Last night was sushi night. Long ago, sushi was a staple in my diet. I am not exactly sure why it has now become a rarity. After a great meal last night it may need a resurrection. All day yesterday I was on only 4 hours of sleep due to a long night at work. I maintained and we had a good day. Jamie found a place that had vegan cupcakes on the weekends and so we took a drive. To our dismay, it was closed. Apparently, cupcakes are a big hit on Valentines Day. They had sold out of all of their cupcakes and closed for the day. We then tried to get some lunch, again, no luck. It was back home for plan B.
We made sushi! If you have never made sushi before it is a ton of fun, not to mention incredibly easy. The toughest part is getting your rice to taste correct.
Sushi2 cups water
1 cup sushi rice
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 dulse flakes (optional)
4 Toasted Nori rolls
Fillings of choice
Bring 2 cups of water to a simmer. Add in the sugar, vinegar and dulse to the water and bring to a boil. Once boiling, add 1 cup of sushi rice and cover. Cook until water is gone and rice is soft. Spoon all of the rice into a bowl and put into the freezer for 30 minutes. Take the bowl out and stir the rice occasionally. Your rice should not be completely cold but should not be hot either. Stirring the rice helps it to cool evenly and helps to avoid it drying out.
Lay 1 sheet of toasted nori glossy side down on a bamboo sheet (a cutting board works too but is not as easy). Carefully, take a spoon and firmly spread the rice over the nori. On one end of the nori, leave about a 1/2 inch with no rice. If your nori begins to tear, either your rice is too hot or you are being to rough.
Once the rice is evenly spread over the roll, take your fillings (I like carrots, cucumber, and avacado - all matchsticked and raw) and place them is a straight like across the bottom of the rice, lenthwise. Then, simply roll it up like a burrito. This is where a bamboo mat comes in handy.
Once the roll is tightly wrapped up, you will need a sharp serraded knife, and a glass of cold water. Let the knife blade get very wet and gently saw a 1/2 piece of the roll off the end. Take the blade, wipe off the starch, wet it a repeat until the roll is completly cut.
There are a number of other types of rolls that you can make as well. Generally I make an inside out roll. This means that, once I put the rice on the nori, I flip the seaweed so that the rice in face down. The fillings go onto the nori rather the nthe rice and when rolled up the rice is on the outside of the roll. I also like to put seasme seeds on my roll as well. I just sprinke it on the rice before I add my fillings. If you have never made sushi before, get used to the way directed above before you get to fancy.
Ta-Da! Sushi Night!
As we sat down to eat our great sushi rolls, we realized that it was getting late for the last leg of our day. So we packed those rolls up in some containers, took them to go, and hit the road. It was off to the drive in! Woot.
Friday the 13th at the drive in! How can you beat that? Granted, the film was not great and there were to many disturbances but it was still a lot of fun. Homeade sushi and Jason....what more could a cracker ask for?
Ohh....and Tato had has found a new sleeping spot.
