If you love to eat piles of sushi but hate the huge tab, here's how you can save lots of cash, have fun and entertain your dinner guests. Be like a cowboy, baby, and roll your own!
RICE FIRST: You can find a million recipes for sushi rice, but here's the gist: short grain, pearl or calrose rice is my preference, cooked in whatever way you prefer (I use a rice cooker since I usually make a huge batch). Generally it's safe to do 1.5 cups water to every 1 cup rice. Your "cup" can be any size. Just stick to the general ratio. I find that it helps to rinse the rice first until the water runs clear. When rice is finished cooking I fold in a couple tablespoons of rice wine vinegar with about a tablespoon of sugar dissolved in it. Just sprinkle it over the rice and gently fold the rice over and over. Don't actually stir it or you will make a smashed mess of the rice. Be loving and gentle with it or it will bruise and weep!
You really only need one special tool, a bamboo sushi rolling mat. This can be found for about $3 at many stores, including most cooking shops, Cost Plus, Uwajimaya or any other Japanese market. I've heard of people using a flexible plastic cutting board or even a piece of stiff cardboard (cereal box etc) so you can do without the actual mat, but they are so cheap and common (wow, that sounded like an insult!) and perfect that you really should get one if it's not too inconvenient.
You can make sushi without using raw fish, but if you want to include some, you will need to find a fish market (or counter) that sells "sashimi grade" fish.
I have made an entire vegetarian sushi feast using tofu, fruits and veggies, eggs and cheeses. Of course I am all about the fish myself, but you gotta give the people what they want, right? Play and experiment, you can't really mess this up.
RICE FIRST: You can find a million recipes for sushi rice, but here's the gist: short grain, pearl or calrose rice is my preference, cooked in whatever way you prefer (I use a rice cooker since I usually make a huge batch). Generally it's safe to do 1.5 cups water to every 1 cup rice. Your "cup" can be any size. Just stick to the general ratio. I find that it helps to rinse the rice first until the water runs clear. When rice is finished cooking I fold in a couple tablespoons of rice wine vinegar with about a tablespoon of sugar dissolved in it. Just sprinkle it over the rice and gently fold the rice over and over. Don't actually stir it or you will make a smashed mess of the rice. Be loving and gentle with it or it will bruise and weep!
You really only need one special tool, a bamboo sushi rolling mat. This can be found for about $3 at many stores, including most cooking shops, Cost Plus, Uwajimaya or any other Japanese market. I've heard of people using a flexible plastic cutting board or even a piece of stiff cardboard (cereal box etc) so you can do without the actual mat, but they are so cheap and common (wow, that sounded like an insult!) and perfect that you really should get one if it's not too inconvenient.
You can make sushi without using raw fish, but if you want to include some, you will need to find a fish market (or counter) that sells "sashimi grade" fish.
I have made an entire vegetarian sushi feast using tofu, fruits and veggies, eggs and cheeses. Of course I am all about the fish myself, but you gotta give the people what they want, right? Play and experiment, you can't really mess this up.
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where did you buy the fish eggs though?
http://sushinow.com/rolling.htm
About the Chirashi, you could add Kizami Nori Finely Shredded Nori and Goma Roasted Sesame Seeds to the dish as a final topping and it would finish off the Chirashi really well, the Kizami Nori gives the dish the needed seaweed flavor and the Goma - the earthy nutty base flavor, that is needed also.
Isn't Japanese food fun?!
gSakura
Sushi & Japanese Market
http://sushiandjapanesemarket.com