Sushi

I like to buy sushi occasionally at the commissary where I live when I am in the mood for it. I am not a huge fan of eating raw anything unless it is fruit. So I really have to be in a mood to eat it or else it goes to waste. When my friend came down to visit she brought with her this sushi kit I had bought her for her birthday. We went over the different things we like and don't like in sushi and went to the store. We pretty much just winged it and bought whatever looked good. What we ended up with was delicious. My husband who is not a fan of sushi due to raw fish actually liked our sushi and ate quite a bit of it. At first I could not get the hang of the rolling mat with the seaweed rolls. However once we started using the soy wrappers it was MUCH easier to do. A trick that works best for keeping the rice from sticking to your hands is to dip your hands in a bowl of water.


Now we made a few different variations of sushi but it was pretty much all the same ingredients.


Ingredients

• bag of shelled, deveined cooked shrimp (saves a ton of time)
• package of nori (seaweed)
• package of cooked crab meat in strips (found in frozen section)
• 3 c. Sushi rice
• Asparagus
• cucumber; julienned
  
• carrot; julliened
• 1/4 block of cream cheese; cut into this strips
  
• soy wrappers (found in international isle)
• 1/3 c. rice vinegar
• 3 Tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt

Sushi rice

1. Cook the rice according to package.
2. While the rice is cooking prepare sushi vinegar by mixing rice vinegar, sugar, and salt in a bowl until dissolved.
   
3. Spread the hot steamed rice into a large plate. Please use a non-metallic bowl to prevent any interaction with rice vinegar. Sprinkle the vinegar mixture over the rice and fold the rice quickly. Be careful not to smash the rice.
4. To cool and remove the moisture of the rice well, use a fan as you mix sushi rice. This will give sushi rice a shiny look. It's best to use sushi rice right away

Top sushi rolls pictured

1. Lay a piece of plastic wrap on the rolling mat. Lay a piece of nori down on the mat big enough to fit a piece of shrimp. Spoon rice over the nori and spread evenly over the nori and cover with another piece of saran wrap.
2. Flip the nori and rice over so that the nori is facing up at you. Take the top plastic wrap off and place a piece of shrimp in the center. Make sure the tail is sticking out or else someone will get a crunchy surprise.
3. Add a slice or two of cucumber and or carrot.
   
4. When rolling the sushi make sure to roll and tuck tightly. Also pull the plastic wrap out as you roll to make sure you are not rolling the plastic wrap in the sushi.
   

Soy wrapper sushi (middle)

1. Lay a piece of plastic wrap on the rolling mat. Put the soy wrapper on the mat and spread the rice evently over the soy wrapper.
   
2. Lay a strip of crab and cream cheese across the mat along with whatever veggies you would like. You can even add chopped shrimp as well. It is all whatever you prefer. For the asparagus you just line the asparagus up with the crab and roll the sushi.
3. When cutting the sushi roll make sure to dip your knife in water. It will help to keep the sushi from sticking to the knife.
   

Seaweed wraps (sides of the dish)

1. Lay a piece of plastic wrap down on the rolling mat. a piece of nori down and cover it with rice.
2. Assemble with your choice of veggies and or meat and roll the sushi.
3. If your nori is not bite size you might need to cut it into portions like the above sushi.
   

I also made a sauce to go with the sushi. You can either dollop it on the top or use it to dip the sushi in. The measurements are not exact since it was just a taste as I went but I will try to measure it out.

1/4 c. mayo
1 tsp rice vinegar
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Now you can add more or less of the cayenne. It is really to your taste. My friend just wanted her mayo sauce and I winged it and it turned out good.