Saturday afternoon (yeah, after swimming 1/2mile & running 3), I executed one of my Liv.ing.S.oci.al coupons and went & took a Sushi Rolling Class at a place called CulinAerie in DC. It was a 2 hour course on how to make some basic sushi rolls and more importantly – how to ROLL a sushi roll into something edible.
AWESOME! It was a whole lot easier than I thought it was going to be. Even making the rice was way simpler than ever – if you use the right rice. After making a couple rolls (all were veggie California rolls), I was like where is my Sta.ple.s Easy Button…THAT WAS EASY!
I was now on a mission to test my new skills. This morning The Queen Mum, Princess Erin & Cara and I went out on a mission – 1st to pick up the Barbie Remote Control Car (kill me now) – and then to gather up everything I needed to make sushi for dinner. In addition to deciding what I was going to make ingredients, I needed sushi rice, noir paper (seaweed) & rolling mat. I found the mat at Be.d, B.at.h & Be.yo.d and the rest of the stuff at my local Gi.ant. I had a rice steamer at home (you don’t have to have one, but it makes life a lot simpler).
I decided to go with crab, shrimp, smoked salmon & some imitation lobster. Other condiments included cream cheese (Philly roll), cucumber, avocado, & carrots. I seasoned with Old Bay & or Seven Spice Seasoning.
So, I made the rice and while it was cooking I prepared all of the other ingredients ready & staged, covered my mat with plastic wrap (DO IT – or you will be pulling out rice out of the mat EVERY TIME). When the rice was ready, I let it cool a little, added the rice vinegar per package instructions and started rolling.
My combinations varied from the standard Philly Roll to Spicy Salmon to any ole combo of ingredients I felt would make a nice roll.
Here are a couple of tips that I learned in class and along the way to make the job just a little easier:
- Keep a small bowl of water next to mat and keep your fingers (of at least one hand) wet. The rice WILL STICK to your fingers making it VERY DIFFICULT to spread rice if you don’t
- Spread rice THINLY. No more than about 3 grains thick or the roll won’t close properly
- Wet the tip of your VERY SHARP knife when cutting rolls. Poke roll with tip of knife and then cut. The nori can be difficult to slice through.
- If your roll doesn’t exactly meet end to end – no biggie – you can hide your sins by pushing your slices together like served in a restaurant. Kinda like in picture above.
- Have fun
Of course, the proof was in the pudding. What did the family think? Well, since there was NOTHING left from what I made….
…I think we have a new family favorite. What would have cost us way over $100 for all of what I made only came to about $80 and will be even less the next time as I have the hard items (mat, rice cooker, bag of sushi rice, wasabi, soy sauce, spices). GO US!!
Have you ever made your own sushi? You should! We had a blast.
