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Where YouBetIAm comes to write…. |
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Sushi: It's Not Just For Restaurants Anymore |
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When most people hear the word “sushi,” the first thing that comes to mind is stinky, slimy, and – most importantly – raw fish. This image couldn’t be further from the truth. Sushi actually refers to seasoned rice served with a variety of toppings that can include raw fish, but is certainly not limited to it. So if you’re sick of turkey for Thanksgiving, why not try your hand at sushi? My first experience with sushi came with my husband and his friends at a little hole in the wall in Manhattan called Avenue A Japanese Restaurant. I went, fully expecting to have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich when I got home, because I hated fish. However, I’m always open to trying anything once. When I first tasted the delicate flavor of raw salmon over lightly tangy rice, I was shocked. It was fantastic, not fishy at all, and I could hardly wait to try just about every combination of sushi. Restaurant sushi can get to be a rather expensive habit, especially once I moved to Connecticut and could only get to New York by train. After watching both Ming Tsai and Emeril Lagassi make sushi on Food TV, I decided to give it a go. I searched through websites looking for recipes and tips. I read up on how to buy good fish. Then I found a little Asian market in New Haven that sold tobikko, QP mayo, and barbeque eel, which are about the only ingredients you can’t find at Stop & Shop. Once I knew where to get the authentic ingredients, I had to assemble some equipment. A bamboo mat is pretty much the only special thing you need to buy. A good one only costs $3 to $4, and you can find them at Stop & Shop or any Asian grocery store. I would recommend having some small bowls for serving, so you can dip your sushi in soy sauce and wasabi. The most important thing you can have is a good non-serrated knife. The knife is key in slicing up fish and your finished sushi rolls, which are called maki. There are several molds you can buy if you’re not comfortable rolling maki on a mat. These are perfectly acceptable, and you can make just about every recipe you want with them. The molds range from single molds for $6 to $35 kits, which allow you to make maki in a variety of different shapes. Brylane Kitchens sells a kit online for $20, which comes with a nice knife. Some of the best sushi ingredients are not native to Japan ,so don’t let anyone tell you that your sushi has to be authentic. Sushi is set up to be something to conform to the eater’s tastes. Not everyone likes the same amount of soy sauce or wasabi, which is why it’s served on the side. Avocados lend themselves well to sushi, as do green onions, cucumbers, and mint leaves. Just make sure any ingredient you add to maki is cut into strips. Buying fish that you’re going to eat raw can be a daunting task, but as long as you follow a few simple guidelines, you should be fine. Freshness is essential. Good fish should never ever smell fishy. Trust your nose; if it smells bad, don’t buy it. If a piece of fish is cloudy, it’s not fit to be eaten raw. Tuna and salmon should both be shiny and almost translucent. Trust your eyes; if a fish looks bad, don’t buy it. I’ve bought fish from Stop & Shop with no problems whatsoever. However, I probably look kind of silly standing there sniffing pieces of fish before I’ll let them wrap it up for me. You don’t need a whole lot of fish to make a lot of sushi. Usually if I buy ¼ pound of salmon, a ¼ pound of tuna, a couple of squid tubes, I have enough to feed five or six hungry people. This is typically supplemented with a piece of frozen barbeque eel, and some tobikko. Slice your fish in thin rectangles for nigiri sushi, and into thin strips for maki rolls. What makes sushi is the seasoned rice. Rice appropriate for sushi is easily obtained, and if you can’t find it, use ordinary white rice. The seasoning comes from a mixture of rice wine vinegar, sugar, and salt. Some people add a little mirin; some don’t. If you don’t want to make your own seasoned rice wine vinegar, both Stop & Shop and Trader Joe’s sell a premixed bottle for under $2. Wasabi, Kewpie mayonnaise, pickled ginger, among other things, are the seasonings for making sushi. Wasabi is a very spicy horseradish paste. Kewpie or QP mayo is a special Japanese mayo that has less water, making it creamier. Pickled ginger is placed on the side of a sushi platter and you should eat it between different types of sushi to clear your palate. Wasabi is also placed on the side of a sushi platter, so you can place as much or as little as you like into your soy sauce to make it conform to your level of spiciness. The final piece in the sushi puzzle is the seaweed. Dried sheets of seaweed, called nori, are sold in ten packs. They are usually cheapest at Asian markets, and will last in your pantry for quite a while, as long as you keep them sealed and dry. Now that you’ve gathered up all your ingredients, it’s time to assemble your sushi. There are two main types of sushi: nigiri sushi, which is an oval-shaped ball of rice with some sort of fish pressed on top, and Maki, which is seasoned rice and any ingredient under the sun rolled up with a piece of nori. To make nigiri, first wet your hands, then grab a small amount (a little less than a golf ball) of cooled, but not room temperature, seasoned rice. Roll it into a ball and smear a small amount of wasabi on top. Then press a thin rectangular piece of fish onto the ball. You should be able to shape it by cupping your hands and pressing. Seasoned rice is called sticky rice for a reason, and like clay, it’s easier to work with if you keep your hands wet. The first step to making maki is to cover your bamboo mat in plastic wrap. Lay down a sheet of nori on top of the mat and spread a thin layer (about ¼ inch thick) of seasoned rice over the whole piece, leaving an inch long strip at the top. Place your ingredients near the bottom of the nori, on top of the rice. Don’t forget to spread a small strip of wasabi along the rice. Starting from the bottom, roll the nori into a cylinder shape, making sure to move the mat out of the way as you go along so it doesn’t get rolled into the maki. It should be fairly tight. When it’s finished, wet your finger and roll it along that top one-inch strip and press it into the cylinder so you seal the roll shut. Slice it in six to eight pieces with a wet knife, using a sawing motion. Maki can also be made with convenient molds if the above method scares you. Just follow the instructions on the mold and use whatever ingredients you want. You don’t have to follow any sort of recipe to make sushi. Add any ingredients that you like. Some of the best rolls I’ve had have included proscuitto or steak. I’ve made sauces out of cola and hot sauce. Be creative and use what you like. Copyright 2003 |
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Yummy Clip Art Sushi |
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By Amanda Evans |
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Date: 11/20/03 |
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Sushi Glossary: Sushi: Flavored rice combined with any ingredient under the sun. Maki: Sushi rice with various ingredients rolled up into dried seaweed. Nigiri: A rectangular piece of fish or other ingredient shaped onto a ball of sushi. Tobikko: Tiny fish eggs, also known as orange sherbet. Nori: Dried seaweed. QP Mayo: Japanese mayonnaise, also known as kewpie mayonnaise. Wasabi: A spicy and thick horseradish paste. Sashimi: Fish that is suitable for eating raw. Mirin: Sweetened rice wine. Sake: Rice wine. |
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Seasoned Sushi Rice 3 cups short-grain rice 4 1/2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar Rinse the rice off well, until the water surrounding the rice is clear. Cook the rice according to package directions. Place the vinegar, sugar, and salt in a saucepan, heat until the sugar and salt dissolve, but do not boil. After rice finishes cooking, combine carefully the vinegar mixture and the rice, sort of folding them into each other trying not to mash the individual rice kernels. It’s best to use this mixture when it’s still warm, but not hot. |
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Spicy Salmon Maki 1/4 cups raw salmon, cubed 1/8 cups Kewpie Mayonnaise Chinese hot chili sauce to taste 3 - 4 strips of avocado Mix the mayonnaise and the hot sauce together until you achieve a spiciness to your liking. Mix in the raw salmon into the sauce then spread it onto a piece of nori and rice like you would do for any maki, add the avocado on top and roll with above directions. Dragon Roll 3 - 4 strips of BBQ Eel 3 - 4 strips of avocado 3 - 4 strips of cucumber Tobikko Eel Sauce (Available at Asian markets) Use whatever maki techniques are comfortable, then place all ingredients onto the seaweed and rice, and roll it up. |