Sushi Night.

How To Make Sushi. A.K.A. Beginners Guide To Sushi.
Below is an e-mail I typed up for family and friends regarding sushi night. I kept everything pretty simple, nothing exotic. My wife has a fear of raw things etc...

Indeed 9/10/2006 was the day I decided to go balls to the wall against Sushi. In a word, "success". Let me recap my plan so you too can be successful... and make like 20 rolls.

The Shopping List

• Mirin
• Rice Wine Vinegar
• Sushi Rice (Short Grain). Don't skimp, get the good stuff.
• noir (Roasted Seaweed). Again don't skimp.
• Sriracho Hot Sauce (It's the red bottle with the Rooster on it.) You may have to go to an Asian Grocer for this. I have seen it at walmart too.
• Crabstick (In Japan it is know as a fish stick or fish cake) You can get the actual Japanese ones at the Asian Grocer.
• Avocado (make sure the bloody thing is ripe. The outside should be dark and it should be a little soft. The ones they use for Sushi are the little ugly dark ones.)
• Cucumber
• Kikomon Soy Sauce (I like the low sodium version)
• BlueBell or Helmans Mayo
• Sesame Seeds (Roasted or plain)
  
• Bamboo Mat (Crucial to roll awesome rolls).
• "A Very Sharp Knife" (Any knife will do, sharpen the heck out of it)

Optional

• Smoked Salmon (Don't let the look of it deceive you. This stuff is cooked and awesome. It tastes like bacon.)
• Shrimp (I used this for Tempura)
• Masago Smelt Roe (Fish Eggs, that Orange stuff).
• Kewpie Mayo (It's like regular Mayo, just a little less greasy. Feel free to use Helmans in it's place.) I paid like $4 for this stuff.
• Panco (Japanese Breadcrumb) I used this for the shrimp tempura.

As far as shopping goes, you should be able to find the majority of the stuff you need at publix. Most of this is in ethnic food section. Only a couple of items you might have to go to an Asain Grocer for (The Sriracho Hot Sauce and the Masago Smelt Roe, that's about it). BTW, don't be afraid of the Asian Grocer they are usually very helpful!

Now I set out to make a couple different types of rolls; The Philly (Crab, Cream cheese, Cucumber, Sesame Seeds, and maybe some Avocado), The Rock-and-Roll (Shrimp Tempura, Crab, Smoked Salmon, Cream Cheese, Cumber, Avocado, and Sesame Seeds) Then mix and match the rolls.... I topped the Rolls with a Kabayaki Sauce, and had some Dynamite Sauce for dipping (The recipes are below.)... They turned out awesome, even my son ate some.

Sauce Recipes.

Kabayaki Sauce

• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup mirin (sweet rice wine)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• *mix them together. That's it.

Dynamite Sauce

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons sriracha hot sauce
• 1/2 - 1 teaspoon masago smelt roe (optional)
• *mixxxxx em' up

Sushi Rice
This is the most important Step. Set aside a good 30+ minutes to spend on this. If your rice sucks, the sushi sucks. I have tried a bunch of different recipes and this one is by far the best. Do exactly what it says, do not skip any of the steps. Remember you add the Mirin and rice vinegar after you cook the rice (Trust me I have messed up plenty of sushi rice). Don't worry about the Kelp though.

Here is the original Link http://www.recipezaar.com/119373

• 2 cups sushi rice
• 2 cups water
• 4 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 tablespoons mirin
• kelp, leaf (optional)

1. Ignore the directions on the bag that the rice came from and rinse the rice only 3-5 times. The water does NOT have to run clear.
2. Place rice to drain in a strainer.
3. Drain for one hourin the winter, 30 min in the summer. (Sounds strange, but is true).
4. While rice is draining, combine vinegar,sugar, salt and mirin together in a separate bowl and mix well.
5. If using a kelp leaf,it should be about 2 in long
6. Wipe it lightly, cut small slits to make it look like a comb and add it to a pot along with the water.
7. Add rice to the pot.
8. Bring quickly to a boil and then reduce to a simmer (I set my burner in between low and medium).
9. Cover the pot and DON'T touch it until the end, NO PEEKING.
10. Cook for 15 minutes before removing the pot from the heat but keep the lid CLOSED.
11. Let rice rest for 10 min and then remove the cover.
12. Place in a glass dish to cool and lightly fan the rice while adding the vinegar mixture.
13. Mix rice gently, careful not to break it.
14. Sushi rice is best used at body temperature.

For Shrimp Tempura just google it... There are a few sites that tell you how the carve up the shrimp and make the batter. I used Flour, An Egg, Seasame Oil, and water. Then you roll it in the Pango and fry it. Just use regular vegetable oil to fry. Mine were kinda bland though :(. they need some salt or something.


Now lets make the rolls. Rather than me typing up a big thingy on it lets follow some links.
Here are some good ones...

http://www.bento.com/trt-caliroll.html
http://www.sushilinks.com/sushi-recipes/philadelphia-roll.html

Google... Rinse, Repeat.

And so there you go. I figured I would share this with you. Hopefully it will bring you much joy :).

Love,

Admin Bromo