Monday, June 13

Rollin' rollin' rollin'...... SUSHI!

We left off with some perfectly cooked Sushi Rice. Now it's time for the roll up! Gather all of your ingredients! I chose seaweed wraps (nori) and I like some crunch so cucumber and green onion, I prefer smaller scallions, but the supermarket didn't have any? Weird right? Beautiful tuna on the non wooden cutting board. Spicy mayo, wasabi (I prefer the powder, but the DH couldn't find any). Below is my set up. From left to right: bowl of water, soy sauce, spicy mayo, sushi rice vinegar, tuna mixture, sushi rice, veggies, sharp knives, sushi rolling mat, plate for finished product, wasabi, plastic cutting board for fish, and sushi nori.

Everything you will need to get rolling!



Yes I plastic wrap my sushi rolling mat, it's not exactly eco friendly, 
but doing a non-nori wrap roll  would be super tough without it.


You will notice the meat of the fish runs in parallel lines. As shown below cut with the grain, opposite of beef and chicken. I started by cutting some pieces of sashimi (raw thin slices). Then I cut long thin strips to roll into the sushi rolls. I also cut some tiny cubes to mix with spicy mayo to make a spicy tuna roll.


pretty sashimi: don't knock it till you try it. 

mmmmmmmm.....


cubes for spicy tuna and strips for plain tuna roll



So when you're ready to roll, wet your hands, you do not want to attempt to spread sushi rice with dry hands.   


I also put droplets of water on the sushi rolling mat to help my pre-folded  nori stick to the mat. 




I didn't measure the rice, I just grabbed a couple of hand fulls. You can have as much or as little rice as you want there's no rule here as far as I know. 


You want to leave about 1/2" to 1" of nori at one end without rice so the nori will stick to itself. 

Then add your roll's innards: fish first then veggies. 




Flick a little bit of water on the exposed nori at the top, this will help the nori stick to itself.


Get rolling!


Turn the mat tightly over until the nori wraps over itself.


Squeeze the mat with both hands from the center out. Do this a few times until it feels compressed enough, you will know that it's too loose when you go to cut the roll and it just kinda falls apart. 


Roll the mat out and you should see a whole sushi roll like below.


Beautiful!


Wet a very sharp knife and with a sawing motion just till you break through the nori then a straight slice downward all the way through. You can slice the roll however you want, again no rule here. You can see I use my hand to hold the slice I'm making and the rest of the roll, I find it helps the roll stay together. 


Again... beautiful! 

And... pause.





Okay now that the DH and I have eaten at least half of that roll I can continue with the next roll.

The no nori rice roll.

This is not for the faint of heart.






Take some rice and spread it out like before. Wet hands again!


I used a little less rice this time the roll was slightly less big around.


Plain tuna this time. Same veggies though.


Oh yum.


Now, because you don't have the same foundation this roll will be slightly tougher to well... roll.


Take care to make sure the innards don't move. 

Also, lay the fish down about 1/2" further in on the rice bed this time.


Roll it up!


Same squeezing motion as before, but don't squeeze so hard that you make your 
sushi mat poop and puke at the same time, that wouldn't be as nice.


There you have it folks!


Wet sharp knife again.


These slices will not be as pretty, as the rice may fall apart a little. 


Yeah... yum... again!


Close up!


Traditionally the Japanese eat sushi with their hands, but chopsticks look pretty. 


mmmmmmmmm.... sashimi.... 


Alright enough already, go make your own! Stop drooling on your keyboard!!!











Next I'm thinking breakfast?

Saturday, June 11

Sushi!

It's been awhile, apologies all around!

It's the beginning of summer time! When summer rolls around I want salads and fresh foods and crunchy stuff. I went grocery shopping today. I had Fiona in the cart and Henry tied to my back. (Does that sound bad?) I mean, I had Henry in his comfortable amazing mei tai carrier that I made by the way. In any case, I was perusing around the fish counter and I saw the most beautiful tuna steaks...

Inspiration hit me. sushi........SUSHI!!!

I finished shopping.

By the way, my kids behaved like little angels for the hour and a half we were in the crowded supermarket.

Here's what you need to know about Sushi rice. It's not difficult to make. Let me repeat myself, it's not difficult to make! I used brown rice because it's healthy. Fiber and whole grain and all that you know.

I made a lot of rice, if you want to make one or two rolls the recipe follows:



Sushi rice:

2/3 cup rice
salt
a little more than a cup of water
Japanese sushi rice vinegar 2 Tbsp.

Place the rice in a bowl and rinse it 3-5 times until the water is clear. Place the wet rice in a sauce pan (one with a heavy bottom preferably) Add the water (I actually didn't measure the water, I stopped when the water was about 1" above the rice)

Add salt dash style I suppose. I didn't add too much.

Without a lid (yet) bring the rice to a boil. As soon as it's boiling add the lid. Turn the burner down as low as it goes.

Now, here's the part that may be difficult for some, read: me or anyone else with patience issues. You need to leave it alone. For like 45 minutes at least. Wait till all the water is absorbed and then keep the lid on and let it sit for at least ten more minutes off the heat.  

After all that you should have warm perfectly cooked brown rice. It should be sticky and sticking together, not mushy, but sticky. Place the rice into a wooden or glass bowl. Not metal, vinegar will react with metal bowls. Splash the vinegar on the rice and stir. And voila!

Sushi rice.

This is only part one of Sushi rolls. The rice. Tomorrow *fingers crossed* I will post about rolling sushi.

Here's a teaser photo or two!










Stay tuned....