Sushi Sunday

Yesterday afternoon we left the kids in the care of their favorite babysitter and in the company of Karateboy, Tippytornado and their grandma and headed to Baltimore for Sushi Sunday. I don’t know where Esmerelda found the Sushi Princess, but I’m glad she did. We learned to make maki or rolled sushi. I have to say, that in our little group I am the least enthusiastic about sushi. My friend Patty introduced me to it in Cleveland many years ago and we used to make the occasional lunch run. (By odd coincidence, the princess is from Cleveland as well!) I was always a bigger fan of the yummy tempura though. Yes, I’d eat the sushi but raw fish texture is not my thing and the stuff from the grocery store, even if I watch them make it is just a bit rubbery for my taste. Yesterday’s lesson made me a believer, we will be making sushi at our house in the future. Maybe, if we are brave, we’ll even let the kids help, they LOVE veggie rolls.

First, we learned the right technique for making the sticky rice and cooling it. Here are Es and I, just like the ancient Japanese women (ha!) fanning the rice to cool it off so we could season it. Unfortunately for us, she had an awesome rice cooker that none of us have—so when we try to do it on our own we’ll be flying a bit solo in the rice department. Although there mention of there being a sticky, yummy crusty part at the bottom of the pan, a delicacy in Japan, I have to do it once just to try it out.

We spent the next part of the lesson chopping the fish, veggies and egg. We didn’t venture into raw fish—we did use avocado, red bell pepper, scallion, cucumber, smoked salmon and cooked shrimp though and it was fantastic. She also suggested asparagus and I will definitely give that a try in the future. Then we made sauces—G-man hydrated the wasabi with water to get it to the right consistency. Then came my new favorite condiment, Thai chili sauce and mayonnaise. OMG, spicy, creamy goodness.

Finally, everything was ready to roll (ha, ha, I made a punny!). We got our mats, our Nori, and learned the correct technique for rolling our sushi rolls. Thin coating of rice, then sauce if you desire, a few strips of filling (really amazingly little of each ingredient), wet the edge, roll it up in the mat, and wha-la, out pops a long sushi roll. Put it aside for at least 5 minutes seam side down, cut and eat. OMG, creamy avocado, crunchy cucumber, creamy spice sauce, all held together with lightly seasoned rice, heaven. Oh, oh, I almost forgot, the pickled ginger. So. Good. I hate the pink stuff that I’ve had before, this stuff was amazing!

We had a great afternoon, the Sushi Princess was definitely a lovely woman. She opened up her home to us and let us play in her kitchen. The company was great and the food, it was to die for! So, if you’ve ever thought of trying to make your own sushi, I am convinced it is worth the effort.