Friday, February 19, 2010

Sushi Rolls

This Friday kicks of Lent and it's usually a tough time of year. First off it's on a Friday when we usually go out and second there's the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo BBQ cook off next weekend (do you know how hard it is to eat just sides and bread while everyone is eating BBQ?)and third it's all during rodeo when instead of eating food out there I have to swing by McDonald's for a fish sandwich. Sigh... Well it all turns out ok and I live through it every year. I think this year I'm giving up complaining. Oooppps uuhhh wasn't complaining before just making a statement. :) On a serious note I do try really hard to give something up and stick with it. So on top of eating things I don't usually like I can't complain about it now!

We love sushi and often people won't even give it a try because of the misconception that it's all raw fish. The meaning of sushi is one bite. Another thing is people won't try making them at home. I do have a bamboo mat to help rolling, but not sure where it went. I simply used a sheet of plastic wrap and it worked just fine. Once you've made a couple you easily get the hang of it and remember it doesn't have to look perfect.

Allison's California Roll
Makes 5 rolls

1 1/2 cups sushi rice
3 cups water
couple dashes of rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
5 sheets roasted seaweed
4 ounces cream cheese
1/2 cup matchstick carrots
1 cup imitation crab meat
jalapeno, if desired

Bring rice and water to a boil over high heat. Cover pot and reduce heat to low; cook for 25 mins. Once it's cooked add the rice wine vinegar and sugar and stir. The best way to let this cool is keep stirring while you have a fan blowing on it to cool. I put the pot in the fridge and stirred every couple of minutes until it was more of a room temperature.

Meanwhile, slice cream cheese in long slices. Turn slices on side and slice in half lengthwise.

Lay a piece of cling wrap out and top with a sheet of sushi nori.

Spoon some rice on the sheet leaving a little boarder around the edges.

Top with a slice of cream cheese, some carrots and crab meat.

I also added some jalapeno slices on another roll.

Start rolling the end where your toppings are. You want to make sure you wrap it tight otherwise your roll will fall apart when you cut it. Pretend you are rolling a jelly roll cake. Once the plastic rolls up to the rice pull it back and continue to roll.

Cut your roll into the desired thickness.

I got about 5-6 pieces from each roll.

Sushi is easy to make and is filling so I hope you give it a try. Don't be afraid to experiment and add in your favorites.

2 comments:

  1. I love sushi. We make it at home too! Sometimes I just do it in a bowl to save time.

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  2. Brian and I did sushi at home. Nippan Daido on Westheimer is a really good Japanese grocery store and we actually got raw sushi and made it. It turned out really well, but it sure was a lot of trouble--and cost as much as it would have cost to go to good old Sushi Hana, hahaha.

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