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Of all the Japanese restaurants, my family and I frequent Sushi Tei the most. The food quality is mostly great, the prices are not cheap but still reasonable, and there’s a wide variety of dishes (although we always order the same few things).
One of my favourites as Sushi Tei is the Ebi Mentai Sushi (prawn sushi topped with cod roe mayonnaise) but I always have to restrain myself from ordering it because it costs $6.30++ ($7.40 with GST) for 2 small pieces.
The price tag is steep for 2 pieces of sushi but they are downright delicious and will definitely not disappoint. If you haven’t tried the Ebi Mentai Sushi before, I strongly urge you to try it!
I recently bought mentaiko mayo sauce from Don Don Donki and decided I need to make use of it before it goes unnoticed in my refrigerator and expires.
So I decided to try and replicate my family’s favourite dish from Sushi Tei, and it was a great success! My helper, who tried the dish for the first time, couldn’t stop raving about it.
Personally, I thought that the mentaiko mayo fell slightly short of my expectations because it was slightly spicy, so it didn’t taste exactly the same.
But overall, it worked very well with the sushi and I was satisfied with the result. While it does take some effort to make, it is relatively easy and doesn’t require much skills to make!
For this recipe, use 1 cup of uncooked rice. It will yield around 18 pieces of sushi. Take note that for sushi, the rice to water ratio is 1:1.2, so adjust your water accordingly if you’re cooking more rice.
In a small bowl, add sushi vinegar, sugar and salt. Mix well. You may microwave for 30 seconds in order to dissolve the sugar better.
For this recipe, use medium-sized prawns. You want to match the size of the prawns to the size of your sushi for better presentation.
Devein the prawns using a skewer, without removing the prawn shells. Remove the sharp spike at the tail end as well.
Insert a skewer into each prawn through its belly side. This is to prevent the prawns from curling upon cooking.
Meanwhile, soak the prawns in ice water to help retain their crunchiness upon cooking.
In a small pot, add rice and water. Cover with lid and bring to a boil over high heat.
Once boiling, stir the rice once. Reduce to low heat and cook rice till it’s tender.
This should take 13-15 minutes.
Scoop rice into a bowl and add the vinegar mixture while the rice is hot (so that the sugar can dissolve better). Mix well and set aside. Allow rice to cool to around body temperature before moulding into sushi.
In a big pot, bring water to a boil. Add prawns and simmer cook for about 1-2 minutes until cooked.
Shock prawns in ice water to prevent them from overcooking. Remove skewers from prawns.
Remove prawn shells, leaving the tail intact, and butterfly them from the belly side.
Cut seaweed into small strips of around 1.5cm in width and 10.5cm in length.
Take about 20g of rice and mould into rectangular logs.
Tip: Wet your hands with water before moulding so as to prevent rice from sticking to hands.
Place prawn on top of rice and wrap with seaweed strip.
Add around 4g of mentaiko mayo onto each prawn.
Spread evenly using a knife.
Sear the mentaiko mayo using a blowtorch.
Serve and enjoy! Garnish with some seaweed powder if you have.
After calculating how much it cost me to make the sushi, I was in disbelief. It only takes $0.87 to make 2 pieces of Ebi Mentai Sushi and I have been paying $7.40 at Sushi Tei for so long?!
I actually forgot how much I paid for the mentaiko mayo sauce at Don Don Donki but it’s definitely around there or even cheaper. I’m really thinking twice about ordering this the next time my family dines at Sushi Tei. If you’re a fan of this sushi, you really have to try it for yourself.
DIY: $0.87 for 2 pieces
Dine Out: $7.40 (with GST) for 2 pieces
Ebi Mentai Sushi (Sushi Tei Style)
Ingredients
Instructions
RICE
- Wash rice 2-3 times until water runs clear.
- In a small bowl, add sushi vinegar, sugar and salt. Mix well. You may microwave the mixture for 30 seconds to allow the sugar to dissolve better. Set aside.
- In a small pot, add rice and water. Cover with lid and bring to a boil over high heat. Once boiling, stir rice once and reduce to low heat. Cook until rice is tender.
- Scoop rice into a bowl and add the vinegar mixture in. Mix well and set aside. Allow rice to cool to around body temperature before moulding into rectangular logs.
PRAWNS
- Devein prawns using a skewer (without peeling the shells off). Remove the sharp spike at the tail end. Insert skewer into prawns through the belly side to prevent prawns from curling while cooking. Soak in ice water before cooking so that prawns will retain their crunchiness upon cooking.
- In a big pot, bring water to a boil. Add prawns in and simmer cook for about 1-2 minutes. Remove prawns and shock in ice water (to prevent them from being overcooked). Remove skewers and prawn shells, leaving the tail intact, then butterfly the prawns from the belly side.
ASSEMBLY
- Cut seaweed into small strips (around 1.5cm in width, and 10.5cm in length).
- Once rice has cooled to around body temperature, take about 20g of rice and mould into rectangular logs. Tip: Wet your hands with water before moulding so that the rice will not stick to your hands.
- Place prawn on top of rice and wrap with seaweed strip. Squeeze about 4g of mentaiko mayo onto each prawn and spread evenly using a knife. Finally, sear with a blowtorch.
