Mackerel Saba and Sea Bream Tai Sasazushi by Shibazushi from Ishikawa - alternative to traditional Kyoto-style saba sushi you can buy overseas

Japan has many styles of traditional sushi that you normally do not see at common sushi chains. One of these is called Sasazushi (笹寿司), which is sushi pressed and wrapped in bamboo leaves. This is made traditionally in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture by various brands, including this one called Shibazushi (芝寿司), and unlike restaurant or supermarket sushi that must be eaten immediately, this type can be frozen to be shelf-stable, individually wrapped in plastic and exported. It can then be conveniently stored, defrosted and eaten at one's convenience, even as a mid-day snack like one might eat onigiri. (There's an unwrapping video at the end.) That is how I managed to get my hands on these authentic Ishikawa fare all the way in Singapore. (It was sold by an Ishikawa specialty shop called Flavors of Ishikawa at Ngee Ann City.)

From Shibazushi's website, they normally have 3 varieties - mackerel (or saba 鯖), sea bream (or tai 鯛) and salmon. However, the store was sold out of salmon, so I only got to try saba and tai. As you can see from the ingredients list, it is quite complex, with kelp, sweet sake and even boiled spinach. There is no soy sauce or wasabi, however, and from online searches, I think you don't need that to enjoy this. (Click the photo to enlarge.)

So how does it compare with normal sushi? I instantly loved it so much more!

Firstly, it had none of the normal fishy taste that you get in sushi, even for the normally fishy saba. 

Secondly, the prominent umami seafood taste was very strong, more than I noticed in sushi restaurants. Perhaps it is because it has been stored for longer, the seasoning such as the kelp dashi and vinegar has had time to marinate and permeate through both the fish and rice. It was extremely hearty and pleasing to the palate as a result, mostly savoury but with prominent and full umami and some sweetness.

Thirdly, the bamboo added a touch of woody herb fragrance, which made the taste very pleasantly complex. It also complemented the salty-sour-umami taste very well. I loved this very much because of how it enhanced the complexity. It was not as strong as the bamboo flavour in Chinese rice dumplings or bamboo-wrapped glutinous rice, however, probably because it was not steamed or boiled together with the rice.

I usually don't really eat sushi rice due to the carbs, and prefer just sashimi, but the rice was so well seasoned that I couldn't help finish all of it. I also tried it with a bit of wasabi and shoyu, and it goes very well with those too, although they are not needed at all.

Saba Sasazushi

For the saba flavour, I thought there was a prominent taste of sweet ginger, like the yellow or red pickled ginger you normally get in sushi or Japanese curry restaurants. And there was some kind of warmth as well which I thought came from ginger. There was no ginger on the ingredients list, but from online research, some ingredients list indicate that the "sweet sake" is actually sweet ginger sake, so perhaps that's where it came from, if I wasn't imagining things. 

I also saw from Shibazushi's site and other recipe sites that normally it comes with a small sansho leaf (of the Japanese pepper tree) called kinome, but as you can see I didn't get that. It would probably have been much better with it. There also seemed to have been some thin yellowish translucent layer covering the saba and rice, but it seemed to not affect the bite and it kind of disappeared in my mouth so I did not really notice it. So I'm not sure what that was. 

Tai Sasazushi

Tai normally does not have a prominent or distinct taste, so this one did not either. There was just a mild white fish taste. It was also very rich in umami, possibly because of the kelp, but it was slightly less hearty or rich, and somewhat more refreshing than the saba version. 

Unwrapping

Relation to Traditional Kyoto-Style Sushi?

The other thing about sasazushi is that it instantly reminded me of traditional Kyoto sushi. One of the most famous traditional places to try it is Izuju in Gion, which I visited. They had saba sushi wrapped in konbu leaf (saba sugata-sushi) and sasamaki (bamboo roll) tai sushi with kinome. It tasted so similar with the rich umami taste. They also did not serve it with shoyu or wasabi, and I also loved that sushi. Both regions (Kyoto/Kansai and Ishikawa) are also relatively close by in central Japan, so the cuisines are probably related.

Check out this Japanese seafood condiment

• Mentai Tartar Sauce by Hataka Mentai Yamaya Kitchen

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