Revamped Mackrel Onigiri Chazuke

Chef: Sōma Yukihira
In the manga: Chapter 8
In the anime: Episode 5
Cuisine and type: Japanese, Chazuke

Revamped Mackerel Onigiri Chazuke is a dish that Sōma Yukihira cooked for his duel with Satoshi Isshiki during his welcoming party. Using the #20 Onigiri Chazuke of Restaurant Yukihira's secret menu, Sōma revamped the dish using mackerel since Satoshi used mackerel for his dish.

Taken from Restaurant Yukihira's secret menu, Sōma changed the standard Salmon used for the regular Yukihira Onigiri Chazuke and substituted with Mackerel. Using the French cooking technique, poêlée, Sōma created a new take on the classic Japanese dish. The dish creates the feeling of a new sprout emerging from the coldness of winter to welcome in spring.

Real-world dishes

Real facts

O-nigiri (お握り or 御握り; おにぎり), also known as o-musubi (お結び; おむすび), nigirimeshi (握り飯; にぎりめし) or rice ball, is a Japanese food made from white rice formed into triangular or cylindrical shapes and often wrapped in nori (seaweed). Traditionally, an onigiri is filled with pickled ume (umeboshi), salted salmon, katsuobushi, kombu, tarako, or any other salty or sour ingredient as a natural preservative. Most Japanese convenience stores stock their onigiri with various fillings and flavors. There are even specialized shops which only sell onigiri to take out. Due to the popularity of this trend in Japan, onigiri has become a popular staple in Japanese restaurants worldwide.
Chazuke (茶漬け, ちゃづけ) or ochazuke (お茶漬け, from o + cha tea + tsuke submerge) is a simple Japanese dish made by pouring green tea, dashi, or hot water over cooked rice, roughly in the same proportion as milk over cereal, usually with savoury toppings.
Cryptotaenia japonica, also called East Asian wild parsley, Japanese cryptotaenia, Japanese honewort, white chervil and mitsuba, is a plant species native to Japan, Korea, and China. The plant is edible and is commonly used as a garnish and root vegetable in Japan, and other Asian countries.

Trivia

This is the very first dish from Restaurant Yukihira's secret menu to be shown in the series.
This ranked 7th in the first dishes popularity poll with 320 votes.

Dish details from the Shokugeki no Sōma Wiki (CC BY-SA).

Recipe

Official manga recipe

Yukihira-Style Seer Fish Rice Ball Chazuke

Difficulty
Total time: 30 min
Hands-on: 30 min
Cost: ¥¥¥¥
Servings: 2

Equipmentfrying pan, grill or torch

Tastelight, comforting

Ingredients

1 seer fish steak (Other fish like salmon or mackerel can be used as substitutes)
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cups cooked rice
Kombucha, to taste (seaweed tea)
Shredded kombu, to taste

Garnish

Japanese parsley, to taste

Method

1
Season the seer fish with salt and pepper.
2
Chop the parsley and set it aside.
3
Heat the olive oil in a skillet, and grill the seer fish skin-side down first. Once the skin is well-cooked and the fish has started turning white, flip it and quickly sear the other side. Take it out of the skillet, and cut the fish into sixths.
4
Mix the shredded kombu into the rice. Then wet your hands and form the mixture into rice balls, placing a piece of seer fish in the middle. Place each finished ball into a bowl.
5
Heat the kombucha and then pour some into each bowl and garnish with the chopped parsley, and you’re done!