Sushi

For my 25th birthday party I served sushi and it was a huge success. The guests really enjoyed it, but I think I enjoyed making it more than anything. A friend of mine brought some great ingredients and know-how, the result was fantastic!

Let's take this step by step and by the end you'll be a sushi pro! There are two types of rolls in this picture, traditional rolls (seaweed paper on the outside) and inside out rolls (rice on the outside).

Sticky Rice!

Sticky Rice Ingredients:

• 2 c short grain rice
• 4 c water
• 1/2 c rice wine vinegar
• 1/4 c sugar
• 1 t salt

Sticky Rice Directions:

1. Rinse the rice a few times. Each time you add water, be sure to agitate the rice with your hands. Keep rinsing it until the water is just about clear. If you don't do this, your rice won't be properly sticky.
2. Bring the rice and 4 c water to a rolling boil, let it boil for 5 minutes on medium heat, then reduce heat to LOW and cook covered for 15 minutes.
3. While the rice is cooking, combine rice wine vinegar, sugar and salt in a small pot over medium heat. Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Then remove from heat and let cool.
4. Empty cooked rice into a large flat surface (I used a cookie sheet). Pour the vinegar syrup over  a spoon onto the rice, to help evenly spread the vinegar syrup. Then use a slicing motion to diagonally move rice from a giant heap to the far edge of the cookie sheet. You're goal is to spread the vinegar solution throughout the rice without smashing the it. By the time you're at the end of the pile of rice, the cookie sheet will be covered and the rice will start holding together.
5. Now take a newspaper or piece of cardboard and fan the rice until it cools. Turn it a couple of times during the fanning process so that the moisture and heat evaporate evenly from the rice. Fan for about 10 minutes.
6. Voila- you should have some very sticky rice! Cover with a damp cloth until you're ready to use it.

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Dipping Sauces!

This part is a two person job

Sriracha Aoli Ingredients:

• 1 egg yolk
• 1 squeezed lime
• 2 T Sriracha (hot sauce that you can find in the Asian section of the grocery store)
• 1 c oil
• 2 t salt

Directions:

1. Combine egg yolk, Sriracha and lime juice in a mixing bowl.



The emulsion will stick to the whisk.

2. Slowly pour a constant stream of oil into the bowl and whisk the entire time until the mixture emulsifies (you'll know it when you see it). Don't add all of the oil if you don't need it. We didn't measure it, so I'm not positive about the amount. The key to this one is that if you add more oil it will get thicker and if you add more lime or Sriracha (acids) it will get thinner. So if you mess up the amount of oil, you can always go back.

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Boiling jalapenos? Hot hot hot!

Jalapeno Sauce Ingredients

• 3 Jalapenos, blanched
• 1/2 squeezed lime
• 1 T water
• 1 T rice wine vinegar
• 4 T oil
• 1 t salt

Directions

1. Remove stems from blanched peppers
2. Blend together all ingredients in a blender or food processor.
3. This one's a-spicy!

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Sushi!

I'm going to show a lot of pictures of this part because it really can't hurt!

Ingredients

• Bamboo rolling sheet
• Bowl of water to dip your fingers in
• Nori (Seaweed paper)
• 6 c sticky rice
• 1 avocado
• 1 6 oz salmon filet
• 1/4 c cream cheese
• thinly sliced red pepper or carrot
• Crab leg meat
• Kim Chee (spicy fermented cabbage and chili peppers, found in an Asian market)
• Be creative!

Directions

1. Wrap bamboo rolling sheet in saran wrap
2. With wet hands spread a small baseball sized amount of rice onto the bamboo roll. Press it flat and leave an inch at the end with no rice.

 

3. Lay 2/3 of a Nori paper on top of the rice.

4. Add Kim Chee in a line down the center of the paper.

 

5. Roll it up starting at the end with the paper and rice. Try to keep it tight. This part takes practice, but be assertive with it and you'll get it.

6. Thinly slice avocado and salmon (paper thin) and lay them out alternatingly onto a piece of saran wrap.

7. Lay the sushi roll on the salmon/avocado. Put the whole thing onto the bamboo sheet and roll it up the same way. Roll it tight so that the avocado and salmon press into the rice and come out flush with the surface of the roll.

8. With a sharp wet knife, cut the sushi roll into 6 slices and present decoratively with dipping sauces and soy sauce. The scrap ends are great to munch on while you're making the rolls, but save room for dinner!

We played around with different ingredients in different rolls. You can do the traditional (nori on the outside) roll by putting the nori on the bamboo first (no saran wrap needed) and spread the rice out to 1 inch away from the edge of the paper. Experiment with thicknesses of rolls and ingredient combinations. I did one with a squash puree and spinach that was tasty and light. 

9. Clean up the giant mess that you've just made! The key to working with sticky rice is water water water and that applies to clean up too!