The semester is finally coming to a close, and though I’m sure most will be very appreciative to see the semester done and gone, but there’s going to be a little something missing over the short break, and that little something is the sushi from the NEIU cafeteria. It may be a bit on the pricey side, but it’s definitely both delicious, and unavailable once finals are over. Now then, you can go out and buy your own sushi, or you can make it! Here is how to make a basic California roll.
Tools Required
There are a few basic tools that you will need to make sushi. The first is a sharp knife. You can use any kitchen knife for this purpose, or you can use a specialty sushi knife. The specialty knife might be something to look into if you find yourself making sushi regularly. The second is a bamboo mat to help roll up the sushi. This you can get online, as part of a kit, or at a specialty store, such as Mitsuwa Marketplace. It is recommended to wrap the bamboo mat in plastic, to prevent rice from falling out of the rolls, while rolling, and sticking to the bamboo. You will also need one pot to cook the rice, a sauce pan, and a plate and wooden spoon to mix.
Ingredients Required
For this example we’ll be using nori, an edible seaweed as the wrap. So the first ingredient would be roasted seaweed, in sheets. You will need an imitation crab stick and an avocado. You’ll also need Japanese rice, water, rice vinegar, sugar and salt to make the sushi rice.
1 Sheet of Roasted Seaweed
2 Imitation crab stick
1 Avocado
1 Cup of Japanese Rice
1 Cup of Water
3 Tbsp rice vinegar
1 Tbsp sugar
1/3 Tsp salt
Step One: Sushi Rice
The first thing you’ll need to do is prepare the rice for the sushi, which has it’s own specific recipe. The first part is a simple preparation of rice. Wash and soak the Japanese rice while heating water to a boil. Turn off the heat, add in the rice and cover, letting it steam. While that’s happening, mix the rice vinegar, sugar and salt into the sauce pan. Heat it up until the sugar dissolves in the mixture, and then cool it.
Take the rice and spread it over the plate and then sprinkle the mixture over the rice, to coat the rice instead of soak it. Mix the rice together as you sprinkle and then spread the rice on a sheet of aluminum foil and let it cool.
Step Two: Sushi
Once your rice has cooled down you can actually move on and make the sushi. Take the seaweed sheet and lay it on the bamboo mat. Pour the rice onto the sheet and press the rice flat into it so you make it into a thin layer. Once the rice covers the sheet flip it over so the rice is face down on the bamboo. Take the crab sticks and place them horizontally in the center of the sheet. Peel the avocado and cut thin strips from it and make a line of avocado slices beside the crab meat.
Now that you’ve combined the main ingredients it’s time to form the sushi roll. Press your fingers down in the center of the seaweed sheet with your thumbs underneath the bamboo mat. Lift up the mat and shape the rice/seaweed sheet into a single circle , then lay the mat back down. Then lift the mat up again to wrap the seaweed around itself and form the shape of a sushi roll.
Dice and serve!