Sushi

My favorite food is sushi, and Derrick loves it as well.  Wouldn't it be nice to be able to make it at home and not spend tons of money at a sushi restaurant every time we crave it (which is pretty often)?  My parents got Derrick an extensive starter kit along with several how-to books and recipe books for Christmas.  We got some tips from my Uncle Bobby who has been making sushi for awhile and always has a big sushi party for New Years.  However, making sushi still seemed intimidating.  That's when I heard about the cooking classes at The Culinary Center of Kansas City located in downtown Overland Park.  http://www.kcculinary.com/  My friend had been to a BBQ class and said it was a blast - very interactive and hands-on.  And alcohol is involved.  :)  So I enrolled us in a sushi making class.  It was great!  We drank wine, ate sushi that we had made ourselves until we were stuffed, and now we know how to do it on our own!

And look how our rolls turned out!  We even learned inside out rolls.  I was shocked - I thought it would be really difficult, but it wasn't!

And the sushi we made was DELICIOUS!  Just like from a restaurant.  We couldn't wait to try it at home.  We also wanted to have a sushi party, but thought we should have a test run with just us first.  So we went shopping at 888 Asian Market at 119th and 69 Highway (recommendation from our sushi chef instructor).  We bought a large slab of salmon for around $15 and some crab sticks.  Buying the fish frozen is the safest since it is flash frozen when they catch it.  Thaw it in your fridge overnight.  We already had sushi rice, nori (seaweed paper), wasabi, and pickled ginger from my parents. 

I had heard from everyone that the rice was the hardest part.  Since we didn't make the rice during the sushi class (he showed us how, but we didn't do it ourselves) I was the most nervous about doing this part at home.  Sushi rice is a lot different than regular rice.  It is a short grain rice.  Both times we've made the rice at home it has turned out perfectly!  Make sure you make the rice plenty in advance.  It needs to cool.  Then place it in a nonmetal bowl with a damp towel on top.  Do not refrigerate the rice ever.  It will be ruined once you refrigerate it.

Sushi Rice Recipe
2 cups water
2 cups short grain rice
(when we had friends over we doubled this recipe)

Rinse rice and drain twice with cold water.  Put rice and water in a medium saucepan with a tight-fitting lid.  Bring to a boil over high heat.  Reduce heat to very low and simmer, tightly covered for about 15 minutes and all the water is absorbed.  Remove from heat (don't uncover) and set aside for 10 minutes.  Fluff rice with fork and transfer to a large nonmetal bowl.  Sprinkle with vinegar mixture (recipe below) and toss with the rice using a wooden spoon.  Use rice at room temperature.

Hand Dipping Water
2 cups water
1/3 cup seasoned rice vinegar
4 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
Bring all to a boil.  Set aside.

Right before we were ready, I chopped up some cucumber, avocado, and cream cheese.  I mixed the wasabi powder with water, and I also made some wasabi mayo by mixing wasabi and mayo and spicy mayo by mixing Sriracha and mayo.  However, the ingredients you can use in sushi rolls are endless.  You can add tempura crunchies actually inside the rolls or on the top, green onion, sprouts, carrot, enochi mushrooms, red pepper, salmon roe (fish eggs), pea shoots, etc.  There are also many types of fish you can get at the Asian market including yellowtail, ahi tuna, BBQ eel, etc.  In the class we went to we fried whole crab in a tempura batter to make a spider roll.  You can do this with shrimp for a dragon roll.  It is up to you what you want inside your sushi.

Here is how to assemble it:
Place a piece of nori on a sushi rolling mat covered in saran wrap.  This keeps the rice from sticking to the mat and makes for easy clean up!  Dip fingers in hand dipping water and get some rice.  Press about 1/4 inch thick rice over the nori with about 1/2 inch of space at the top of the nori.  Every time you touch the rice, dip hands first.  Line up the fillings about 1 1/2 inches from the near edge across the rice.

Beginning with the side closest to you, tightly roll up the nori, rice, and fillings.  Firmly pull the rounded mat over the roll to tighten the roll.  The nori will seal to itself.

Cut roll in half.  Then stack the two halves next to each other and cut into sushi pieces.  Each time you cut with the knife, wipe the knife on a wet towel.

Then you can "decorate" your sushi with some of the mayos, different colored salmon roe, crispies, etc.

For the inside out roll, place 1/4 inch of rice on entire sheet of nori.  Then flip the nori so the rice is on the bottom.  Place filling on the same way and roll again.

Enjoy your sushi!  Or come to our house for a sushi party!