I decided
to suprise Len with homemade sushi for his birthday.
The decision was based on the fun of making our own, not so much the
cost involved, although you can sure eat alot more sushi at home than
you can afford in a restaurant! Len had also bought me some beautiful
dishes a couple of years ago and they had yet to be put to their proper use.
I
kept it pretty simple for my first try, I didn't believe everyone
when they said how easy it would really be...it looks so complicated,
and besides why else would they have master sushi chefs! But it was
actually easy, it all came together with no "mistakes" or messes.
The menu consisted of sunomona salad, tofu-spinach miso soup and california rolls. I made two types of rolls made with crab, smoked eel, salmon roe and cucumbers. So good!
For the rice, we cooked one cup of rice for each roll to be made. We used
equal amount rice and water and put it on the microwave for 10 minutes tightly covered,
then uncovered for 7 minutes. After it is cooked, pour rice vinegar over
the surface of the rice, mixing it into the rice with quick cutting
strokes. We used approximately one tablespoon of vinegar per cup of
rice. Then put the rice in a large bowl, some people spread it over a
cookie tray, in order to cool it quickly, but I found the large bowl sufficient.
Sunomono salad is
super easy, and so yummy! Soak loose seawood for about five minutes in
water, then drain in a colander.
Throw in a salad bowl, pour dressing
over top. To garnish you can add thin slivers of cucumber to the
individual bowls after adding the salad, a little crab and/or shrimp is
nice also.
Vinegar Dressing
1-1/2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1/2 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
Here are a few good resources from the web for additional information.
http://www.hub-uk.com/cooking/tipssushi.htm
http://mediterrasian.com/cuisine_of_month_sushi.htmhttp://www.byte.org/blog/TastyBytes/Dinners/_archives/2003/11/29/7711.html This is Ross' blog on his sushi venture...it's a little more adventurous he gets into Shu Mai. I think we'll have to get a few more gadgets, like a steamer.
Also, here's a little tip I picked up from someone I work with. She mentioned that her and her daughter cook this stuff all the time and she's found a great way to eat up leftover nori seaweed. She said to put the smallest splash of oil in a heated frying pan. Then put a sheet of nori seaweed into the pan, let it "crisp". I was told this doesn't take long, seconds only, then remove and eat. They are like yummy seaweed chips. I haven't tried this yet, but I will probably this weekend. Gotta love leftovers!
