.A sushi cake to feed a crowd! Filled with hot-smoked salmon, crisp veggies and avocado, and decorated with edamame and shredded egg crepe, it’s perfect for those times when you want sushi but don’t want to make hand-rolled maki.
I made this sushi cake months ago, round about the same time everyone was going nuts over the baked sushi trend.
It was still hot here then, and I didn’t want to bake my sushi; I wanted it cold, and made with as little effort as possible.
So… sushi cake!
If you don’t have time to make hand-rolled maki, don’t have the equipment, or have a lot of people to feed, a sushi cake is a great and fun alternative! You can customise the filling to suit your tastes or dietary requirements, decorate the top, cut into wedges and serve.
It still takes a little effort to properly prepare the rice, but the end result is so worth it!
Watch the How-To Video:
Sushi Rice
This is still sushi, so not any rice from the pantry will work; it needs to be sushi rice.
Sushi rice is a short-grain rice. Arborio rice, used for risottos, and Calasparra rice, used for paellas, are also short-grain rices but they are not interchangeable when it comes to making any kind of sushi, so make sure you get yourself some sushi rice.
I don’t have a rice cooker because I don’t have room for one, and the absorption method has always worked well for me. So don’t fret if you don’t have a rice cooker; the absorption method of cooking rice works just as well with sushi rice, you just need to change up the rice to water ratio and don’t skip the rinse and soak steps. It takes a little more time to prep the rice, but the results are worth it.
Step 1
Measure out 2 cups of rice and rinse it to remove the excess starch and impurities. Swirl the rice around in some water and drain it, 2 to 3 times, or until the water runs clear.
Step 2
Soak the rice. You can do this directly in the pot you will use to cook the rice. Add the drained rice and the measured amount of clean, cold water, 1 ¼ cup of water to 1 cup of rice, and set aside to soak for 30 minutes.
Step 3
Cover the pot with a tight-fitting lid and cook the rice, over medium heat until the water just starts to boil. Lower the heat and continue cooking for 12 to 15 minutes. After the water has started boiling, don’t be tempted to lift the lid before the 12-minute mark.
Step 4
Remove the pot from the heat source and allow to sit and steam, covered and undisturbed, for 5 to 10 minutes.
Step 5
Season with ‘sushi’ vinegar and cool.
Other Sushi Cake Ingredients
The Protein
You can now find sushi and maki with a variety of fillings that are less than traditional, especially in big cities. Judge me all you like, but a longstanding favourite one of mine is smoked salmon and cream cheese. I thought that might be a bit overpowering in anything bigger than a handroll, so I swapped out the ingredients for hot-smoked salmon mixed with kewpie and scallions. But you can easily swap out the hot-smoked salmon for any other fish, or even any other protein of your choice.
The Vegetables
You want to add a mix of vegetables so you have different textures complementing the sushi rice and the hot-smoked salmon. Sliced and shredded cucumber and carrots are not also pretty standard handroll fillings, but they provide a nice, fresh crunch. Avocado, of course, is a must, and offers a softer texture to the chewiness of the salmon.
The Toppings
This is where you can go nuts. I’ve seen restaurants serve sushi cakes that are absolutely gorgeous and finished with micro herbs and edible flowers. Or you could layer different types and colours of fresh, sashimi-grade fish slices on the top and leave it unadorned. Only your imagination, tastes, and the ingredients you have on hand will limit you. I topped my sushi cake with furikake, edamame, radish slices and cucumber ribbons, and kinshi tamago, finely shredded omelette garnish.
More Asian-Inspired Recipes to Try:
- Vietnamese Gỏi Salad with Prawns, Tofu and Pomelo
- Nuoc Cham (Vietnamese Dipping Sauce)
- Banh Xeo: Meera Sodha’s Vietnamese Coconut Pancakes
Please let me know how your sushi cake turns out, and if you subbed out the filling for something different! I love hearing from you.
Sushi Cake
Ingredients
Sushi Rice
- 2 cups Japanese short grain rice or sushi rice
- 2 ½ cups water, see notes
- ¼ cup rice wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt
Fillings and Toppings
- 250 g hot-smoked salmon
- 2 scallions, thinly sliced
- 3-4 tablespoons kewpie mayonnaise
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 2 eggs
- 3 tablespoons furikake, divided
- 1 carrot
- 1 cucumber
- 1 radish
- 1 avocado
- 1 sheet of nori, trimmed to fit the springform tin
- ½ cup edamame, thawed and podded
Instructions
Sushi Rice
- If you don’t have a r ice cooker, cook the sushi rice on the stovetop. Put the rice into a bowl and cover with water to rinse, swirling the rice around and draining it quickly. Do this 2 to 3 times or until the water runs clear from starch and impurities.
- When the water runs clear, add the drained rice to a heavy-based saucepan with a tight-fitting lid, cover with the 2 ½ cups of fresh, cold (tap) water and leave to soak for 30 minutes. This will be your cooking water.
- In the meantime, prepare the sushi rice seasoning by combining the rice wine vinegar, sugar and salt in a small saucepan. Heat low heat, stirring, until the sugar and salt dissolves. Set aside to cool.
- Once the rice has soaked, cover the pot with a tight-fitting lid and cook the rice, over medium heat until the water just starts to boil. Lower the heat and continue cooking for 12 to 15 minutes. Don’t be tempted to lift the lid before the 12-minute mark. (Check the rice at the 12-minute mark and if there’s a still a bit of liquid left, turn the heat to medium and continue cooking with the lid on for another 3 minutes.)
- When the rice has cooked, remove it from the heat and allow it to sit and seam, covered and undisturbed, for 10 minutes.
- After the steaming, empty the rice out into a sushi oke or a non-metal, baking paper lined wide bowl (see notes). Pour over half of the prepared sushi seasoning, and using a rice paddle or non-metal spatula, mix it together using a slicing and lifting motion rather than a stirring motion so the rice doesn’t clump or get squashed. Taste and consider whether you need to add anymore sushi seasoning for your tastes. Continue with this process until you are happy with the taste. Spread a damp tea towel over the top of the bowl so that it’s touching the rice (this will prevent it from drying out), and let it cool at room temperature while you prepare the sushi cake fillings.
Sushi Cake
- While the sushi rice is cooling, prepare the sushi cake filling and toppings. Flake the hot-smoked salmon into a bowl, add the sliced scallions and then the kewpie, 1 tablespoon at a time until the mixture binds together. Set aside.
- Heat the sesame oil in a medium frying pan over medium-low heat. Crack the eggs into a bowl, add 1 tablespoon of the furikake, and whisk. When the pan is hot, pour in the eggs and quickly swirl the pan so the egg mixture coats the pan evenly and thinly. Cook until the edges are cooked and start to lift. Gently, slide a spatula underneath to flip the egg crepe, letting it cook for a further minute on the other side or until the egg is set. Remove the egg crepe from the pan and place it on a chopping board. When it’s cool enough to handle, roll it up and chiffonade it very finely into long strips (see picture). Set aside to cool completely.
- Next, prep the vegetables. Thinly julienne the carrot, or shred it, if you like. Chop the cucumber in half and cut half of it up into thin rounds for the filling. With the other half, use a vegetable peeler to peel long, thin slices of cucumber. Roll each slice up to use as garnish for the top. Then slice the radish into thin disks. Set all the veggies aside. So it doesn’t brown too much, don’t cut up the avocado until you’re ready to assemble the sushi cake; then cut it into enough chunks to cover the surface of your sushi cake.
- To assemble the sushi cake, very lightly oil the base and sides of a 20cm springform tin. Then, using wet hands or a wet silicone spatula (sushi rice sticks so much guys!), add 1/3 of the rice to the tin and gently spread and smooth it out until it’s covering the whole surface.
- Then layer on the cucumber rounds and shredded carrots before adding another 1/3 of rice to the top if the vegetables, smoothing that out as well.
- Next, add the hot-smoked salmon mix, spreading it evenly, top that with chunks of avocado and then the last layer of rice.
- Add the nori sheet to the top, and push everything down gently. Flip the sushi cake using a plate larger than the springform tin – this will be the serving plate. Set aside in the fridge for 10 minutes.
- When ready to serve, remove the sushi cake from the fridge, release the springform tray and remove the base from the top of the rice. Scatter the remaining furikaki across the top, add the sliced egg crepe to the centre in a nice tall pile, add the podded edamame around the edges, and decorate with the rolled cucumber and radish slices. Present, slice and serve!
