Sushi Fest

So I made all these sushi over one day to invite some friends over after our final exam. Not only I wanted to feed my friends, but the fact that I wanted to update the blog with more sushi recipes seemed to be what motivated me that day. It’s a great deal for my freeloading friends.  

Shrimp Nigiri Sushi (Ebi)

Shrimp sushi is probably a very popular sushi dish in America for its taste and looks.  Most people also tend to love shrimp and if you’re still not into raw fish, you will at least appreciate this cooked shrimp sushi.  There is also a raw version of shrimp sushi which I like better because of its softer texture and sweeter flavor.  Making this at home may be slightly more difficult than other sushi mainly because you have to flatten the shrimp.  Below images will show you how it’s done.

You need to have sushi rice. (Refer to how to make sushi rice.)

1. First, you need to peel your shrimps. You can use Tiger shrimps or bay shrimps similar in size. When peeling, leave the tail part.

2. Check to see if your shrimp has veins removed already. If not, remove them. Whether the vein is removed or not and got deep cut marks as a result will determine which side of shrimp you’re splitting to flatten.  However, if you split it by the belly side, remember that the tail will face up on your sushi.  Normally, it should face down and for you to do that, you need to buy shrimps with the vein still in so that you can manually remove the vein without carving off such a huge chunk of meat around the vein.  

3. Take out a few bamboo skewers. We need to do some serious poking with these sticks.

Push down your shrimp and pierce the stick all the way through until reaching the tail.  What this does is that it straightens the shrimp as we cook it.

Do it for all of them.

4. In boiling water, put the shrimps in for 30 seconds. It will be fully cooked in 30 seconds and by not over cooking, nice and soft texture of the shrimp will be preserved.

5. Take the sticks out of your shrimps.

6. So that cut mark is where you are going to cut through since this shrimp had the vein area cut. Cutting is very tricky. You do not want to cut too much to split the entire thing in half. You need to stop at some point so you will still have one piece.

7. Now you can use your knife to flatten the sushi.

8. In the end, this is what they will look like. Just put it on a sushi rice dough.
Enjoy!

Spicy Shrimp Sushi

There are many different types of sushi.  I’m not talking about the ingredients but the forms.  The type that is like this one where nori walls around ingredients inside with rice in the bottom is called “Gunkan”.  Usually it has tobikko (flying fish roe), uni (sea urchin), salmon roe or spicy shrimp.  Spicy shrimp will be the easiest one to make at home with commonly available ingredients.

First you need some sushi rice. (Refer to how to make sushi.)

1. Put those cooked baby shrimps in a bowl. You can easily find these shrimps at any supermarket.

2. Mix the shrimps with mayonnaise and Sriracha Chili Sauce. (Refer to Condiments List for more information on Sriracha Chili Sauce.)


3. Now you want to cut the nori into a long strip like below. The length doesn’t matter since it will overlap later but the width should be about 1 and half inch. Glue some rice on one side at the end.

4. Simply roll it around your rice dough and attach it.

5. Insert the filling.

Enjoy!

California Hand Rolls

This is another hand roll recipe based on California rolls.  It seems a lot easier to make a hand roll once you know how to roll it to a proper cone shape.  I do like California rolls but at some point it became boring to eat the regular California rolls and so I thought I would add some entertainment value in eating California rolls if that makes any sense.  Ok, so what goes inside a California roll is pretty obvious to everyone these days.  There is no raw fish so those who are still nervous about eating raw fish or for health reasons to avoid any possible mercury intake, you can feel safe about eating California rolls.

First, prepare sushi rice. (Refer to how to make sushi rice.)

1. Cut avocado and cucumber. (Refer to how to cut avocados.)


2. Mince crab meat into small pieces.




3. Once you have your minced crab meat, you will mix them in mayonnaise and it will be ready.
4. Use a 1/2 size nori and put sushi rice on the non-shinny part on the left half. You want to put the ingredients along the line on red on top of the rice. Once you put the ingredients according to the image below, you want to roll it into a V shaped cone. The bottom of the cone does not need to be sharp.



You might want to roll it with two hands. Use rice as a glue to stick the nori on top of the other side.


Enjoy and get ready to impress your friends!

How to Cut Avocados

Cutting an avocado can be tricky. I find this way of cutting most efficient and you waste less.

1. Put an avocado on a chopping board.

2. Cut it around and separate it. Take the seed out using a knife. Less ripe it is, more difficult to take the seed out.


3. Put your spoon through the gap between the skin and run it through completely and scoop it up.


5. Cut it however you want to.

Spicy Tuna Rolls

Spicy tuna roll is probably the top contender in popularity after California roll in the United States.  Spicy tuna roll is spicy and creamy with flavors I recognize it instantly became my favorite when I first got really into sushi in high school.  Spicy tuna roll is not that difficult to make if you feel comfortable rolling up some sushi rolls with a right tool.  Looking at the pictures below will instantly give you an idea on what to do.  Pictures really are worth thousand words.  This is an inside out roll like California.  I heard that California roll was invented because Americans didn’t really like nori that much and that being the first thing tasted in mouth may not have been a popular concept.

Refer to how to make sushi rice.

1. Cut fresh tuna into small pieces.

2. Use Sriracha and mayonnaise to mix the tuna.

3. Prepare avocado and cucumber slices (Refer to how to cut avocados)

4. On a 3/4 cut nori (1/2 may be too small for spicy tuna rolls) and thinly spread sushi rice on it. Make sure you put a clear plastic wrap on top of the bamboo roller since you’re making an inside-out roll so the rice won’t stick to your roller.


5. Flip it over to the other side.
6. Put spicy tuna, avocado, and cucumber slices on nori.

7. Roll it using
8. Firmly press around the roll using your bamboo roller to make it into the right shape. If you want to make it into a square shape, press around the roll to make corners.

9. When you cut it, make sure you keep cleaning your knife after each stroke because otherwise the stickiness that gets on the knife blade can prevent clean cutting.

Enjoy!