Last weekend, I invited my parents over to make some sushi. My sister, Shellie, and I had tried it out a week before with some good success, so we tried this venture. The sushi was really good, and I'd like to pass out some of my knowledge that I've learned.
First, you'll need to go to a Japanese grocery store to get some of your ingredients. Most of what you'll find can be in a regular grocery, but you can only find the following in a Japanese grocery: nori sheets, a bamboo roller & cooling fan, Japanese mayo. Don't knock the mayo; you should really get the real stuff, as it works as both a dip and mixing in other stuff. (It comes in a clear bottle that is packaged in a bag.)
I found out that you can make a really good spicy "orange" sauce (the stuff they put in spicy rolls) with Dynasty's Thai Hot Mayo (looks orange already) mixed in with Japanese mayo. You can find the former in the regular grocery. You could also mix the standard red rooster sauce (sriracha) with Japanese mayo, but it's not nearly as good. The sushi chef at my favorite sushi place has the best orange sauce, but he's not giving up the recipe.
We used both cooked and raw salmon and tuna (straight from Krogers), as well as tiger shrimp and imitation crab. You can use just about anything you want in sushi, but be sure to get some variety. (We probably got too much stuff, but it was worth it, anyway.) We were experimenting with cream cheese, goat cheese, roasted peppers (in a jar), avacado, cucumber, cooked beef strips, etc.
You can fry them in oil (sesame seed oil if you can find it, but we used canola oil), but make sure that it's as hot as you can make it. Oil that isn't hot enough will just soak the oil in the rice. A spicy tiger shrimp roll fried with raw salmon on top was a really good one that I made. We were also using the deep fryer to make crab rangoon and other stuff with wonton wrappers. (You can find that in the freezer section of the Japanese store, or a regular one if you're lucky.)
Some tips:
* Read up on this stuff first. I'm not telling you everything just in this one post.
*1/3 to 1/2 cup of sushi vinegar to 3 cups of cooked sushi rice. This is sushi vinegar, not rice vinegar. Sushi vinegar already has the sugar and other stuff added.
* Always wet your fingers when you mess with the rice. Wet your fingers once every 20 seconds or so, or whenever you need it. Otherwise, the rice will stick to your hands pretty quickly.
* I have experimented with wetting the nori sheets (if the rolls end up being too chewy on the nori), but if you do, do it very lightly. Oversoaked nori sheets will turn into seaweed fairly quickly.
* Always use some plastic wrap over your bamboo roller. Replace with a new sheet every two rolls.
* Making sushi can be hard work, so teach your guests on how to make them. Even with two people (my sister and I) making rolls for 5, my feet were getting tired from standing around.
* Tiger shrimp (pre-cooked, devained, but cold) makes really good sushi rolls. First, completely detail them (if you can, save as much meat as possible), and then cut them in half longways. You can put one piece on each side of a roll.
* Figuring out the right amount of rice on a roll and how to roll them takes practice. I'm still trying to get it right. However, it doesn't matter how you fuck it up, it still tastes good.
First, you'll need to go to a Japanese grocery store to get some of your ingredients. Most of what you'll find can be in a regular grocery, but you can only find the following in a Japanese grocery: nori sheets, a bamboo roller & cooling fan, Japanese mayo. Don't knock the mayo; you should really get the real stuff, as it works as both a dip and mixing in other stuff. (It comes in a clear bottle that is packaged in a bag.)
I found out that you can make a really good spicy "orange" sauce (the stuff they put in spicy rolls) with Dynasty's Thai Hot Mayo (looks orange already) mixed in with Japanese mayo. You can find the former in the regular grocery. You could also mix the standard red rooster sauce (sriracha) with Japanese mayo, but it's not nearly as good. The sushi chef at my favorite sushi place has the best orange sauce, but he's not giving up the recipe.
We used both cooked and raw salmon and tuna (straight from Krogers), as well as tiger shrimp and imitation crab. You can use just about anything you want in sushi, but be sure to get some variety. (We probably got too much stuff, but it was worth it, anyway.) We were experimenting with cream cheese, goat cheese, roasted peppers (in a jar), avacado, cucumber, cooked beef strips, etc.
You can fry them in oil (sesame seed oil if you can find it, but we used canola oil), but make sure that it's as hot as you can make it. Oil that isn't hot enough will just soak the oil in the rice. A spicy tiger shrimp roll fried with raw salmon on top was a really good one that I made. We were also using the deep fryer to make crab rangoon and other stuff with wonton wrappers. (You can find that in the freezer section of the Japanese store, or a regular one if you're lucky.)
Some tips:
* Read up on this stuff first. I'm not telling you everything just in this one post.
*1/3 to 1/2 cup of sushi vinegar to 3 cups of cooked sushi rice. This is sushi vinegar, not rice vinegar. Sushi vinegar already has the sugar and other stuff added.
* Always wet your fingers when you mess with the rice. Wet your fingers once every 20 seconds or so, or whenever you need it. Otherwise, the rice will stick to your hands pretty quickly.
* I have experimented with wetting the nori sheets (if the rolls end up being too chewy on the nori), but if you do, do it very lightly. Oversoaked nori sheets will turn into seaweed fairly quickly.
* Always use some plastic wrap over your bamboo roller. Replace with a new sheet every two rolls.
* Making sushi can be hard work, so teach your guests on how to make them. Even with two people (my sister and I) making rolls for 5, my feet were getting tired from standing around.
* Tiger shrimp (pre-cooked, devained, but cold) makes really good sushi rolls. First, completely detail them (if you can, save as much meat as possible), and then cut them in half longways. You can put one piece on each side of a roll.
* Figuring out the right amount of rice on a roll and how to roll them takes practice. I'm still trying to get it right. However, it doesn't matter how you fuck it up, it still tastes good.
Rosalina: But you didn't.
Robert: But I DON'T.
Rosalina: You sure that's right?
Robert: I was going to HAVE told you they'd come?
Rosalina: No.
Robert: The subjunctive?
Rosalina: That's not the subjunctive.
Robert: I don't think the syntax has been invented yet.
Rosalina: It would have had to have had been.
Robert: Had to have...had...been? That can't be right.
Robert: But I DON'T.
Rosalina: You sure that's right?
Robert: I was going to HAVE told you they'd come?
Rosalina: No.
Robert: The subjunctive?
Rosalina: That's not the subjunctive.
Robert: I don't think the syntax has been invented yet.
Rosalina: It would have had to have had been.
Robert: Had to have...had...been? That can't be right.
