Rice – Sushi is best made using Japanese short-grain rice.This makes it a super flexible dish that can be made almost anywhere. As long as you remember to keep a good balance of these, you can top this with any combination of ingredients you like. Part of the appeal of Chirashi Sushi is the rainbow of colors, textures, and flavors scattered over the sushi rice.When it comes to mixing the rice with the sushi vinegar, the key is to get the seasoning to coat every grain of rice without breaking the rice grains and then cooling it rapidly, so the rice doesn’t turn mushy.This starts by rinsing the excess starch off the rice’s surface, soaking it in water to rehydrate the grains, and then cooking and steaming the rice. It’s also important to cook the rice well.Aside from using good, Japanese short-grain rice, an authentic Japanese rice vinegar like Mizkan’s Natural Rice Vinegar is the key to making great sushi rice. This is why it’s so important to get the sushi rice right. Many people assume that raw fish is at the heart of all sushi, but it’s the vinegared sushi rice that most modern styles of sushi have in common.Now that I’m back in Japan, I have many choices, but they’re still my go-to brand for rice vinegar. It’s the brand of vinegar my mom always used for making her Chirashi Sushi when I was growing up in the US. Mizkan is a family-owned Japanese brand that’s been making vinegar and sauces for over 215 years. That’s why this Chirashi bowl was one of the first recipes to come to mind when Mizkan™ offered to sponsor a recipe here. With sushi rice topped with a scattering of colorful toppings, it’s an easy, flexible way of making sushi at home using the ingredients that are available to you. Chirashi Sushi is a traditional style of Japanese sushi that’s probably the inspiration behind most modern sushi bowls.

Chirashi sashimi