Sushi!

I was so excited to make this dish...for some reason I was craving it for weeks.  I chose not to include raw fish, but did use shrimp and cooked cold fish. I bought all the ingredients I needed over the past few days in advance and just needed the right time, and what better day to post it than 11/11/11 at 11:11am ^_^

Ingredients

Sushi Rice:

• 1 cup of short grain sushi rice
• 1/8 cup of rice vinegar
• 3/4 tsp of salt
• 1 1/2 tbs sugar (I used coconut palm sugar which gave the rice a dark color)

Sushi: did you know sushi is the preparation of the rice and doesn't refer to the raw fish:)

• Avocado
• Cucumber
• sesame seeds
• sesame oil (I toasted my sesame seeds lightly in a tiny bit of sesame oil)
• baby spinach (lightly steamed)
• Nori rolls (I used raw nori rolls but you can use toasted)
• Raw mock-mayo (raw cashews, garlic & onion powder, & almond milk to blend to paste)
• shrimp (lightly heated in a few drops of nama shoyu)
• nama shoyu
• Fish (cooked and cooled)

Recipe:

First prepare the sushi rice. Wash the rice until water runs clear, then add equal parts of water to rice (tiny bit more water). I used a rice cooker, but you can do it on the stove too.  While rice is cooking prepare vinegar.  I put about 1/8 cup of rice vinegar, 1 1/2 tbs of palm sugar (which is a healthier option for sugar with a low-glycemic index), and a little less than a teaspoon of salt. I warmed the mixture very slightly on the stove to dissolve it, but didn't let it get too hot. I don't have a bamboo bowl, so I used my ceramic bowl and a wooden spoon to mix in the vinegar solution into the rice using a sideways slicing motion to not break the rice, while fanning it to give it that sushi gloss. Then covered it with a damp cloth to cool down to room temperature without drying out. 

Once the rice was cool, prepare the filling ingredients. I could not find my mat to roll the sushi! So I had to get creative and used a very soft mat to help me roll the sushi. I then covered and taped it with saran to keep it from sticking. I lightly sauteed the spinach on medium heat with a tiny bit of water, covered for literally seconds, just to soften.  Then cut up the cucumber and cut off the bitter skin and the middle seeds part. I also sauteed the shrimp very slightly, just to flavor them a bit in a little bit of nama shoyu (which is a raw version of soy sauce).  I then cut the shrimp up in smaller pieces. I also shredded the cold fish (last night's dinner, baked with just garlic powder and onion powder) and added about 2 table spoons of my cashew mock-mayo sauce for a creamy flavorful mixture. Lastly I cut up the avocado and squeezed some lemon on top to slow it from browning.

I made 2 rolls. One with the fish mixture and one with the shrimp in the middle and all other ingredients in both.  The shrimp rolls I used half a roll but it was too full to seal closed so i then placed it on the 2nd half of the nori sheet, so it had a sushi appearance. The second one was made more like a Californian roll with the rice on the outside (which the first one began as.  For both I sprinkled the sesame seeds on the rice after filling and rolling the rolls. Then cut into bite size pieces and topped with a shrimp piece. 

I served it with a little bit of nama shoyu and my mock-mayo for a dipping sauce, but I liked them plain! They were delicious ^_^

 Ingredients for my mock-mayo (already made in the jar the night before).  Raw soaked cashews, onion powder, garlic powder and just enough almond milk to let it blend into a paste.

 The sushi rice vinegar mix: rice vinegar, salt and sugar (I used coconut crystals as a healthier option that turned the rice a light brown color that looked like I added soy sauce)

 Cooked one cup or well rinsed sushi rice with equal parts of water (tad bit more water) It cooked very quickly!

Put it in my ceramic bowl

 After mixing in the vinegar mix...using a sideways chopping motion with a wooden spoon, while fanning with my new fan from China town in Chicago lol, thanks Cynthia!

 I then soaked a towel to cover the rice while it cooled to room temp

 Toasted the sesame seeds in a teeny bit of sesame oil for a more flavorful seed

 My sushi ingredients

 steamed the baby spinach...literally for seconds

 Just so they were soft and a little withered, we don't want to destroy the nutrients

 difficult to see, a heaped tablespoon of the mock-mayo in the shredded fish and the shrimp chopped up into smaller pieces

 All chopped up and ready to go...

 With the lack of a sushi rolling mat I had to get creative and used a soft weaved sisal mat and covered it with saran and taped it to the back for easy use

 For the shrimp rolls I cut the nori sheet in half...placed rice on once side and flipped it

 I then added the cucumber, avocado, spinach and shrimp...but it was too full to come to a full seal

 so I placed the opening part on the 2nd half of the nori sheet and rolled it up to close

 I used the full sheet for the fish/mayo mixture roll, then added the spinach, cucumber and avocado. The back side was fully covered in the rice and I sprinkled the sesame seeds on the rice.

 These rolls turned out larger due to not having a sushi mat and my love for the sticky rice, so I wasn't able to squeeze the rolls as tight so cut them thinner instead, but they held together very well! And tasted the same;)

 I then topped each with some extra shrimp pieces I had left over, and sprinkled some extra sesame seeds on the shrimp rolls. I put a little bit of nama shoyu for dipping sauce (but I actually preferred them plain). I also added extra mock-mayo for dipping sauce that I dabbed on each piece.

 They turned out creamy, cool and refreshing!

These ones were my favorite because of the creamy fish filling and more rice. Same stuff as the one above, but more rice and added fish.