Top
Recipe of the Month
My friend Eryq was visiting from Chicago, and he taught us how to make sushi. He decided to surprise his girlfriend, Deborah, and learn, and he offered to pass the knowledge on to us. Well, I love it; it's fun, and I thought I'd share with the rest of you. The following is a set of, I hope, complete directions on how to make vegetarian sushi nori. If you have any questions, please let me know at: izolda@wild-moon.com
The following list of ingredients is broken up into two parts. The first part is the stuff you'll need that you can use over again. The second is per recipe.
Here's what you'll need:
First: Make the Awase zu (rice seasoning) (don't mix this or keep it in a metal bowl). For every cup of rice (uncooked) mix together the following ingredients and then set aside:
Next: Make the Tezu (use to wet hands, knife, seal nori rolls, etc.) In a bowl, combine:
Set the Tezu aside.
Next, make the Shari (seasoned rice): (For our purposes, we'll be measuring everything out for 1 cup of rice) Before you can boil the rice, you have to wash and drain it. Take 1 cup rice and pour it into a bowl and pour some water in it. Swirl your hand around in it and you'll notice that it gets cloudy. Drain the rice and repeat this process til the rice water is no longer cloudy when you swirl it around.
For every cup of rice you'll be making, pour 1 cup + 1 tbsp. of water into a pot (I use a big corningware pot.)
Once the rice is washed and drained you can start boiling the water. Be careful, since it's so little water, it'll boil quickly, and you don't want too much to boil off.
Once the water is at a boil, pour in the rice. Make sure the rice is lying as flat as can be (don't leave a little rice hill in the pot.). Turn heat to low, and steam for 15 minutes.
After the first 15 minutes, I usually add about 1 more tbsp of water into the rice pot, and then remove from heat and steam for 15 more. After the second 15 minutes, put the rice into another bowl, fold in the Awase zu (rice seasoning) solution and fan to cool the hot rice. (Basically, use a couple of envelopes to fan it while spooning the rice into a bowl and pour the Awase zu into the rice and fold the rice over on itself until the Awase zu is mixed in.)
Whi le all this rice steaming stuff has been going on, you might have been cutting the veggies. :) Peel and cut up the cucumber into thin (really thin) strips Peel and cut up the avocado into thin (really thin) strips If you're going to use sundried tomatoes, reconstitute them by soaking them in warm water for about 15 minutes. Then cut them into thin strips.
Once the rice is done, fanned and mixed with the Awase zu, take the scissors and cut a sheet of nori in half (cut along the same line as the little tiny perforations you'll see in it)
Take the half sheet and put it on the bamboo mat so that the long side lies along an edge of the bamboo mat that doesn't fold over. (This way when you do fold it over you'll be making a long roll of sushi.)
This is where the Tezu comes in. Fold the dish towel up near the Tezu bowl, and dip your fingers into the tezu. Blot your fingers and grab some shari (seasoned rice). Lay out the shari on the seaweed that is on the bamboo mat. Lay out a layer of rice evenly about two-thirds of the way from the edge of the nori (and the mat) in.
Once it's laid out, put a slice of cucumber, and then perhaps some slices of avocado along the rice lengthwise (parallel to the non-bending edge of the bamboo mat). With your index and middle fingers, hold on to the veggies and with your thumbs fold the bamboo mat over once until the edge touches the nori that doesn't have any rice on it. Squeeze the cylinder that the bamboo mat has now made. Then, dip your fingers into the Tezu and lightly wet the edge of the seaweed. Then, lift the whole roll up and move it to the edge of the bamboo mat. Roll the mat over again and squeeze the cylinder again. Lay the roll down on a plate with the edge of the roll (where the edge of the seaweed was wetted and "glued" to the rest) facing down. Let it sit for a bit to seal before you cut it.
Continue this fun exercise until you've used up all the rice. Put whatever veggies you want into the rolls. However, be sure that you don't add too many veggies or you won't be able to roll effectively. And remember, slice the veggies really thin.
Cutting the rolls is a bit of a pain, but here goes. Dip the sharp knife into the tezu and wipe it off on the towel. Place a roll on a cutting board and slice it in half with even strokes. (Between each cut of the knife, dip the knife into the tezu and wipe it on the towel.) Then, place the two halves one after the other and cut both one-third of the way down the roll. Cut the remaining portions in half as well. Turn the six pieces on their sides and put them close together on the plate. Squeeze them lightly and put them on the plate as they're ready to be eaten.
Make the wasabi, pour the soy sauce, and toast the seseame seeds (toast these on light or lightly dry sauté them as they burn easily) put everything out and you're ready to eat.
1 cup of rice makes about 7-9 rolls of sushi. (so 42 to 54 individual pieces)
Enjoy!
Go to: Life, Passion, Sacred Circles, Voiceovers, Photography.
Go
home