Fresh Fluke Swirls

Name: Fresh Fluke Swirls (Hiramé no Uzumaki)
Yield: Makes 1 dozen pieces
Cuisine: Japanese
Ingredients: ½ sheet yaki nori (paper-thin toasted seaweed); 1 tablespoon drained and shredded beni shōga (red pickled ginger); 1½ teaspoons cold water; 2 teaspoons wasabi (Japanese horseradish) powder; soy sauce, for dipping; 2 straight cucumbers, each about 6 inches long; ¼ teaspoon salt; 3-4 ounces fresh sashimi-quality fluke or sea bream

Hiramé no Uzumaki

Preparation info

Makes

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

An Ocean of Flavor

By Elizabeth Andoh

Published 1988

About

Translucent slices of fresh fluke and slivers of bright red pickled ginger are wound in a thin spiral of cucumber, then banded with a narrow strip of black seaweed. The resulting bite-size hors d’oeuvres are colorful and scrumptious.

Ingredients

2 straight cucumbers, each about 6 inches long
¼ teaspoon salt

Asia
Japan
Starter
Fish course
Pescatarian

Method

Cut off the stem (darker) end of each cucumber and rub the cut surfaces in a circular motion with the sliced-off end pieces. A foamy, pasty white substance will appear. This is what the Japanese refer to as aku, or bitterness. Rinse it away.
Peel the cucumber with a vegetable peeler, if you like, or use the technique described here to remove the outer sk