Chirashi Sushi

[Anohito]

While transcribing my Japan Diary (from the handwritten entries to word processing files) I encountered a reference to chirashi sushi. I did some searching on the internet for a note about chirashi sushi. I noticed that although people were saying it was easy to make, the recipes they were using did not seem easy to me. I also noticed that the recipes did not include an ingredient that was very commonly used in chirashi sushi in the Tokyo area. I do not know that name of it, but it is a sweet pink powder made from ground dried fish. I think maybe the fish was cod. Maybe not. Does anybody know what this pink powder is? Here is a URL for an article with one of the more complicated "easy" recipes:

chirashi sushi

chirashi sushi is a type of scattered sushi from japan - find here step by step recipe

www.annamariavolpi.com

 

[undrentide]

Haha, this is authentic recipe of chirashi-zushi, though anago (eel-like fish) and shrimp are not always used.
The pink powder is called denbu - sweet fish-meat floss made of cod, as you correctly guessed. Pink one is called sakura-denbu because of its colour. (It is tinged with food colouring.)

It's not made from dried cod, but from raw fish. Sometimes tai (sea bream) is used instead of cod. Boil the fish meat, drain and squeeze, wash out any oil in water, drain and squeeze agian, ground it with mortar and pestle, and cook in a pan with a little sake, sugar, salt, drying it with low heat.

It is often used in chirashi-zushi, even in Tokyo. I'm from Tokyo and it was my favourite when I was small because it's very sweet.

 

[epigene]

Yes, the pink powder is "denbu" as undrentide says. It's commonly store-bought and not homemade.

The chirashi-zushi recipe is an aggregate of sub-recipes for each ingredient prepared and cooked separately and finally mixed with sushi rice. So, whether it's easy or hard depends on your point of view!

The focus of this dish is on color--meaning that you need yellow (egg), green (green vegetable such as Chinese pea pods, strips of string beans), brown (shiitake mushrooms cooked sweet), etc. Aside from that, what you put in the dish varies by region and by family. Any fish/seafood you put in is marinated in vinegar-based solution.

Chirashi was my childhood favorite, too. My grandmother, who grew up in Okayama Prefecture, used to make the prefecture's native "Matsuri-zushi" for me whenever she visited us. Whenver I pass through Okayama, I try to get a Matsuri-zushi bento at the station!

 

[Anohito]

Thank you both very much for your replies. To tell the truth, I did not often eat chirashi sushi because I was seldom in the mood for the sweetness of the denbu.