Since there was some curiosity about what a sushi-bake is, here's my own recipe for it. Sushi-bake is basically a "deconstructed" sushi roll where the ingredients are layered instead of rolled then baked in the oven. There are different variations of how it's made, so this is my take on it. Apologies if I don't have exact measurements of portions, as I just wing it and base it on the taste.
Ingredients:
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Sushi rice (regular white rice is fine if you don't have sushi rice, but add a bit more water when cooking to make it more moist).
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Rice vinegar.
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Any protein of your choice like crabstick, tuna, or salmon; shredded.
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Fruit/vegetable. Cucumber, mango, avocado, or any other ingredients you'd like to add to your sushi; sliced and cubed.
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Japanese mayo (i.e. kewpie).
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Sriracha. In my case, I used a gochujang-based hot sauce with truffle oil.
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Furikake.
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Sesame oil (optional).
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Sugar/sweetener (optional).
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Mozarella cheese (optional).
Recipe:
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Cook sushi rice as directed.
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Mix your protein, veggies, and fruit in a bowl with Japanese mayo and sriracha.
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Mix the cooked sushi rice with a few tablespoons of rice vinegar and a bit of sugar (optional). I personally don’t put sugar because I find the rice vinegar enough for flavor.
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Line a baking pan with foil. You can also do without, I'm just lazy with washing.
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Grease the pan with a little sesame oil.
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Add a base layer of sushi rice on the baking pan and flatten it thoroughly.
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Add a layer of your protein/veggie/fruit mix on top of the rice.
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Sprinkle a layer of furikake.
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Optional: Since I like to put cheese on everything, add a layer of shredded mozarella.
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For aesthetic purposes, draw alternating diagonal lines of mayo and sriracha, and top it off with another sprinkling of furikake.
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Bake at 350F for 15-20 minutes.
To eat, slice it into square bites. You can eat it as is with chopsticks or a fork/spoon, or use Nori to scoop it up.
You're serious, aren't you?
The nice thing about this dish is you can literally use any combination of ingredients you want, just like you have tons of different rolls you can choose from at a sushi restaurant.
I think the reaction comes from the baking part, not so much the ingredients. Imagine someone saying beef tartar wedged between two balls of uncooked dough tastes like a hamburger. You'd probably be sceptical too.
Yeah, the thought of hot sushi or hot mayonnaise is a bit revolting.
Oh man, wait till you get a taste of Asian Hot Shrimp Salad. It was the first dish with hot/warm mayo I ever tasted, and it’s amazing! Also, japanese mayo is not as sour and tangy as regular mayo, so it works with heat well. Check out takoyaki and okonomiyaki as well, which are both hot dishes with mayo.
Fair, but the baking part is really more like heating a bunch of already cooked ingredients. So there’s not much of a change with the elements of the ingredients and the heat from the oven just fuses them into an integrated dish that you can pick up with chopsticks. The only thing that drastically changes is the mozarella cheese that melts. Otherwise, the entire dish stays as is and can technically be eaten even without baking.
So the analogy would instead be like assembling a bread bun, cooked beef patty, some veggies, and heating it in the oven for a couple of minutes. It’s already a burger before putting it into the oven, and it’s the same burger, just toastier and maybe crispier, afterwards.