Cod and blood orange chirashi recipe
- Felicity Vincent
- Feb 1
- 3 min read
Sushi and sunshine in a bowl!
A simple seasonal chirashi recipe with cod, blood oranges, beetroot & ginger.
This is by no means traditional. Firstly, because i use my cheat's code for sushi rice using basmati... secondly, I've made a chirashi using seasonal ingredients available in January and February in the UK, and it works really well if I do say so myself. A beautiful and easy lunch, full of vitamins and minerals to brighten up any winter day. This might even make the perfect recipe if you're looking to impress this Valentine's day.
Ingredients (serves 2):
Winter chirashi recipe:
2 cod fillets
160g basmati rice
30g rice wine vinegar
7g caster sugar
2 blood oranges
1 cooked beetroot
1/2 lime
1/2 lemon
10g light soy sauce
1/2 thumb ginger, grated
1/2 red chilli, finely chopped
Coriander
1 sheet nori seaweed
Small jar of fish eggs
Salt
Easy Chirashi Method:
Right, let's start with the fake sushi rice: wash the rice under water until it runs clear. Then cover it in water and leave it to soak for 20-30 minutes. Make the sushi vinegar by stirring the sugar into the rice wine vinegar until dissolved. Drain the rice again then add water so it covers the rice by about 1 fingernail. Place the rice on the hob and bring to a boil. Once boiled, reduce down to the lowest heat, add salt, whisk it around, then cover and leave to cook for 8 minutes. Once all the water has been absorbed, remove the lid and turn off the heat. Add your sushi vinegar and stir with a spatula until the seasoning is well distributed. Leave to cool down a bit then pop in the fridge.
Make suprêmes out of the blood oranges: top and tail then, cut the rind and pith off following the curve of the orange with a knife. Then cut out each segment carefully. Save the segments in the fridge for later.
Make the marinade: in a large bowl, squeeze what remains of the blood oranges. Add the juice of 1/2 lemon, 1/2 lime, soy sauce, a bunch of coriander leaves, the grated ginger and chopped red chilli (adjust the amount of seeds based on the spice level you enjoy). Stir and taste to make sure it doesn't need any more seasoning, if so add a bit more soy sauce.
Cut the cod into small cubes. Then transfer into the bowl of marinade and stir until evenly coated. Store in the fridge.
Prepare your other toppings: Dice up the beetroot, you'll want it to be a similar size to the cod. Cut up the nori sheet into small pieces using scissors. Pick off a few more coriander leaves.
Assemble: Spoon the rice into a bowl and pat it down with wet hands. Top with the marinated cod, blood orange segments, diced beetroot and a few tsp fish eggs. Garnish with the nori and coriander leaves then dig in.
Bon appétit!
More about this chirashi recipe:
Shortcuts:
Make swaps based on things you love, and feel free to have this as a 'ceviche' without rice as a nice starter.
Keys to success:
This recipe is simple and no-fail, but feel free to pop your questions in the comments or message me and I'll be happy to help.
Mood Food - Happy:
Polyphenols - aside from known benefits to heart and cognitive health, these also fuel our gut microbiome, allowing bacteria to form tryptophan which in turn supports our serotonin levels.
Anthocyanins - anti-inflammatory properties that prevent brain damage, reduce memory loss and enhance cognition and focus.
Vitamin C - is involved in converting dopamine to noradrenaline - low amounts of noradrenaline are associated with depression.
Hopefully this makes you excited to try this and many other blood orange recipes during their short season!
You can find lots of ideas on how to cook with blood oranges in my newsletter: https://felicityvincent.substack.com/
Video:
Cook along with this step-by-step video and learn how to make my cod and blood orange chirashi recipe:
Photos:
Comments