Roma Tomato and Zucchini again, apologies to the folks who gave the great suggestion of eggplant, I have failed you. I had a night to myself and thought I should try that again with a little experience under my belt. Worked out well.
The tomato neta is prepped from raw romas by concasse, peel, halve, core. Cook in soy and rice vinegar marinade at 300F for 40ish minutes. Remove from oven and place on draining rack, dry and press to remove liquid. Dry more. Form nigiri, top with lemon infused oil and furikake
Zucchini is cut, scored, and seared with a bit of oyster sauce, brushed with more oyster sauce once formed, then topped with kewpie, chili crisp, and curled scallions.
The tomato nigiri I made last time was really fragile, so I cooked the neta at a higher temp for a shorter time. I also pressed and aggressively dried it before making the nigiri, which helped a whole lot in terms of moisture content and ease of forming. This was 100x easier. Instead of braising in soy/vinegar for the full time, I think I will cook it in the marinade for 20 minutes, and on a pan in the oven for the next 20 to dry it better. I may also dilute the marinade quite a bit to reign in the intensity of the bite.
The little fan is my favorite weird kitchen gadget, getting things dry helps in a lot of situations. We bought it to dry pierogi after boiling. I use it on meat and fish constantly.
I undercooked the zucchini, still good but getting it soft and pliable is super important to the bite. It looks good, though.
I stole the idea for tomato nigiri from the vegan sushi joint Nori, in Austin. Been experimenting with the tomato to figure out how to best make it. This could still actually be a lot less wet overall, and I'm gonna try drying it out a lot harder.
Hyper successful night of sushi experimentation. I think it cost me like $3 too.
by Planterizer
7 Comments
Overall, I think that I like the lenthwise score on the zucchini the best for forming and look overall, though the grid score is pretty and kinda traditional. I got a multiblade scoring kife on Amazon for like seven bucks and it was a worthwhile investment.
I should also make a note on the rice, it’s some bag of expensive japanese rice that the guy at Asahi Market suggested. I washed it for 5 minutes, drained and dried, cooked with 1:1.25 ratio rice to water in my rice cooker with some kelp squares. My dressing is red rice vinegar, mirin and some salt, to taste.
This was honestly some of my best rice yet, and I’m gonna eat it with a tin of sardines for lunch tomorrow.
Holy shit! This looks fantastic. I wouldn’t eat it, lol, but it does look fantastic.
cool, it ain’t sushi
YO! What is this tool that you used to score the zucchini?! I need one, I cut these scores by hand and sometimes I screw it up and cut straight through
Avocado plus soy sauce has sushi fish taste
I can help with a miso/seasame egg plant nigiri if you want the recipe boss.
I literally had to show my partner this and went “holy shit look at the tomato nigiri omg that looks so fucking good jesus christ fuck”