The yin and yang of sushi - Nice cool cucumber and nice spicy wasabi all wrapped up in a little roll...
1 Sheet Nori 1 Cup Sushi rice 1/2 cucumber, peeled, seeded, and cut into long strips wasabi
Start by cutting your nori in half. put the shiny side down. Spread out a half cup sided ball of sushi rice over the rice. I find that it's easy to roll if you spread the rice all the way to the edges and keep it even.
Once you have your rice spread out, put a line of prepared wasabi down the middle of the rice from side to side. Use as little or as much as you like here. Go easy because they can always add more when they are eating it. Lay down a good quantity of the cucumber right in the middle of the roll.
Use your mat to roll up the roll. Cut into pieces - Eat & Enjoy!
This roll will take some skill to make - mainly in the area of thinly slicing and fanning out the avocado on top of the roll... I love this roll mainly because it looks so dang good - it tastes good too but I just love the look. Now you will see that the photo does not jive up with the recipe - The main reason for this is that Lisa doesn't like BBQd eel so I used tempura shrimp inside. It's really dang good with the tempura shrimp...
You don't quite need a whole sheet of nori for this roll but you will need 3/4ths of one. So sight half the sheet, then half again and cut along that line. Take about a cup ball of sushi rice and spread it over the dull side of the nori. Turn the nori over and put it on a plastic wrap covered rolling mat.
1 Large piece fresh ginger, thinly sliced 1.5 Cups Rice vinegar 1 Cup Sugar 1 tsp Salt
The first thing you need to do is wash your ginger - it grows in the ground so it can be a bit dirty if they aren't washed before put in the bin. After you have washed your ginger use a spoon to scrape off all the skin - you will waste too much of the ginger if you use a knife. Slice the ginger root as thin as you can and put in a bowl. You can use a vegetable peeler or a mandolin to do your slicing. Add the salt to the ginger slices and mix them well and put in a colander. Let the salted ginger set for an hour. Dry the ginger slices with paper towels and put them in a sterilized container. Mix rice vinegar and sugar in a pan and bring to a boil to dissolve the sugar. Pour the hot sweet vinegar over the ginger slices and let cool. Cover the container and store it in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours. Eat & Enjoy!
Lisa's favorite roll is the Spicy Tuna Roll... I like them too - spicy is good! Making sushi rolls at home is pretty easy. You need to practice making the sushi rice (that's another post on here) for that is base of all sushi.
Ahi Tuna, diced 1 tsp mayo - you can omit this if you don't want it but it helps everything hold together 1 tsp Sriracha hot sauce - more or less depending on your taste - I like more
Dice your tuna and put it in a bowl. Put in a spot of mayo and the Sriracha hot sauce; mix it all together well. Be careful when you mix because we do not to smash the tuna... Once you have everything mixed up give a small piece a taste to make sure everything is good for you.
Prepare your nori and rice like you would for any standard roll. Lay down a nice row of your prepared tuna. Roll it up and slice - some say you have to have an odd number of slices and some say even is ok. Whatever you decide to do just make sure all your pieces are even. Sushi is pretty food so make sure it looks good...
I tried something new last night and came up with The Crunchafornia Roll... A twist on the standard California Roll. I proved the concept last night and will have photos and a video up soon. I made it two ways - the first was to make your standard California Roll then dust it in corn starch then dunk it into a tempura batter then fry the whole thing. The second way I did it was just to take the crab sticks and tempura them and put them into the normal California roll. Both ways were good. I'm going to be doing them again and have some people over to see which version wins the taste test...
I've made sushi with long grain rice - it is possible, but I would suggest finding a short grain rice to use. I get mine at the Asian market and I think it's well worth it. I use Nishiki sushi rice - it works for me...
Making sushi rice is a process. There are directions on the bag, but if you follow mine you'll end up with perfect rice every time.
Just so you know 1.5 cups of sushi rice will turn into a bit over 6 cups of rice when it's cooked.
Take 1.5 cups of rice and put it in a fine mesh strainer. Run the rice under water until the water runs clear. You can do this in your pot as well. Put the rice in the pot and fill half way with water. Run your fingers through the rice and the water will become a milky color. Drain off the milky water and replace with fresh water. Keep doing this until the water is clear again. Once you get the rice washed drain it as well as you can, then let the rice sit undisturbed for 20 minutes. It's amazing how white it will become. Add the rice to a pot and put in the water. Cover and bring to a boil. Once you are on the boil reduce the heat to low and let cook for 20 minutes.
Once your 20 minutes is up you need to cool the rice down quickly. If you don't have one of those fancy wooden tubs - a large plate will work just fine. Carefully spread out the rice and start fanning it with a hand fan or I used a magazine... Fan the rice for a few minutes then sprinkle on the vinegar solution. Cut the vinegar into the rice - do not stir the rice slide your spoon or spatula through the rice to mix. You want the rice pieces to stay separated not a huge mushy mass... Continue to fan the rice while you are cutting through it. Turn the rice over and continue to fan. After about 5 minutes the rice should be ready to use. You can store the rice under a moist towel until you are ready to use. I like to put mine in a plastic bowl and cover it with a damp towel... You will need to moisten your hands before working with the rice. It's really sticky!
Last night's dinner. Spicy Tuna roll (and hand roll), California Roll, Shrimp Tempura. Thee will be posts coming soon showing you how to make each of these (and other) sushi rolls soon...
The best Dynamite Sauce I've ever had comes from a sushi house named Sushi Awaji in Plano Texas (suburb of Dallas). As far as I'm concerned Dallas has the the best sushi I've ever had and considering I live a stones throw from the Ocean (now) and Dallas is a land locked city - that kinda makes me mad... They have a dish called the Crawfish Volcano that will put a smile on your face. I've probably ordered a few hundred of them from Awaji and every one of them was amazing. I always compare every Dynamite Sauce to theirs - and most fail... I could never get their recipe out of them but after trying and trying this one comes really close.
All of these items can be found in any Asian market... If you can't find (or don't want to use) the Kewpie, Kraft or Hellman's will work - canola or lite mayo's won't...
1/2 cup Kewpie Mayo 2 Tbsp Sriracha Sesame oil, just a few drops will do
Put all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well. That was hard wasn't it...
There are many uses for this sauce, but my main use is on top of a California roll in what I call a Shrimp Volcano Roll. I mix the sauce with diced cooked shrimp and broil it on a sheet of tin foil for a few minutes. Then I spoon it on top of the roll. It's good, it's very good - But that's another video...
Start by cutting your nori in half. put the shiny side down. Spread out a half cup sided ball of sushi rice over the rice. I find that it's easy to roll if you spread the rice all the way to the edges and keep it even.
Once you have your rice spread out, put a line of prepared wasabi down the middle of the rice from side to side. Use as little or as much as you like here. Go easy because they can always add more when they are eating it. Lay down a good quantity of the cucumber right in the middle of the roll.
Use your mat to roll up the roll. Cut into pieces - Eat & Enjoy!
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