Yeah well..I finally decided to get on that.
This stuff is just too good not to share- sushi is fabulous.
My problem hasn't been laziness, but rather that I didn't want it to to be incomplete picture-wise. I kept planning on re-creating our entire sushi feast so I could get some decent pictures for you guys and for one reason or another I just haven't gotten around to it.
Sorry about that.
So instead you're getting a few pretty pictures, one terrible picture I snapped on my phone on NYE, several fabulous recipes, and my tips.It's what I've got at the moment.
Who knows- maybe one of these days I'll get this post updated with the rest of the recipe pictures for you guys! :-)
Anyway, for many years sushi has been my weakness.
Some people go for chips, some for sweets.
I can pass on all of those things if need be but my culinary achilles heel has been sushi.
I just can't say no- nor can I stop at a reasonable amount.
I can eat sushi until it's coming out my ears.
Boy, that's kind of a weird visual, isn't it?
Anyway, a few years ago I bought my husband a sushi rolling mat as a stocking suffer and we attempted to use it exactly once.
I made some horrendously bad sushi rice.
It was glop. I resigned myself to sushi from restaurants and- who am I kidding- grocery stores.
Then I saw the most amazing thing on Facebook. There in my feed, I saw it- the sushi bazooka.
Yes, you heard me right- the sushi bazooka.
It's essentially a cylinder that opens lengthwise. Sushi rice is pressed into either side, the center is filled with whatever you're putting in the roll, and you close it up. There is a plunger-ish piece on one end of the cylinder that pushes the sushi roll out the other side onto a piece of nori.
Slice and enjoy.
It sounded bizarre and way too easy, but then I watched videos of the thing in action and knew that I needed this device in my life.
After a couple of weeks on my Amazon wish list my wonderful husband made sure it was under the tree for me at Christmas. It was time to figure out this whole sushi-making thing- and New Year's Eve was the perfect chance to try our hand at it.
First of all, I had to conquer the rice. After my first attempt this is definitely what I was most nervous about. I read sooooo many recipes and posts about it! It turned out amazing- I honestly had a hard time keeping out of it while I was getting the rest of the ingredients ready, it was delicious and the consistency was perfect.
I found some of the best advice at Make My Sushi. I didn't follow the directions exactly but I did for the most part and it definitely had the best advice that I came across. I'll bullet point the basics for you below.
Also, I needed some sauces and I didn't want to buy a bunch of new stuff that I would only use for sushi. The good thing about cooking Asian foods is that while many of the recipes have fairly intimidating ingredient lists once you've made a couple of recipes you usually have the basics on hand so it's not such a big deal. I chose to make two sauces, Eel (Unagi) Sauce and Dynamite Sauce (Spicy Sushi Sauce). Both very simple and sooo tasty! Great for drizzling or dipping. :-)
We decided to make four kinds of rolls- all yummy and overlapping in ingredients a bit which made my shopping list shorter. :-)
We went with Spicy Tuna Rolls, Shrimp Tempura Rolls, Caterpillar Rolls, and California Rolls.
The first two are fairly self explanatory, the last is ubiquitous, and the Caterpillar Rolls have both the tuna and tempura in them. Delicious!
We even made our own tempura batter because I couldn't figure out where our store had stashed the mix (spoiler: it was on the baking aisle)- turns out that's super easy too!
Honestly, I went from having no sushi skills whatsoever to making some insane sushi that we absolutely devoured. I hope you enjoy these recipes as much as we did!
Tempura Batter
Tempura Batter
1. Beat egg whites in a bowl until frothy. Fold flour and cold water into egg whites until batter is just barely mixed.
3 C prepared sushi rice
1/2 lb sushi-grade tuna, sliced into 1/4" cubes
2 Tbsp sriracha
2 Tbsp chopped green onions
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp hot chile oil
Nori sheets
sesame seeds
spicy mayo
For traditional sushi-rolling directions click on the link above to AstroEater.com! Otherwise...
1. In a medium bowl, combine the tuna, sriracha, chili oil, sesame oil and 1 Tbsp green onions.
2. Spread rice on either side of opened sushi bazooka with wet fingers. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Fill center with tuna mixture.
3. Close sushi bazooka and extrude onto sheet of nori. Wrap nori around sushi; allow to sit for several minutes and slice with sharp knife.
4 sheets of nori
8 pre-cooked tempura shrimp
8 strips of cucumber
8 slices of avocado
3 tablespoons black and/or white sesame seeds
For traditional sushi-rolling directions click on the link above to DinnerAtTheZoo.com! Otherwise...
1. Spread rice on either side of opened sushi bazooka with wet fingers. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Fill center with tempura shrimp, cucumber strips, and avocado slices.
2. Close sushi bazooka and extrude onto sheet of nori. Wrap nori around sushi; allow to sit for several minutes and slice with sharp knife.
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| Our not so fancy looking NYE feast cell phone pic :-) |
Spicy tuna mix (I used the same spicy tuna mix as I did in the Spicy Tuna Roll above)
Pre-made Shrimp tempura
Unagi sauce
Green onions, finely chopped
Avocado Slices
Dynamite sauce
Unagi Sauce
Toasted sesame seeds
For some tips on traditional sushi rolling techniques click on the link above to EdibleVentures.com! Otherwise...
1. Spread rice on either side of opened sushi bazooka with wet fingers. Fill center with spicy tuna mix, tempura shrimp, a very small amount of unagi sauce, and a sprinkling of green onion.
3. Close sushi bazooka and extrude onto sheet of nori. Wrap nori around sushi; allow to sit for several minutes.
4. Top with avocado slices, dynamite sauce, unagi sauce, toasted sesame seeds. Slice with sharp knife.
California Roll
½ lb imitation crab sticks
1 avocado, sliced
½ medium English cucumber julienned
If using the magical and amazing sushi bazooka...
1. Spread rice on either side of opened sushi bazooka with wet fingers. Fill center with imitation crab, avocado, and cucumber.
3. Close sushi bazooka and extrude onto sheet of nori. Wrap nori around sushi; allow to sit for several minutes and slice with sharp knife.
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