Being a zombie with all the foot dragging, moaning, and perpetual hunger is not for the slacker types. You’ve got to be committed because it’s hard work attacking hapless victims and eating brains right out of skulls. It’s down right messy too and does real damage to your wardrobe. So embracing terrible fashion sense goes hand in rotting hand with zombie life. On it’s necrotic face, it may seem that there’s no upside to being a zombie, but like everything in undead life, it’s all how you look at it. And lets be honest, if you still have your eyes, that is the upside. All kidding aside, hard work should be rewarded so, take a night off from the mindless skull cracking feeding frenzy and indulge yourself. Pull up a broken chair, gather some of your wandering buddies and enjoy a little upscale brain tartare. All the brainy goodness you crave, without the mess. It’s called self care and you’re worth it. Enjoy!
Brains!
Equipment
- Rice cooker
- Mini Skull Cookie Cutter (Wasabi Skulls)
Ingredients
- 6-8 oz. sushi grade tuna
- 2 tbsp sriracha sauce or garlic chili sauce (to taste)
- splash soy sauce
- 3-4 tbsp bloomed gelatin*
- ⅔ cup imitation crab meat
- 1-2 tbsp mayo
- 1-2 tbsp sriracha sauce or garlic chili sauce (to taste)
- 1 cucumber (cut into spears)
- 1 avocado
- 2 sheets nori seaweed wrappers
- radish sprouts (optional)
- masago (garnish) (optional)
Black Rice
- 1 cup black rice
- 2 cups water
- 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
- 1½ tsp sugar
- ½ tsp salt
Wasabi Skulls
- 4 tsp. wasabi powder
- 3 tsp water
Instructions
- *In a small bowl stir 1 cup of cold water and 1 envelope of unflavored gelatin. Set aside and let bloom for 10 minutes. Mince sushi grade tuna and add sriracha or garlic chili sauce, and soy sauce. Next add 3-4 tbsp. of the bloomed gelatin. Note: We're only adding enough bloomed gelatin to give the tuna a little binder to help it retain it's brain shape, but not enough to make it firm or change the texture of the tuna, so only use the 3-4 tbsp. depending on how much tuna (6 or 8 oz) you have and then discard any remaining gelatin. Refrigerate for minimum of 30 minutes.
- Shred or chop imitation crab meat. Stir in sriracha or garlic chili sauce and mayo. Refrigerate until ready to use.
- Cut cucumbers into long thin spears and rinse sprouts, then refrigerate until ready to use. Avocados will brown if cut ahead of time so cut them when you're ready to assemble your sushi.
Black Rice
- Normally, black rice isn't sticky enough for sushi, but cooking it with twice as much water required in a rice cooker is an easy trick to turn black rice into sticky sushi rice. Use the measuring cup that came with the rice cooker and measure out 1 cup black rice and then add water up to the 2 mark on the inside of the rice cooker and press start.
- When rice has finished cooking. Mix rice wine vinegar , sugar and salt together in a bowl and then pour over rice and give it a stir. Cover rice with a damp towel and set aside to cool to room temperature.
Wasabi Skulls
- Mix 4 tsp. of wasabi powder and 3 tsp. water in a small bowl until it forms a paste. Transfer paste to a piece of parchment paper or wax paper and roll out to 1/8" thickness.
- Use a mini skull cookie cutter to cut wasabi paste. Use the thick end of a chopstick to make eyes and use the corner of a star or triangle cookie cutter to make the nose and a knife to score the teeth. Make 4 and place wasabi skulls into small soy sauce dipping plates.
Assembly
- Lay sheet of nori on sushi rolling mat. Top with black rice. Add spicy crab, cucumber, avocado, and sprouts and roll tight. Repeat with remaining crab.
- Slice each roll into 8 pieces and lay face up on a serving platter.
- Remove tuna from refrigerator and using a small cookie scoop, transfer ~2 tsp sized mounds of spicy tuna onto plastic wrap or parchment paper until you have 16 small mounds. (I only have 8 pictured) Use the dull edge of a paring knife to score a line down the center of spicy tuna mounds to make the hemispheres of the brain. Let them rest about 5 minutes and then use a thin edged spatula and knife to gently slide the brains onto the cut pieces. Use the edge of the knife to reshape the brains if needed. Top with masago and serve with wasabi skulls, soy sauce, and ginger.
