Making Sushi is really not that hard. Cooking the sushi rice is. When I’ve made Sushi in the past, everyone has said the rice is great, fine, perfect….but I know I still haven’t ‘nailed it’. Mine is OK, just not great. But I keep trying.
The first step is to buy the correct rice….sushi rice. Go to oriental markets or some of the grocery chains have it too. This rice is important because it has the right blend of starches to produce the sticky, chewy and not mushy texture necessary for the rolls.
I used an Alton Brown recipe & started with 2 cups of rice which I rinsed until the water was clear and then put in a heavy pot with 2 cups of water and brought to a boil, uncovered. Then I reduced the heat to the lowest setting and cooked, covered, for 15 minutes. Removed from the heat, it then stood, covered, for 10 minutes.
Cooked Sushi Rice
I combined 2 T. rice vinegar, 2 T. sugar & 1 T. kosher salt over low heat until dissolved while the rice was cooking. The rice has to be put into a large wooden or glass mixing bowl or flat pan and the vinegar mixture sprinkled on top. I folded well to coat each grain of rice with the mixture. Since it was cool & breezy outside, I did this outside and it was perfect. In the summer I’ve used a fan trained right on the rice as it’s combined.
Rice is cooled & tossed with seasoned vinegar
Cover the rice with a damp towel.
Like I said, that’s the hard part. Putting the rolls together is easy after the ingredients are all cut up.
I decided on a Philadelphia Roll and a California Roll. So, smoked salmon, cream cheese and a cucumber for the first roll.
And Surimi (imitation crab since Maren doesn’t like real crab in sushi!), cucumber, avocado, Sriracha Chili Sauce,. Sriracha (a purée of fresh red jalapeños, garlic powder, sugar, salt and vinegar) and Japanese Mayonnaise for the second roll.
Japanese Mayonnaise & Sriracha chili sauce
Wasabi is easily prepared, just combine some wasabi (horseradish) powder with equal parts water and let sit for 5 minutes before using. I also bought a package of Nori (seaweed sheets).
This is how the two rolls were layered with ingredients.
Layering the California Roll
Philadelphia Roll pre rolling
You can use a bamboo sushi mat to help you roll but honestly could use a plastic-wrap lined dish towel just as well. This is what the rolling looks like.
You might notice that I didn’t use very much rice….in restaurants you’ll get a much heavier coat of rice since the rice plays a major ‘roll’ in the dish. But we like to focus on the tastes of the other ingredients instead of the starchy rice so that’s how I make it.
Finished but very light on the rice
Rolling, rolling, rolling the roll
Two plates of sushi, another glass of Riesling (I love the way it tastes with sushi) and we happily devoured our dinner.
Ready to enjoy!
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