Devon Crab Donburi

Donburi directly translated means ‘rice bowl’ and it is fish, meat, vegetables, seaweed and/or dressing served over rice. Not dissimilar to a poke bowl which originates from Hawaii and is the the innovation of Japanese settlers there and now a global urban phenomena.

Donburi is routed in Japanese tradition and often found on Izakaya menus; it has always bean a great playground for us, my husband David with his excellent flavour pallet and me as the executor. This is a classic Japanese British affair using beautiful hand picked crab meat from Henderson Seafood in Paignton, now available from HendersonToHome.

At the time of writing this recipe we are in LockDown and one of the many themes of our current situation is how to best support restaurants and restaurant suppliers, in fact the wider network who normally live and breathe this industry from the farmers, chefs, front of house, maintenance, services, drivers, suppliers etc. etc. The many new services of restaurant suppliers doing door drops is a great way of doing so, in particular for special occasions which are now happening in doors. This is also a great time to stimulate your culinary repertoire if you have the extra time available to you.

I have a special affection for micro cress, they are jam packed with flavor and nutrition. Few decades ago these were the reserve of high end cuisine, but now common place on many menus. Available in health food stores, the green grocer and occasionally seen in the supermarket. So lets eat more of these now as it will keep the micro cress industry going doing these challenging times.

Serves 4

1 portion of sushi rice, 500 grams raw making 900 grams

200 grams Henderson Crab Meat

1 cucumber

100 ml. sushi vinegar

100 grams peas shoot

40 grams micro herbs (optional)

100 grams young asparagus

100 grams frozen edamame beans

80 ml. Japanese mayonnaise

1 teaspoon yuzu or lemon juice

4 medium free range or organic eggs

1/2 tablespoon sriracha chili sauce (or kimchee marinade)

1/2 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon standard miso paste

1 tablespoon mirin

5 grams mixed sesame seeds

Leave the edamame in a bowl to defrost.

Place the the eggs in boiling water and boil for 6 minutes and 20 seconds, then plunge into ice cold water and leave to cool for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile start the sushi rice following the instructions here.

Whisk chili sauce, mirin, soy and miso paste into a smooth marinade. Peel the eggs and place in this marinade for 30 minutes.

For the Japanese mayonnaise I share my tested and trusted recipe here or recommend a good quality shop bought with the addition of a teaspoon yuzu or lemon juice.

Cut the cucumber in half, slice the first half on a Japanese mandolin (or cut finely) and place in a bowl, then pour over the vinegar to make cucumber pickles. Split the other half of the cucumber on its length, then again and again,totaling 8 sticks. Remove the seeds and cut on the diagonal into diamond shapes about 2 centimetres long each.

Gently rinse the pea shoots and leave to drain in a colander. Wash and trim the asparagus, place in a container and pour over boiling hot water with a sprinkle of sea salt. Leave to soften for 2 minutes, then drain and leave to cool in cold water. Remove the eggs from the marinade and cut in half. Drain the vinegar off the cucumber pickles.

Now divide the sushi rice into 4 bowls. Cut asparagus in half and start from the top of the bowl work around clockwise. Followed by the edamame beans, cucumber pickles, pea shoot, marinated eggs, cucumber and mayonnaise. Place the crab in the middle of the bowl and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Repeat with the other bowls and ready to serve.