Canada | Kung Food

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When I lived in Toronto back in the 90’s my mom would take me to this Japanese restaurant in what I can only assume was somewhere Downtown. It was a dim-lifted “90’s chic” place with dark stain-proof carpeting and fake palms… or was it plastic birds of paradise plants? Anyway, it was there that that an eleven year old Jon came across the words “sushi” and “pizza” together.

It took a while to process, but when the mental computation had been completed I knew I needed that inside me. Immediately. I didn’t care what it actually was, I didn’t care what was involved. I just knew that I. Needed. To. Eat. That. Thing. Now.

After trying it, my kid self was blown away. I immediately added this to my list of things that go well together:

Jon’s list of things that go well together: Circa 1993

Oreo’s + Milk
The insides of Crayola Markers + White t-shirs
Saturday Morning Cartoons + Cereal
Action Figures + Bathtub
Tree + House
Hot Wheels Cars + Loop-Dee-Loop tracks
Lights + Sneakers
Moving Cars + Naps
Koosh Balls + Life
Snowbanks + Recess
Sushi + Pizza

After my first time, I was blessed to have it occasionally. My mom learned the recipe on how to make it and would sometimes make it though out my childhood and high-school years.

Ever since I started cooking, I’ve run out of reasons as to why I couldn’t figure it out to make for myself, so I did. While the instructions are long winded, it’s actually quite easy to make and always impressive.

I’ve made sushi pizza once before. It was fall of last year and I wanted to make something crazy and special for this guy I was dating. He liked sushi and he liked pizza. So naturally I figured anyone who likes these two things would have the same reaction that I did when I was nine years old.

I had played it in my head a dozen times, each time getting more excited at sharing this bit of my childhood…

“Whaaaaa? What is this magical thing you speak of? Does it come out of unicorns only after they’ve eaten a slice of Supino’s pizza while watching ‘Jiro Dreams of Sushi’? I pictured him saying…

“Not quite… but close. Aren’t I just so great and amazing?” I would say

“Yes, yes, yes, a thousand times yes. You are the god of food!”

Instead, it went more like this:

“Ummmm… ok.”

“I swear! It’s amazing, just trust me! It’s SOOOO GOOD.”

“Whatever you say…”

“I promise you! Wait… where are you going?”

“Burger King…”

Jon cocks his gun and points it at his date “Sit. The fuck. Down.” He commanded.

Aaaaaaaaaanyway… here’s how to make it.

Sushi Pizza

Servings: 4 pies

Ingredients: The Sushi Rice Crust

Note: this needs some prep the night before

2 Cups Sushi Rice
4 tbsp. Rice Vinegar
2 tbsp. Mirin (Rice Wine)
2 tsp. Salt
3 tbsp. Sugar
2 Cups Water
8 tsp of oil (separated 2 tsp of oil per pie)

Ingredients: Toppings

Note: These are just what I like putting on my pie. You can do whatever the hell you want with it. Thats the beauty of pizza, sushi or otherwise. You do what you want. Be sure you get fish that was specifically cut and made for SUSHI. Do NOT just go to your local store and grab just any old fillet and assume you can eat it raw. Bad things will happen. If you live in the Metro-Detroit area Noble-Fish in Clawson is an awesome Japanese grocery store with a good sushi restaurant in the back. They also sell you everything you need to make good sushi pizza.

Here is the list and order of the toppings that I usually put on my pie.

Spicy Mayo (Yes, they also sell this pre-made at Noble Fish)
Avocado
Tuna/Salmon/halibut or your favorite sushi fish. Tip: Put as much emphasis on texture as you would flavor for this dish. An expensive but subtle tasting fish on the über-mega-flavor-bomb that is sushi pizza would just be a waste of money. For this very reason, I prefer tuna or salmon because I enjoy their meaty texture and the flavors of salmon are strong enough to be noticeable.
Smelt Roe
Chopped Scallions
Toasted Sesame Seeds
Julienned Nori (Sushi wrapping seaweed, not that much)

And because we all know I like to give my vegans/vegetarians some love whenever possible. I thought about using tempeh, but the fermented bean flavor doesn’t do as well as neutral grilled tofu. Give this a try

Vegan Toppings

Vegan Spicy Mayo
Avocado
Grilled tofu (marinated of plain)
Chia Seeds
Toasted Sesame Seeds
Chopped Scallions
Julienned Nori

Directions: The Rice

The night before you assemble the pie, cook the sushi rice following the directions on the bag

Rinse the rice fully 3-5 times. Don’t worry if the water runs clear or not.
Drain the rice in a strainer and allow it to sit there for 1 hour in the winter and 30 minutes in the summer
While the rice is draining, combine the vinegar, sugar, salt and mirin in a bowl. Mix well.
Take your 2 cups of water and put it in a non-stick pot along with the rice
Bring the water to a boil then reduce to a simmer
Cover the pot and allow it to steam the rice. DO NOT LIFT THE LID UNTIL IT’S DONE.
Cook for 15 minutes before removing pot from the heat. AGAIN. DON’T LIFT THE LID.
Allow the rice to rest in the pot for 10 minutes more.
Now you can remove the lid.
Place the rice onto a dish to cool and fan it with a magazine (or whatever) while you add the vinegar mixture. Be careful that you don’t break the rice while doing this.

To be quite honest, this is the legit way to prepare sushi rice. It gets you a great flavor and texture and doing it this way means you get a great cooked rice. For our purposes, I’d just follow the directions on the bag of sushi rice, or follow the instructions in your rice cookers manual if it comes with a sushi rice option. No one will notice the difference.

Directions: The Crust

Assemble the rice into a disk that is about 4-5 inches in diameter and 1 inch thick
Wrap the disk in wax paper and freeze it overnight or store for a week
The day of serving, remove the disk from the freezer and remove the wax paper
In a frying pan, heat up 1 tsp of oil on medium heat
Pan fry one side of the crust allowing the outside to brown
Use another tsp of oil for the other side
It’s best to allow he crust to rest on the heat which will brown the one size and heat up the inside more slowly. Remember: you only want to sear the outside of the crust and re-heat the inside, not cook it.
Yes, you can also deep fry the crust, but the results are similar so for the sake of your arteries, pan fry it.

Directions: The Pizza

Here’s the order that I use to assemble

Spread the spicy mayo and use it as the “sauce” of the pie
Place thinly sliced avocado on the mayo
Place cut fish on the avocado
Sprinkle crab roe on the fish
Sprinkle toasted sesame seeds on the roe
Top off with scallions and julienned nori

Directions: The Vegan Pizza

Grill tofu until firm and seared
Spread the vegan spicy mayo onto the crust
Place avocado on the mayo
Place tofu on the avocado
Sprinkle chia seeds on the tofu
Sprinkle toasted sesame seeds on the chia seeds
Top off with chopped scallions and julienned nori

Update: I’ll be adding more pictures later on, latest by tomorrow. I only had time to make one pizza. My car broke down and let’s just say that the crab roe didn’t make it. I was exhausted but still managed to make a couple of pies. Furthermore, because I got home so late I didn’t have time to properly freeze the crusts, so when I do it nice and proper today, I’ll have crusts (and better pictures) to show you. I’ll also make the vegan pie today. So yeah, stay tuned.