One day Amanda was Craving sushi and exploring Trident’s continuing education classes and discovered the Culinary Institute of Charleston’s page. That is where I signed up for my Sushi Techniques class. The class taught me so much about Japanese Cuisine and now I can roll my own sushi, but you can too! The first few times the rolls won’t be perfect but the taste will be there. Everyone goes to get sushi, you have your favorite rolls, you know what is in them. So simply buy the freshest quality ingredients possible and have a local Asian Market in your area. For the Charleston area, I go to H & L SuperMarket.
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| Our Beautiful Table |
From the Asian Market you will need to find: nori (the green seaweed paper you wrap the rolls in), sushi white rice, rice wine sushi vinegar, black sesame seeds (optional décor item), a sushi rolling mat, tempura batter, wasabi, & soy sauce.
From a trusted grocery store, you can purchase the filling items such as tuna, salmon, shrimp, Krab (yes Krab with a K for the California Roll), or you other favorites.
This past weekend I decided to make a tempura shrimp roll and a salmon roll. I got the other standard roll items such as avocado, cucumber, & cream cheese to make various combinations of rolls.
Great sushi artists take the most pride in their rice. Having the right doneness and it not being overly sticky is where a rice cooker and sushi vinegar come into play. Sushi Rice is a short grain which provides a lot of starch (but not as much as arborio rice used in risotto) which helps give the sticky texture. The tangy vinegar adds a zip to the cooked rice. Once the rice is cooked, place it in a large bowl to help it cool faster and stir in several tablespoons of the vinegar.
While the rice is cooking you can prep all of your items you want to roll by cutting them into thin strips that will fit inside the rolls. You also need to place a layer of plastic wrap on your sushi rolling mat to help the rolls not stick.
Now you are ready to start! Take out a piece of nori and place the rough side up towards you. Use your fingers to place a layer of sushi rice on the sheet of nori. To help it not stick to your fingers as much have a bowl of water next to you to dip your fingers in. Once you have that layer, you can either flip the sheet over to have the rice on the outside or you can keep the rice facing up to have the nori on the outside. This is where you could add the sesame seeds to make it look pretty. I recommend leaving it how it is for your first few rolls until you feel more comfortable rolling the sushi.
Next line up all of items you want in the roll on the rice about 1/3 up from the bottom. Now start rolling the sushi. . .yes just try it! As you roll it over, pull on the front of the mat to help make it tighter. Your first roll will suck, well at least appearance wise, but who cares because you are still pretty awesome for attempting your own sushi right?
So great, now you have this beautiful roll but how do you cut it? Well have a sharp knife for starters and splash some water on it. Cut the roll down the middle to have two pieces, then cut those pieces in half, to make four pieces. See where I am going with this? Okay that is it, you are done!
Now do all different combinations and create your own ideas. For a yummy Sweet Chili Sauce a la Sarah, check out my Recipes Tab at the top!!
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| A Whole Platter of Sushi! |
