocado Nigiri with Yuzu Kosho

By Sprig Originals ✓ · cooked up in Sprig

Sushi practice with zero fish anxiety: cool seasoned rice pressed into soft ovals, topped with ripe avocado sliced thin and fanned like a deck of cards, brushed with a whisper of yuzu kosho and belted with a strap of toasted nori. The whole point is technique — hydrating and seasoning the rice properly, keeping your hands lightly damp, and shaping with pressure gentle enough that each piece still collapses in your mouth. Twelve pieces make a genuinely satisfying dinner for two, at a fraction of what a single order costs out.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups Japanese short-grain sushi rice
• 1 3/4 cups cold water
• 1 inch piece kombu (optional)

• 3 tbsp unseasoned rice vinegar
• 1 1/2 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1 1/4 tsp fine sea salt

• 2 large ripe but firm Hass avocados
• 1 tbsp fresh lemon or lime juice
• 2 tsp green yuzu kosho
• 1 tsp toasted sesame oil
• 2 sheets toasted nori
• 1 tsp flaky sea salt
• 1 tsp toasted white sesame seeds

• 1/2 cup water mixed with 1 tbsp rice vinegar (tezu, for your hands)
• 3 tbsp soy sauce or tamari
• Pickled ginger, for serving

• 1 tsp wasabi paste (optional)

Instructions

1. Put the rice in a bowl, cover with cold water, and swish with your fingers for 15 seconds. Pour off the cloudy water and repeat 3 to 4 more times until the water runs nearly clear. Drain in a fine sieve and let the rice sit for 15 minutes so the grains absorb their surface moisture evenly.
2. Combine the drained rice, 1 3/4 cups cold water, and the kombu in a heavy 2-quart saucepan. Cover, bring to a boil over medium-high heat (about 6 to 8 minutes), then reduce to the lowest setting and cook, still covered, for 12 minutes. Remove from the heat and let stand, lid on, for 10 minutes. Do not lift the lid during cooking or resting.
3. While the rice cooks, whisk the rice vinegar, sugar, and 1 1/4 tsp fine sea salt in a small bowl until fully dissolved. Warming it 20 seconds in the microwave speeds this along; let it return to room temperature.
4. Scrape the hot rice into a wide non-metal bowl or a rimmed sheet pan and discard the kombu. Drizzle the vinegar mixture over the rice in three additions, cutting and folding with a rice paddle or silicone spatula at a slicing angle — never stirring or mashing. Fan the rice with a piece of cardboard or a magazine as you fold; you want it glossy, separate, and cooled to just above body temperature, about 5 minutes. Cover with a damp kitchen towel and hold at room temperature. Never refrigerate it.
5. Cut each nori sheet lengthwise into strips about 1/2 inch wide and 4 inches long — you need 12. Stir the yuzu kosho with the sesame oil in a small dish to make a loose, brushable paste. Set out the tezu (vinegar water) in a small bowl.
6. Halve, pit, and peel the avocados, keeping each half intact. Lay a half cut side down on the board and slice crosswise into very thin slices, about 1/8 inch, keeping the half together. Slide your knife under the whole sliced half, transfer it to the board, and press gently with your palm so the slices fan out into a long overlapping shingle. Brush lightly with lemon juice. Repeat with the remaining halves; you should get 3 fanned sets per half, or 12 total pads roughly 2 1/2 inches long.
7. Dip your hands in the tezu and shake off the excess. Scoop about 2 1/2 tablespoons of rice (roughly 20 g) into your right palm and roll it into a loose log, then cup and squeeze it 3 or 4 times into a rounded-top oval about 2 inches long and 3/4 inch tall. Aim for firm enough to lift, loose enough to fall apart on your tongue — about the pressure you'd use to hold a hamster. Set it on a platter and shape the remaining 11.
8. If using wasabi, smear a pea-size dot on top of each rice oval. Lift a fanned avocado section on the flat of your knife and drape it over the rice, slightly overhanging the ends. Cup the piece in your palm and press the topping down gently with two fingers so it curves over the rice.
9. Wrap a nori strip around the middle of each piece, dabbing the overlapping end with a drop of water to seal it underneath. Brush or dot each avocado top with the yuzu kosho oil — a scant 1/8 tsp per piece; it is aggressively hot and citrusy — then finish with flaky salt and a pinch of sesame seeds.
10. Serve within 20 minutes, at cool room temperature, with soy sauce and pickled ginger alongside. Dip topping side down and only barely, so the rice doesn't drink the soy.

Chef's tips

Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

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