Smoked Trout Donburi

This is an easy, 20-minute, one-pot, one-bowl meal that aside from rice requires no cooking of any kind, and what it lacks in difficulty it makes up for ten-fold in flavor. If this dish has one flaw, it’s that it is so enjoyable, it’s nearly impossible to savor. Your bowl is likely to transform from beautiful to #ugly delicious in empty in all of 45 seconds flat.

• 1 can smoked trout in neutral oil

• juice of ½ lemon

• tbs Kewpie mayonnaise

• pinch sea salt

• 1 cup Japanese rice (short or medium grain)

• ½ cup sunomono pickles

• 1 ripe medium avocado (halved & sliced)

• 1 spring onion (thinly sliced)

• shichimi togarashi to taste

• toasted sesame seeds to taste

Rinse the rice well and transfer to stovetop pot or rice cooker and steam until done. Do not remove vessel’s lid until you are ready to begin plating.

While rice is working, open and drain the smoked trout** and transfer to a small bowl. Using a fork, gently break the fish apart until flaky. Add the lemon juice, Kewpie, and salt. Stir until well-combined. Taste it, add more salt if desired, then hide out of sight so as to avoid eating it all right out of the bowl.

When rice is done, fluff with a fork and then split into equal portions between two medium-sized bowls. In each of the bowls, place half the trout mix and pickles side by side, then half the avocado atop those, then the togarashi and sesame seeds, and finally the spring onion. Enjoy!

 Serves 2

**The smoke-infused oil is fragrant and flavorful and can be filtered through a bar sieve and stored in the fridge for up to a month for use in future dishes.