Sunday, January 29, 2012

Adventures in sticky sushi rice

A few weeks ago Boyfriend and I were lazing about on a Friday night.  I complained about wanting sushi and he complained about not wanting to go out. He then brought up the fact that our first Christmas together I bought him a sushi making kit. 

I confessed that I bought him that anticipating that we probably would not be dating any more by the time he got around to using it.  He wouldn't take that as an excuse so off we went to Whole Foods to get all the other things you need.

Surprisingly - you don't need much to make sushi.  You need rice, seaweed wrap and things to put in it.


The rice is the worst part.  When you are cooling it - do not put it in a regular bowl.  Put it in some thing flatter or it will take about 400 billion years to cool and you will just be getting hungrier and hungrier and seriously regretting your choices before you even start.

 

When chopping your fillings always think long and skinny. Also cucumbers are the best.  So crunchy and easy to manipulate. Boyfriends who read instructions are always good to have around too.


It took us awhile to figure out how to cut them evenly. So they were pretty ugly for awhile.  The most important part of sushi?! A bowl of vinegar water that you dip your hands, knives and anything else that comes in contact with the rice or seaweed wraps.  The rice is so sticky and the vinegar water magically makes it unsticky-to-your-hands. Don't even try making sushi without it.


The best thing about sushi is you can pretty put anything in it.  We were stressed out about the whole "raw fish" bit - so we only used imitation crab.  But we also put in cukes, 'cados, sweet potatoes, cream cheese, pineapple, strawberries, regular mayo, fun strawberry wasabi mayo (homemade), and as seen above - cheddar cheese & giardiniera.  Some taste better than others (obviously), but when you dunk everything in soy sauce it tends to taste pretty good. 

 

Our most perfect, perfect sweet potato and cream cheese roll. Look how pretty it is!  Making your own food is so satisfying.


Not only is it satisfying (but labor intensive) - it is incredibly cost effective.  While we had some of the ingredients lying around the house but - we only spent about $30 on supplies and made all this sushi (at least 9 or 10 rolls). If you have ever bought mid-range sushi from anywhere you know that $30 will maybe get you two - four rolls.  So this felt good - also, now I know that I can do it.  I can make sushi.

Its nice to know I can make things.

1 comment:

John said...

You are very much allowed to make this and send it to me.

She's pint-sized and amazing.