Japanese Cooking Maguro Zukedon

Zukedon is a type of rice bowl found in many Japanese restaurants. It is raw tuna (Maguro sashimi) on top on rice and avocado. Very quick to cook and very heathly Japanese food. There are many variations to this recipe and different type of sashimi which can be used but Maguro tend to go very well with the avocado.

There are still a number of non Asians who are reluctant to try raw fish. Most foreigners feel this way when they first come to Japan and refuse to eat things like octopus, squid and other similar sea creatures. Once foreigners are settled here they find it quite difficult to constantly refuse food and end up giving in, in many cases. Once we taste the food then we wonder what we were missing all these years in our home countries.

Raw tuna or Maguro sashimi has a very soft texture and tends to melt in your mouth with the higher grades of fish. The lower cheaper grade may be fine for cooking but tend to be quite chewy when raw which is what may put a lot of westerners off.

•  2 1/4 cups of Japanese Rice, its important to use only the "sticky" Japanese rice here so the tuna and avocado sit neatly on top when using (hashi) chop sticks.
• 2 avocados
• 1/2 pound of fresh maguro (tuna) the higher grade (less white strands) is more favourable for this meal
• 3 tbsps of soy sauce
• 3 tbsps of gochujang (korean hot paste) - for extra tanginess
• 1/2 tsp wasabi paste
• 4 leaves of Japanese basil - shiso if available
• 1 long green onion

Cooked steamed rice preferably using a rice cooker same as in a Japanese restaurant. Slice the fresh tuna into 1/4 inch cubes. Next mix the soy sauce, wasabi and gochujang then marinate the tune into the mixture for a few minutes. Next peel the avocado and cut into small bite size slices. Cut the shiso into thin strips and the green onion into small ringlets. Place the tuna and avocado on top of the rice, then pour over the soy sauce, wasabi and gochujang mixture. finally top it with the shiso strips and sprinkle onion on the top.

The Gochujang is actually a Korean paste but I find it goes very well when mixed with soy sauce and wasabi. It creates and tang to the flavor.

Japanese dried paper like seaweed (Nori) also goes well with this meal.

Serves 4

If your still not convinced enough to eat raw fish, then try replacing the raw tuna with cooked meat of various kinds. The soft avocado texture with the tangy Gochujang will go well with cooked meats especially pork. Cooking the tuna is probably not a good idea since the texture will go dry and flaky not matching this recipe. One you get used to Sashimi it really does open up your world to a various of delicious Asian food.