Saturday, September 8, 2012

Sushi Making with the Little Sis

Saturday, September 8, 2012
Hello Friends! This post is very overdue.... I've started my third year of medical school and it's super busy! I'm loving my three month internal medicine rotation, but I'm finding that there is hardly any time left over between 6 days a week in the hospital for 12 hours a day, church, and time with the hubby. Still, I'm going to do my best to try and keep up! Thanks for understanding!!

Over my brief summer break, Andrew and I traveled back to Seattle to spend time with family. We also visited my grandparents at Priest Lake in Idaho (my most favorite place in the entire world). While there, my little sister Lisa and I decided it would be fun to make sushi. Let me just say, we've never made sushi before, but we volunteered to make dinner for the whole fam, so the pressure was on.... Fortunately for us, it was so easy and turned out great! The family loved it, and we had a super fun time preparing dinner together!



Here's how we made our sushi:

Supplies:

Bamboo sushi mat (you can find these at most Asian markets)
Saran wrap to cover your sushi mat
Bowl of water to rinse your hands while rolling
Bowl of rice vinegar

Ingredients:

3-4 cups sushi rice, cooked as package indicates
10 Nori seaweed sheets
10 Imitation crab meat sticks/blocks, cut in half length wise
1 avocado, peeled and sliced thinly, lengthwise
1 cucumber, peeled and sliced thinly, lengthwise into matchstick thick pieces
1 carrot (optional), peeled and sliced thinly, lengthwise into matchstick thick pieces
Wasabi paste
Soy sauce

(*we also made sushi rolls with smoked salmon and cream cheese instead of the imitation crab. You can also use sesame seeds, but the ones in the spice cupboard at the cabin were from the 1980's... so we omitted this step.)

Steps:

  1. Cover sushi mat with saran wrap on both sides. This helps the rice not stick while you make your roll.
  2. Place all ingredients on a cutting board or plates on your work surface so you can assemble quickly.
                 
                     
  3. Cut/break seaweed sheets in half (if you want fatter/thicker rolls, don't do this step)
  4. Place seaweed on half of the sushi mat closest to you.
  5. Dip your fingers in the bowl of water and spread some sushi rice evenly over your seaweed. It can be tricky because the rice is sticky, but the water helps quite a bit. (Notice Lisa's sticky fingers... and her lovely nail polish ;) gotta love summer!)

                     
  6. Dip your fingers in the bowl of rice vinegar and dab the top of the rice.

                                     
  7. Once your seaweed is covered with the rice, flip the entire seaweed/rice over so that the seaweed side is toward you and the rice is on top of the saran wrap.
  8. Place all your ingredients onto the seaweed, starting at the edge closest to you.

                     

                     

                     
  9. Roll your sushi, using the bamboo sushi mat. As you start rolling, press firmly along the entire roll to make it tight. Lift up on the mat as you roll, and continue rolling/pressing until you have rolled it into a complete sushi roll. It sounds complicated, but it's not... check out the pictures below, or check out some great videos online :)






 
    10.  Wrap up the sushi roll in some saran wrap until you are ready to cut and serve.
    11.  Proceed with making all the rest of the rolls. 


Feel free to mix up ingredients. We made a variation of the California roll... we're calling ours the Priest Lake roll. We also used some smoked salmon and cream cheese to make another variety. So fun and so tasty!

(Of note, Lisa and I, being musicians, made up a song about our sushi making. It is sung to the tune of "Bamboo" by Peter Paul and Mary... if you'd like to know the lyrics to our tune, let me know and I'll see what I can do...)



Here's the recipe as a JPEG to print:

15 comments:

  1. That actually looks like a fun project! I'm a new follower from the Sunday Social, and I'd love a follow back at http://www.two-in-diapers.blogspot.com when you get the chance! :)

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  2. My hubby makes sushi, but he has never mastered the reverse roll as you teach here, so I'm going to save this for him. His grandmother is Japanese, so I've shared (and will continue to share) a few Japanese recipes. If you are interested, check them out: http://thedomesticatedprincess.blogspot.com

    Thanks,
    Bonny

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for the visit! I checked out your recipes and they look tasty! I'd love to hear how your hubby makes his sushi... this was my first attempt, and I'd like to use raw fish, but we live in Albany and I'm not too sure about getting raw fish locally here. (Seattle was much better for that!)

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  3. I hate to admit it but I'm not into sushi! However, I am into this beautiful blog you have here. Found you over at The Sasse Life Sunday Social. Happy to follow!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Rebecca! Glad you like the blog, even if you're not a fan of sushi :)

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  4. I love your blog Sarah! I am so glad you shared the link on facebook. I can't wait to see what else you come up with. Where you find the time & go to school amazes me :)

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Kelli! It's definitely a challenge to keep up, but I love the community in blogland, and I'm enjoying sharing and learning new things! I'm headed over to your blog now... hope you don't mind if I follow along!

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  5. You have no idea how timely this is...I just bought the ingredients to make sushi with the kiddies this weekend...thank you....I'm gonna pin it for the weekend....and a special thanks for linking to our very first HAPPY HOUR FRIDAY linky party...we appreciate it....xo

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    Replies
    1. You'll have a blast making sushi this weekend! I'm thinking about doing the same thing... except no kiddos, so just the hubby and me :) Thanks so much for hosting Happy Hour Friday! Such a fabulous idea from three of my favorite bloggers :)

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  6. I love sushi, and I am so excited to make it now! Your newest follower!
    ~Thyme
    Feel free to follow back!
    14sixty.blogspot.com

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  7. You make it look so easy! I've always wanted to try my own sushi. I'll have to try this sometime. Thank so much for linking up to Happy Hour this week!

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    Replies
    1. It really is quite easy! Thanks for hosting Happy Hour and for stopping by to say hello!

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  8. I could eat California Rolls every day and be perfectly happy so this is right up my alley! Thank you so much for sharing it with us last weekend at Inspiration Friday!
    Vanessa

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    Replies
    1. Aren't they so tasty! I'm with you... so I made some last night for dinner :)

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  9. Super duper cute. Do come link it up with our party at http://www.finecraftguild.com/party/ We'd love to see it there!

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