One of my favorite treats around town is the spicy tuna on crispy rice served at Koi and Sushi Katsu-ya (not to be mistaken with Katsuya, but they have it too!) I remember when I first made it a year ago or so, I had a hard time finding a recipe for it online, so I experimented and had a great turnout! The trick: Sautéing the rice “rectangles” in butter with a hint of soy sauce. Check it out and let me know what you think! PS – My camera is awful so I apologize for all of my recipe photos in advance. Please bear with me until I get a Canon Rebel .

Ingredients:

For the spicy tuna:

6 ounces minced sushi-grade tuna (for those of you that live in Los Angeles, I prefer to buy my sushi-grade fish at Marukai Market in Little Tokyo or Mitsuwa in West LA)

1 tablespoon masago (smelt roe)

A dash of sesame oil

1 teaspoon Sriracha (more or less depending on how spicy you like it. If you can’t handle a lot of heat, try adding 1/4 teaspoon at a time)

2 scallions finely chopped

1 tablespoon Japanese mayonnaise (I usually use Kewpie)

For the crispy rice:

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

A dash of soy sauce

2 1/2 cups cooked sushi rice – Preparing sushi rice is an art in itself. I will do a sushi rice post soon, but in the meantime here is a pretty good video. Just a couple notes – when mixing the rice and vinegar mixture, use a cutting/folding method rather than just stirring it around together, it will be less likely to get mushy this way. Also, if you don’t have a hand fan, you can mix it in front of a table fan.

For garnish:

2 tablespoons thinly sliced shishito peppers

Procedure:

Mix together all of the ingredients for the spicy tuna and reserve on the side.

Take the rice and spread it out on a large piece of plastic wrap. Press it down until you have a rectangle of rice approximately 1/4 inch thick. Cover other side in plastic wrap and use a large firm surface (a cutting board) form it into a big rectangle.

Unwrap the rice and cut it into about 20 equal rectangular pieces. Each piece should be about 4 inches long, 2 inches wide, and 1/4 inch thick.

Heat the butter and soy sauce in a pan over medium-high heat. When it starts to bubble, add the rice rectangles and sauté each side until it begins to get crispy and golden brown.

Top each piece of rice with about ¼ ounce of the spicy tuna mixture. Add a shishito pepper slice on each piece. Enjoy!