Sushi recipe

Ingredients

Sushi Rice:

• 2 cup of short grain sushi rice (I used medium grain that worked just fine)
• 2 cups of cold water
• 6 Tbsp of rice vinegar
• 1 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:) Well my sushi is raw fish free...the way I like it.

• Real crab meat
• Lobster meat
• Cucumber
• Avocado
• Low fat Cream Cheese
• Sesame seeds
• Bread Crumbs (toast lightly)
• Organic Nori rolls (I used both toasted and raw nori rolls)
• Shrimp (sauteed or tempura)
• Spicy Mayo (Veganiese, Sriracha and Mizkan AJIPON Citrus Seasoned Soy Sauce)
• Eel sauce (low-sodium soy, organic sugar, Mirin Japaneses sweet cooking rice wine...see recipe in previous blog post)
• Yum yum sauce (see recipe in previous blog post)

 Tools:

• Wooden cutting board 
• Saran Wrap
• Bamboo sushi rolling mat
• Sharp knife

Recipe:

First prepare the sushi rice. Wash the rice with cold water until water runs clear, then add equal parts of water to rice (tiny bit more water). 

Heat water to a Boil on high. Once it’s at a boil turn to the lowest heat setting. Put a towel over the pot and a top over for a perfect seal (flip ends of towel over top to avoid catching fire). Set timer for 10 minutes. When timer is up, turn off heat and the rice is ready to perfection!

When done, place rice into wooden bowl (if not available use glass). Let cool a couple of minutes by stirring rice in a cutting motion, to avoid smashing rice. Use a wooden spoon while fanning it to give it that sushi gloss. 

Mix the rice vinegar, sugar and salt in a pan, heat until it almost reaches a boil, then turn off.  Let cool first, then pour over rice and mix into the rice with the cutting motion. Cover rice with a wet cloth to keep from drying out and let sit for 5 minutes, stir then stand another 10 minutes. Use sushi rice at room temperature.

While the rice is cooling, prepare the filling ingredients. Cut up the cucumber into small slices and remove seeds. Cook the shrimp to your preference, tempura is delicious, but I just sauteed it over the stove with a little bit of olive oil and garlic powder. Other fillings I used included cream cheese, lightly toasted bread crumbs, sesame seeds the crab meat with spicy yum yum sauce and lobster with yum yum sauce.   

I made 3 rolls. One without the crab and lobster and the other two with all fillings. To prepare the rolls you need a wooden cutting board, bowl of water to dip your fingers in a very sharp knife and a damp towel to wet the knife. 

Place a hand full of rice on the side of the nori roll that shows the lines (the rough side). Then flatten out the rice to fill most of the nori roll. Sprinkle sesame seeds on it then flip it over onto the board. Be sure to wet the board slightly with your damp cloth to prevent the rice from sticking.  Now add your fillings closer to the edge that's closest to you. Pinching the ended, roll the sheet with the fillings into a log using slight pressure to get a good seal. Add your last topping onto the roll. I added the lobster salad mix (a great topping is thinly sliced avocado). Then place a piece of saran wrap over the roll and with your bamboo rolling mat gently squeeze the roll to give it shape, and seal the topping to the roll. Dampen your sharp knife cut into bite size pieces. Start by cutting in the middle then repeat until you have 8 even pieces. 

You can then drizzle sme yum yum sauce or spicy mayo and eel sauce over the sushi.  Also serve with some low-sodium soy sauce for dipping. You can top it with more sesame seeds or toasted bread crumbs for an extra crunch. Enjoy!

 Use sushi rice...short grain, or medium grain works as well

 Rinse rice until water is no longer creamy white

 Add equal amounts of water than rice

 Set the heat at high and cook until water starts to boil

 Then turn heat to the lowest setting and cover rice. Make sure there is a good seal. Adding a towel under the cover helps to seal it.  Set the timer to cool on low for 10 minutes

 Mix the rice vinegar, sugar, and salt...heat on pan just until dissolved

 After cooling both the rice and vinegar mix, pour the mix over the rice.

 Mix the vinegar sauce into the rice using a sideways cutting motion.

 Cover rice with a damp cloth to reach room temperature without drying out.

 Prepare the crab meat.

 Soak up extra moisture in the crab meat with a paper towel.

 Mix in the yum yum (spicy mayo) sauce. 

 The crab salad is now ready to use.

 Cut up the cucumber into think slices. Remove seeds.

 All ingredients - Nori sheets, cucumber, shrimp, crab salad, lobster salad, cream cheese and toasted bread crumbs. Sesame seeds (not in photo)

 Place a hand full of room temperature rice onto rough side of the nori sheet.

 Dampen hands then flatten out the rice. Leave a little bit of space on both ends.

 Flip the nori sheet over (make sure you dampen the wooden cutting board first to avoid rice from sticking) then fill with desired fillings.

 Gently and firmly roll the filled nori sheet.

Top the roll with some lobster salad (also great to top with avocado)

 Place saran wrap over roll.

Use roller mat to firm into shape.

 Leave saran wrap on roll and with a damp knife slice into equal peaces by cutting in half, then half again, then half again.

 Drizzle with yum yum sauce and eel sauce.

 Sushi is ready to eat! Dip in soy sauce if desired.

 More sushi rolls with different fillings.

  More sushi rolls with different fillings.