Sushi Rolls (Maki)

One of our favorite foods is sushi.  We would probably eat it several times a week if we could.  The first few times we made sushi, it seemed a little time consuming, but once you get all of the steps down, it's really simple.  We've been making it for over four years so most of the process is second nature to us now.  

We started our sushi-making when we lived in Tucson and could purchase sushi fish at several markets.  We didn't make it as often then because there were amazing sushi restaurants all over Tucson.  Then came our move to a small town in Alabama...definitely not the best for sushi so we knew if we wanted any decent sushi, we'd have to make it ourselves.  We couldn't find any sushi fish locally so we started doing some research and found Catalina Offshore Products, which is a company out of San Diego that will overnight the fish to you.  We have been very pleased with their sushi-grade fish.  We buy mostly frozen fish, and when it arrives, we split it into individual serving sizes and vacuum seal it.  We place the fish in the refrigerator to thaw the night before making sushi.  

It is hard to describe every step in the process so please let me know if you have any questions or if a step isn't clear.  


Sushi Rolls

Ingredients

• Sushi Rice (short or medium-grain rice)
• Nori (Orchid's Sushi Nori is our favorite brand)
• Sushi Fish (tuna, salmon, eel, shrimp, etc.)
• Other inside ingredients (cream cheese, avocado, cucumber, roe, etc.)
• Sauces (eel sauce, Kewpie/Japanese mayo, Sriracha) 
• Toasted Sesame Seed
• Wasabi Paste
• Pickled Ginger
• Soy Sauce

Directions

For the sushi rice, place 2 cups of rice in a rice cooker and rinse/wash until water becomes clear (probably 7-8 times).  Fill the water to the 2 cup line, and let the rice soak for 20 minutes.  After that, cook the rice, then unplug and let sit for 5 minutes.  Place the rice in a wooden bowl or on a counter top covered with plastic wrap.  Pour the seasoned rice wine vinegar over the rice and mix carefully while fanning the rice to cool quickly (we use an oven mitt to fan the rice).  Continue until rice is cool to touch.

Cover a bamboo rolling mat with plastic wrap (to make clean-up easier) and place a sheet of nori on it.  Spoon rice onto nori and spread lightly with the spoon or use your fingers after dipping them into a mixture of water and rice wine vinegar.  Sprinkle lightly with toasted sesame seed.  If you want your rice on the inside (easier), place your ingredients on one end of the nori (about half an inch from the edge) and and then roll.  For rice on the outside, gently press the rice onto the nori, flip it over on the bamboo mat, and lay your ingredients across the nori about half an inch from the edge.

After rolling, place the roll on a cutting board and use a sharp knife to cut the roll into 8-10 equal pieces.  Dip knife into a mixture of water and rice vinegar before cutting and between cuts.  Place onto a platter and serve with wasabi paste, pickled ginger, and soy sauce.

To make rolls spicy, you can mix wasabi paste with mayo or sriracha with mayo and place inside roll or place in squeeze bottle and drizzle on top

Our favorite rolls:

Playboy - shrimp tempura and Kewpie inside / rice on the outside with tuna, roe, Kewpie and eel sauce drizzled across the top

Shrimp/Eel - tempura shrimp, eel, avocado, cucumber, and Kewpie inside / eel sauce drizzled on the outside

Philly - salmon, avocado, cream cheese inside

Wasabi Tuna - tuna, shrimp tempura, avocado, cucumber, and wasabi mayo inside