Sumooku saamon to shungiku no mazegohan / steamed rice with smoked salmon and garland chrysanthemum

Dry, hard type smoked salmon (typically smoked with alderwood in our area) works nicely here, as does grilled salted salmon. Blanched and sliced shungiku stems add a softly bitter, refreshing note to this mazegohan mixed rice.

<Ingredients>

2 rice bowls of steamed rice (not in photo)

Small handful (50-60 g) smoked salmon
40 g shungiku garland chrysanthemum stems (9 stems in photo)
Pinch salt (to blanch shungiku, not in photo)


<Directions>
1.

Blanch shungiku stems.
Bring water to boil, add salt, and put shungiku.

Cook 30-50 seconds, drain, and let cool in a strainer or soak in ice water (recommended when there are many stems) to stop cooking. 

2.

Meanwhile, break smoked salmon into small pieces.

When shungiku is cool, thinly slice diagonally.
Set aside.

3.

When rice is ready, mix in smoked salmon.

4.

Immediately before serving, mix in shungiku. 

<Notes>

• Adjust the amount of smoked salmon according to how salty it is.
• Grilled salted salmon is a perfect substitute for smoked salmon in this recipe. Don’t use lox-type smoked salmon; it is too greasy and tastes too fishy.
• When shungiku is used for salad-type dishes, the stems are often left out. This is one example of how to finish remaining stems. Of course, the leaves can also be used, together with stems or by themselves.
• If shungiku is not available, try mizuna, mibuna, mustard greens, nanohana field mustard, arugula, seri water dropwort, celery, kinsai Chinese celery (blanched or fresh).
• If neither smoked salmon or grilled salted salmon is available, lightly salt and grill fresh salmon or any fish, break into little pieces, and mix in rice.
• This rice dish is on the high-sodium end. Watch the salt content of other dishes served with this rice.