Japan inspired sushi crab bowl

After coming back from our trip to Japan, where we enjoyed a LOT of sushi and other amazing food, we were motivated to add a Japanese “go to” in our cooking at home. Sushi is amazing, but can also be expensive if you eat it a few times a week! So finding a way to have a cheaper, sushi-style meal, we created our crab rice “sushi” bowl in its current format. (It could change again – evolution is a good thing, but let’s roll with this quick journey back to Japan). 

First of all, if you don’t own a rice cooker, go buy one. They are an essential, easy way to cook rice. If yours also has a steaming rack insert you can make a lot of 1 pot meals eg fish cooked in a foil pouch with garlic, ginger, soy and sesame as the rice cooks below. Yum!

Back to the crab “sushi bowl:”

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Start with 1 cup of uncooked rice in the rice cooker. Add your water and turn on. Part of the beauty of this dish is that it’s going to be a quick cook. By the time the rice is done, it all should be ready to eat.

In a medium fry pan (skillet) on medium heat, add 2 good cubes (knobs) of butter and melt, along with 16 oz (450 gram) of cooked lump crab meat. We get ours from Costco, but most supermarkets should carry it. 

Try not to stir too much: just enough to mix the butter and crab together.  Spread the mix across the entire bottom of the fry pan – we’re aiming for bit of a “crust” on the bottom.

In the meantime, time to pour yourself some Sake (you deserve it ). 

Next: add about a tablespoon (T) of toasted sesame oil (toasted is important for the flavor) and 2-3T of soy sauce. Give it a little stir to lightly mix it and let the butter do its job and get a slight crust on the base. I’m letting this one sit about 10 minutes – keeping an eye on it, and checking on it, but not actually stirring  or turning it. Just lift up a bit and peek to see how it’s doing on the bottom and see if a crust is forming. We use a spatula.

Grab your seaweed sheets out of the pantry. 

Cut up some cucumber & avocado.

Once you see the crispiness starting to form, hold back just a little longer to let the crusty texture really form. Then, turn/ flip it as much as you can to put the other side of the crab down to allow it to get some crust too. Again, let it sit and brown about another 2-3 minutes.

Wait for your rice cooker to finish its cook. Then, plate up! Start with the rice as the base of the bowl and then drizzle a bit more soy sauce, and add all the other ingredients. (We went a little fancy here for the photo.)

Enjoy, making up hand rolls with a mix of everything you desire. And we recommend you experiment to find your favorite “roll.” 

Don’t forget to have some more Sake as you enjoy and reminisce about your own Japan trip or dream of upcoming Japan adventures.

Kampai!

Before you make this quick amazing dish, here’s what you’ll need in the pantry (or on your grocery list):

Jasmine rice

soy sauce (or Tamari if you’re gluten-free, like Ang)

16 Oz of cooked lump crab meat – we buy ours from Costco

Toasted Sesame oil

Seaweed sheets

Butter, preferable good stuff, we like Kerrygold 

Cucumber, Avocado or anything else you think would work and like in your sushi rolls: wasabi, shishito or jalapeño peppers, pickled ginger… it’s all up to you! 

Toasted sesame seeds

Sake  (or your beverage of choice)