Sushi Night

Earlier this year, my best friend, Julie and I took a sushi class together. See our picture below...We had a blast and learned a lot. :) 
One reason we wanted to learn how to make sushi was so we could make it at home and save money. We both love sushi but, lets be honest, going out for sushi is super-duper expensive. If you eat sushi like my husband does, it's easily a hundred dollar dinner. So what better way to still be able to have Sushi Night, only on a budget, by making it at home.

Assembling sushi in the classroom with an instructor telling you what to do step-by-step and having all the ingredients at the ready is one thing, but doing it at home is something else entirely. It's not that it's difficult to make, the hardest part about sushi is the preparation. There are a lot of ingredients that need to be prepared before you can begin. Veggies need to be cleaned and cut. Sauces need to be prepared. Tuna and Crab both need to be chopped, spiced and mixed to taste. And don't forget the most important ingredient in sushi, the rice. The rice needs to be cooked and cooled before it's sushi time! In our class, we learned that expert sushi chefs spend a whole year learning just about rice. That's a long time to study one ingredient don't you think? So right away, my anxiety peaked about making sushi rice. I didn't want to make bad rice, since sushi is--all about the rice.  
 

In an attempt to temper my anxiety, I did some homework and discovered that every recipe said to make it in a rice cooker. Needless to say, I didn't have a year to kill over Sushi rice, so I followed the recipe instructions and bought a rice cooker. I got a cheap one for $20 and it worked like a charm. My rice turned out great, sticky enough and cooked perfectly.


Given that this was my first time making it all by my lonesome with no backup instructor talking me through, some of my sushi didn't turn out all that great. Even though the rejects weren't pretty enough to make it to the photos, my husband and I ate them and they tasted incredible.

I made the traditional Spicy Tuna roll and the California roll, but got a little creative with my Green Veggie roll and a version of an Ashley roll. A little sushi place near by makes an Ashley roll with a Tempura fried Shrimp, spicy crab and jalapeno topped with mango. It is one of my favorites. So because I didn't have large shrimp to dip into tempura batter and fry up, I substituted it with a spicy salad of small shrimp and crab. To mimic the crunch that would have come from the tempura I added toasted Panko flakes to the outside of the roll. I loved it. My husband however, did not like the texture of the Panko. Oh well, you can't win them all. I liked it though and that's what's important, right? Hehe! 

Anyway here are some rather blurry in-progress pics. Sorry for the bad pictures. Enjoy!

Sushi Rice
3 cups sushi rice
3 cups water
3 T rice wine vinegar
2 T sugar
1 t salt

Add appropriate rice and water according to rice cooker directions and cook rice. Let the rice cool to for about 10 minutes. Dissolve sugar and salt in rice wine vinegar and then add to rice and mix well, cool to room temperature. 


Spicy Tuna Roll                                           

1/4 lb sashimi grade tuna
2-3 T garlic chili sauce
1 T mayonnaise
splash of soy sauce
Radish sprouts
Sushinori sheets
sushi rice






Prepare tuna to desired spiciness. I like mine really spicy. But you can adjust to taste. Using wet hands spread a thin layer of rice over 3/4 of a sheet, leaving about an inch without rice at top of sheet. Add Spicy tuna and radish sprouts and roll beginning at the end with rice. Roll tightly. Use sushi mat to square off the roll and then cut using a very sharp knife. 


California Roll

1 package Imitation Crab, chopped
2 T mayonnaise
cucumber, sliced
avocado, sliced
Sushinori sheets
rice
sesame seeds

Prepare Crab. Using wet hands, spread a layer of rice on the whole sheet. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and then flip the seaweed sheet with rice over, rice side down. Add crab mixture and layer cucumber and avocado next. Roll tightly and slice into bite size pieces. The California roll will have the rice on the outside. 

Green Veggie Roll

asparagus spears
cucumber, sliced
avocado, sliced
jalapeno, strips
spicy mayonnaise (1/4 cup mayo+Sriracha to taste)
Sushinori sheets
rice

With wet hands, spread rice over 3/4 of the sheet leaving about one inch at the top of the roll with no rice. Add veggies and spicy mayo. Roll tightly and cut into bite sized pieces. I added a lot of the spicy mayo on this one, it was delicious but made for a sloppy looking roll. That being said, it was so good I left the pictures as is. :)



Ashley Roll (Lori's version)

imitation crab, chopped
mini salad shrimp
2-3 T spicy mayonnaise
jalapeno, strips
Panko flakes, toasted
mango, sliced
hoisin sauce

Prepare crab and shrimp salad to desired spiciness. Toast panko flakes in a small skillet until lightly brown. Using wet hands, spread rice onto whole sheet. Sprinkle rice with toasted Panko flakes. Flip seaweed sheet with rice over. Rice side down. Fill roll with crab and shrimp salad and jalapeno slices. Roll tightly. Add sliced mango on top of roll and cover the top of the roll with plastic wrap. Using your sushi mat, round out the mango. Leaving the plastic wrap in place, cut into bite sized pieces. Remove plastic wrap and drizzle with hoisin sauce.