Sushi and sashimi always make a real treat for seafood lovers. While they may be the kind of foods you rather enjoy at a Japanese restaurant, at home, you can make this Salmon Sashimi Bowl with Ikura (鮭いくら丼). A bowl of steamed rice, topped with pure luxury from the ocean, this Japanese rice bowl turns out to be one of the easiest dishes imaginable.
Satisfy Your Sushi Cravings!
These days you can enjoy fresh sashimi-grade seafood without a trip to a sushi restaurant or Japanese grocery store. You just need to know where to source them or have them delivered straight to your home. When my family has a craving for sushi, I often resolve it by making this Salmon Sashimi Bowl. It’s extremely quick, refreshing, yet fancy. The robust flavor of fresh salmon and rich saltiness of ikura roe, when enjoyed with the tender sweet rice, you know you’re in for a heavenly indulgence. Best of all, enjoying seafood at home is so much more economical than eating out. The sashimi bowl is, of course, more of a concept than a real recipe. What you need to do is to cook rice, assemble all the ingredients, and serve.
Quick and Easy Meal Ready in 10 Minutes!
As long as you have the rice cooked in advance, it really doesn’t take much to prepare:
Where to Get Sashimi-Grade Salmon and Ikura (Salmon Roe)
If you live near a Japanese grocery store, I recommend checking out their sashimi selections. Here, where I live, Japanese grocery stores Nijiya and Suruki in San Mateo are my go-to stores. Don’t live near a Japanese grocery store? You have the option of shopping at online sashimi stores in the US, such as Catalina Offshore. More information after the recipe card in the post.
Sashimi Slicing Tips
There are a few tips for slicing salmon sashimi that has worked for us.
Steamed Rice or Vinegared Sushi Rice
Considering this rice bowl is served with sashimi, you may wonder if we have to use “sushi rice”, which is steamed rice that’s seasoned with sweet vinegar or sushi vinegar. In Japan, we serve simple steamed rice whenever a dish is called “Donburi (丼ぶり)” or “Don (丼)” for short. However, when the sashimi is served over the rice and it’s called “sushi”, then the steamed rice is always seasoned. Having said that, you’re the one who decides when cooking and eating at home. For this “Salmon and Ikura Donburi” recipe, I served it with plain steamed rice. But feel free to serve with sushi rice. You can find my sushi rice tutorial here.
Use Sashimi/Sushi-Grade Salmon
Use only sashimi-grade salmon for raw consumption. Some salmon contains parasites and here are the FDA guidelines for destroying the parasites: I hope this quick and easy Salmon Sashimi Bowl inspires you! If you’re not a salmon fan, try it with your other favorite raw fish such as tuna, hamachi, or sweet crab meat. Wish to learn more about Japanese cooking? Sign up for our free newsletter to receive cooking tips & recipe updates! And stay in touch with me on Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, and Instagram. Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on October 7, 2011. New images have been added in September 2020.
