Soup Belly

September 15th, 2009 | Subscribe to comments | 15 comments

Our supermarket, Wegmans, has FINALLY offered sashimi grade tuna and salmon for making your own sushi at home. Yay! So of course, Chris has been nagging me to make sushi the past weekend, and it’s sorta my fault, since I casually mentioned that it might be possible for us to make sushi at home now. Well, that got him excited. He even suggested we go out Sunday afternoon, you know…walk around the park, or wherever. And then he started driving me towards Wegmans. He tricked me! How devious and conniving he is!

Like taking a dog to the vet by putting him in the car, and pretending to go to the park. Sneaky.

I made 3 kinds of sushi rolls for your enjoyment – Spicy Salmon Roll, Philadelphia Roll, and Shrimp Tempura Roll.

The various fillings I’ve added to each can be substituted for your favorite fillings. I was meaning to make Spicy Tuna rather than Spicy Salmon, but I wanted the big beautiful slab of salmon at the store.

To sushi experts reading this: I KNOW that most of these rolls are not authentic, blah blah blah. There are many different kinds of sushi other than the kinds I’m showing here. And I’m sure there are other websites that can show you more authentic rolls. So go find them.

To first timers: Ask the guy at the seafood section of the supermarket if they have sashimi or sushi grade fish. Sashimi grade fish is flash frozen at a very cold temperature for a certain number of days, then thawed for making sushi, to kill off parasites. Yummy. It’s a different freezing process than other frozen fish you buy. Read a post about sushi FAQ.

To see more intricate step by step instructions on the sushi rolling process, and how to make sushi rice, please visit my post on kimbap.

Some important proportions to know:

1 roll = 3/4 cup rice

1 roll = 1 oz. fish

Now onto the recipe.

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Spicy Salmon Roll (can use Tuna for this)

printable recipe

Makes: 3 rolls

Ingredients:

• 3 oz. salmon, cut into small chunks
• 1 Tbsp. mayonnaise
• 1/2 tsp. Sriracha Chili Sauce
• cucumber, cut in long thin strips
• avocado, cut in long thin strips
• 2 1/4 cup rice
• 3 seaweed sheets

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Philadelphia Roll

printable recipe

Makes: 3 rolls

Ingredients:

• 3 oz. salmon, cut in long thin strips
• cream cheese, cut in long thin strips
• cucumber, cut in long thin strips
• 2 1/4 cup rice
• 3 seaweed sheets

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Shrimp Tempura Roll

printable recipe

Makes: 2 rolls

Ingredients:

• 4 medium shrimp, fried in tempura batter
• avocado, cut in long thin strips
• 1 1/2 cup rice
• 2 seaweed sheets

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Sushi Rice

printable recipe

Makes: 8 rolls

• 6 cups cooked sushi rice (2 cups uncooked)
• 1/4 cup sushi vinegar
• 3 tsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. sesame oil

*Have bamboo mat ready for rolling sushi.

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Directions:

Sushi Rice

Cook sushi rice according to instructions on the package. As rice is cooking, have vinegar, sesame oil, salt and sugar ready.

Leave rice to steam in rice cooker for 10 minutes after it is finished cooking.  Then scoop the rice into a bowl, and mix the ingredients into the rice.  Immediately begin making rolls while rice is still hot, so it spreads easily onto the seaweed.

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Cut cucumber and avocado into thin long strips.

Look at this beautiful chunk of salmon.

I chopped half the salmon into small chunks for the spicy salmon, and sliced the other half into thin strips for the Philly Roll.

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Spicy Salmon Roll

To make the spicy sauce, mix the mayo and chili sauce together. Fold in the salmon chunks.

Using a spoon, quickly spread a thin layer of rice onto seaweed sheet. Leave a bit of clearance on all sides, as shown. Put strips of salmon, cucumber and avocado on top of rice an inch above bottom of sheet.

Roll bamboo to cover ingredients with seaweed, squeezing bamboo tightly with hands. Unroll bamboo, and continue rolling seaweed tightly until all the rice has been covered. For more intricate step by step photos, visit my post here.

Place rolls seam side down on cutting board. Wait for them to cool for a couple minutes, then cut pieces with a sharp knife.

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Philadelphia Roll

Using a spoon, quickly spread a thin layer of rice onto seaweed sheet. Leave a bit of clearance on all sides, as shown. Layer thin strips of salmon, cucumber and cream cheese over rice.

Roll bamboo to cover ingredients with seaweed, squeezing bamboo tightly with hands. Unroll bamboo, and continue rolling seaweed tightly until all the rice has been covered. For more intricate step by step photos, visit my post here.

Place rolls seam side down on cutting board. Wait for them to cool for a couple minutes, then cut pieces with a sharp knife.

See the pattern yet?

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Shrimp Tempura Roll

Make tempura batter according to instructions on package. Fry shrimp in a pot of oil on medium high heat until golden. Drain on paper towels.

Using a spoon, quickly spread a thin layer of rice onto seaweed sheet. Leave a bit of clearance on all sides, as shown. Layer thin strips of shrimp and avocado over rice. I bent the shrimp to straighten them out, then squished them onto the rice so they wouldn’t curl up again.

Roll bamboo to cover ingredients with seaweed, squeezing bamboo tightly with hands. Unroll bamboo, and continue rolling seaweed tightly until all the rice has been covered. For more intricate step by step photos, visit my post here.

Place rolls seam side down on cutting board. Wait for them to cool for a couple minutes, then cut pieces with a sharp knife.

There you have it.

If you’re a first timer, I’m gonna warn you – preparing sushi gets messy. At least for me it did. But after a few attempts, you start to get the hang of it. They start looking more like sushi rolls and less like partially digested food. A clean sharp knife for each slice of sushi is necessary. I washed and dried the knife between each roll. And the measurements, proportions and ingredients are just suggestions. Use tuna, alfalfa sprouts, sweet potato, or other fillings if you prefer.

 And most of all, have fun with it.