Salisbury Sushi

From The Guild web series  

The Guild is a web comedy series created by Felicia Day. If you're a nerd (which, let's face it, you are) you may remember Felicia Day from the amazing Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog. Or, if you're an even bigger nerd, you might even remember her as potential slayer Violet in the last (televised) season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Well, Felicia Day is also a bonafide nerd by her own admission, and in addition to just being awesome and running Geek and Sundry she also created The Guild. She's basically an inspiration to us all. The Guild is about a hardcore gamer who lives a mostly solitary life obsessively playing an MMORPG (I'm sure we all can relate) until one of her guild mates shows up at her door. It's absolutely hilarious and full of squeal-worthy cameos and references. I recommend you start watching it right now. The story behind "Salisbury Sushi" is that in Season 5 you find out that one of the members of the guild, screen name "Tinkerballa," is a Japanese orphan who was adopted by a very sweet and well-meaning American family. Not wanting their adopted daughter to miss out on her cultural heritage, Tinkerballa's mom creates all sorts of not entirely appealing fusion dishes, like "yakisoba with ham and ranch dressing." Salisbury Sushi is one of these dishes, and, presumably Tinkerballa's favorite. This recipe uses some Japanese ingredients to make a juicy "salisbury" steak and stuffs it into a sushi roll. As it turns out, Salisbury Sushi is actually pretty tasty. Don't believe me? That's fine, more Salisbury Sushi for me! Sushi'd.

Supplies

Sushi Mat or Helper

Sauté Pan

Plastic Wrap

Ingredients

1lb Ground Beef

2/3 cup Bread Crumbs

1 Onion, diced or cut into strips

8 ounces Mushrooms, chopped

2 tbs Butter or Oil, for frying

1 Egg

1 tbs Ginger

1/2 cup Soy Sauce

1/2 Cup Ponzu Sauce

2 tbs Sriracha

3/4 Cup Mirin

2 tbs Furikake

1 tbs Onion Powder

1 tbs Garlic Powder

1 Chicken Bouillon Cube

1 tbs Corn Starch

4 Cups Sushi-Grade Rice, cooked
3 tbs Rice Vinegar

1 pinch of Salt (or to taste)

1 Avocado

6 sheets Nori

Directions

1. Season the rice with rice vinegar, one tablespoon of the Mirin and salt. Make sure seasoning is evenly combined. Set aside somewhere warm and covered.
2. In mixing bowl, combine ground beef, bread crumbs, egg, garlic powder, onion powder, furikake, 1/2 tablespoon ginger and 1 tablespoon each of Mirin, Soy Sauce and Ponzu. Combine thoroughly.
3. Form the meat mixture into 4 patties and brown them in the butter or oil. Remove from pan.
4. In the same pan, add the onions and cook on medium until soft and translucent. Add the mushrooms and continue to sauté for a few more minutes.
5. Add two cups of water to the pan. To that, add the bouillon and sriracha along with the remaining soy sauce, ponzu, mirin and ginger. Mix together and let simmer for a few minutes.
6. Combine corn starch with 2 tablespoons of water, then add that to the sauce. Stir with a spoon until combined evenly.
7. Add the browned patties to the sauce and let simmer on medium-low for 15-20 minutes.
8. When done cooking, cut the meat patties lengthwise into long, thin strips. 
9. Cover a bamboo sushi mat with plastic wrap to keep the rice from sticking. Place a sheet of seaweed over the plastic. If making smaller rolls, cut nori sheet in half. 
10. Use your hands to spread the rice evenly onto the sheet, leaving about 1/2 inch of seaweed empty at the bottom. 
11. Arrange the strips of the meat patties with slices of avocado across the center of the rice. 
12. Spoon some of the gravy, onion and mushrooms over the meat and avocado strips. Do not overfill! You must be able to close the roll.
13. Lift the mat and roll over the filling once and press down. Unroll, then roll again towards the exposed end of the seaweed sheet to make a long roll. If necessary, moisten your hands with a little water to help seal. 
14. Set aside and continue with remaining sheets of nori, rice and fillings.
15. When done rolling the sushi, use a sharp knife to cut the rolls across into six pieces each. 
16. If desired, sprinkle rolls with more Furikake and enjoy with spicy mayo, wasabi sauce or other fusion-y condiment.