Scallop Nigiri with Yuzu Salt

By Sprig Originals ✓ · cooked up in Sprig

Sweet, dry-packed sashimi-grade scallops sliced thin and draped over warm, vinegar-seasoned sushi rice shaped with wet hands. A brush of homemade nikiri soy, a pinch of citrus salt, and a whisper of fresh wasabi is all the sushi-bar polish these need — the real work happens at the fish counter.

Ingredients

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

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

• 8 large dry-packed sashimi-grade scallops (U-10 or U-12, about 1 lb)
• ice, for chilling

• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp sake
• 1 tbsp mirin

• 1/2 tsp flaky sea salt
• 1 tsp finely grated yuzu or Meyer lemon zest
• 1 tsp freshly grated wasabi, or 1/2 tsp prepared wasabi paste
• 1 tbsp thinly sliced chives or scallion greens
• pickled ginger, for serving

• 1/2 cup water
• 1 tsp rice vinegar

Instructions

1. Buy right, first: ask for dry-packed (chemical-free, "dry" or "diver") sashimi-grade scallops. They should be ivory to faintly pink, slightly tacky, smell sweet like melon, and sit in no milky liquid. Wet-packed scallops soaked in STPP are bright white, waterlogged, and will not work raw. Keep them on a plate set over ice, covered, in the coldest part of the fridge until the moment you slice.
2. Rinse the rice: put it in a bowl, cover with cold water, swirl with your fingers for 20 seconds, and pour off the cloudy water. Repeat 4 to 5 times until the water runs nearly clear, then drain in a sieve and let it rest 15 minutes.
3. Cook the rice with 1 3/4 cups cold water and the kombu in a rice cooker on the white-rice setting, or in a covered heavy saucepan: bring to a boil over medium-high, drop to the lowest heat, and cook covered 12 minutes. Turn off the heat and steam, still covered, 10 minutes. Discard the kombu.
4. Make the awase-zu while the rice cooks: warm the rice vinegar, sugar, and fine salt in a small saucepan over low heat for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring just until dissolved. Do not boil. Cool to room temperature.
5. Make the nikiri: simmer the soy sauce, sake, and mirin in a small saucepan over medium-low heat for 3 to 4 minutes, until the alcohol smell is gone and the volume has reduced slightly. Cool completely; it should be glossy and lightly syrupy.
6. Season the rice: tip the hot rice into a wide non-metal bowl or wooden hangiri. Drizzle the awase-zu over a rice paddle held above the rice so it distributes evenly. Fold and slice through the rice with the paddle — never stir or mash — while fanning it for about 3 minutes. Cover with a damp towel and hold at body temperature; do not refrigerate.
7. Slice the scallops: pull off the small tough side muscle from each scallop and discard. Pat each one dry. Stand a scallop on its side and, with a very sharp knife, cut it horizontally into 2 or 3 slices about 1/4 inch thick, or butterfly it nearly through and open it flat — you want a piece roughly 2 inches long that will drape over the rice. Return the slices to the ice-chilled plate.
8. Mix the tezu in a small bowl. Stir the flaky salt with the yuzu zest in another small bowl.
9. Shape the nigiri: dip your hands in the tezu and shake off the excess — damp, not dripping. Scoop about 2 tablespoons (roughly 15 g) of rice and roll it lightly in your cupped palm into a soft rectangle about 1 3/4 inches long. Use only three or four gentle motions; the block should hold together but collapse the instant it hits your tongue. Set it on a chilled platter and repeat, re-wetting your hands between pieces, to make 16 blocks.
10. Assemble: dab a pinprick of wasabi on the top of each rice block, lay a scallop slice over it, and press once with two fingers at a slight angle so the fish curves around the rice.
11. Finish and serve immediately: brush each piece lightly with nikiri, add a small pinch of yuzu salt and a few chive slices. Serve at once, with pickled ginger alongside and the nigiri still faintly warm in the rice and cold in the scallop.

Chef's tips

Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

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