Let's have a sushi party!

[redmelde]

Last night, I made sushi for the first time, and it was GREAT. Way better than grocery store (even Central Market) sushi, though maybe not as good as good restaurant sushi. That's okay, though. I'm not Japanese, so I have an excuse.

I used this recipe from Epicurious, but modified it so as not to include the crabs and added a ton of veggies

Comments

keeping rice warm

[ravrhi]

If you have a hot plate, you can simply put the rice in a covered bowl on the hot plate, and viola! warm rice! I book marked your directions. I think I will be having some sushi rolling fun next week....

Re: keeping rice warm

[redmelde]

No hotplate--Just a stove, and I didn't want the rice to get all crispity on the bottom from reheating. What would be awesome is to have a rice cooker, but I can't justify the expense and storing it just for sushimaking!

Re: keeping rice warm

[ravrhi]

you can also purchase a cermaic tile type thing that goes over the burner of the stove. you put the stove on the lowest setting and place what you want to be kept warm over the tile covering, and it works the same way.

Re: keeping rice warm

[redmelde]

Ooooh! I'll have to look into that.

[redmelde]

I had my platter all arranged and garnished, turned on the camera, and it told me "NO MEMORY CARD!" We looked around for a card for a few minutes, but sort of halfheartedly because the deliciousness of the sushi was not to be denied. I'm planning to make more and take photos this weekend.

Jam, you say? I've yet to burn any rice (knock wood) on the stovetop, but I love jams and jellies and preserves and all that, and not standing over a boiling pot and stirring all day sounds appealing.

[kightp]

Actually, for traditional sushi, the nori *shouldn't* be too soft/flexible - you want it to retain its crispness as a contrast to the soft, sticky rice. Many traditional recipes call for spreading the rice out (as suggested in your recipe) and fanning it with a paper fan while sprinkling the vinegar on, to hasten cooling; this results in the seasoned vinegar glazing each grain of rice, rather than being absorbed and turning it to moosh.

But if you like it the way you made it, that's what counts.

[redmelde]

The way I did it (traditional or no), the nori wasn't at all mushy. It came out chewy, but wasn't too brittle to roll. I don't think I've ever had sushi with crisp nori! That would be pretty interesting... I guess rolling up crispy things is one of the skills you learn in sushi school.

I had seen somewhere on TV sushi chefs "cutting in" the seasoned vinegar with a wooden spatula, and I tried to emulate that quick, gentle motion. I'm glad I didn't cook the rice according to the package directions, though--the bag called for 2 cups of water per cup of rice, and I think that would have been far too squishy.