Need Help with Sushi

[PrincessFiona60]

Originally Posted by 4meandthem

Zojirushi make great rice cookes! I have had mine for over 10 years.

Don't worry about not having a mat.I use a quart zip lock bag.

I would try making tuna sald and salmon salad sushi if I only had canned.I would get some fresh and sear it rare though.

We use fake crab,smoked salmon,cooked minced shrimp,cooked minced scallops,grilled fish,rare beef,sweet omellete for our home sushi proteins.

I will make 3 sauces to use too.

Mayo with srihacha for spicy shrimp or just the sri hacha
Mayo with spenda for creamy scallops/shrimp
Mayo with splenda and soy

Good time to use reduced cal mayo since you are changing the flavor anyway.

Brown rice works good for sushi too.It has more flavor but you really have to cook it longer and use more water.

What is sweet omellete?

[PrincessFiona60]

Originally Posted by CraigC

Not necessarily for sushi, but have you ever had green chile stew or Cuban style pork roast (we use the leftovers for Cuban sandwiches)? Do you have access to fresh tomatillos, fresh pablano chilis or fresh sour oranges? I promise you a great garlic fix with the Cuban pork roast and a cumin fix with the stew (it has to be fresh toasted and ground seeds though). The stew can be pretty mild or have a little kick, depending on the spiciness of the pablanos. If interested I can give you the ingredients and how to. I don't ever measure the spices as it is all done to taste, nor do I have a written recipe.

Craig

I made some kick butt chile verde with pork and rice last week. Made from all fresh ingredients...the tomatillos were fantastic! Haven't made Cubanos, lately, but they are very good.

I ended up making Char Siu with the pork...very good.

[sparrowgrass]

Now you made me hungry for sushi!! I use jasmine rice in mine--I know it is heresy, but it tastes good.

I bought some wasabi mayo--that is nice with Krab or shrimp. I also shred some carrots to add color, and some very finely julienned celery.

[4meandthem]

Originally Posted by PrincessFiona60

What is sweet omellete?

Basics: Tamagoyaki or Atsuyaki Tamago, Japanese sweet omelette | Just Hungry

[spork]

Originally Posted by PrincessFiona60

What is sweet omellete?

I actually own a sweet omelette frying pan, a 5x7 rectangular non-stick with three deep square sides and one short end side that slopes up to the lip. So I do make it once in a while because it’s very tasty, but it’s a bit of a pain and whenever I make it, I find myself muttering, “why am I bothering with this?”

The beaten egg is diluted to a watery consistency, cooked onion-skin thin and tightly rolled. Repeat with another onion-skin layer. Roll, roll, roll, all the while focused on timing so that each successive rapidly cooking skin is just wet enough to adhere to the growing cylindrical omelette. For just the last layer, turn up the heat to try and get an appealing browning. When done, squeeze it into sushi shape (with sushi mat).

Mixtures can vary, but my sweet omelette is basic:
4 eggs
3 Tbsp dashi soup stock
3 Tbsp sugar, or less to taste
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp sake rice wine
pinch of salt

By the way, sushi restaurants hate it when a customer’s first order is for “tamago.” It’s a declaration, “If you can’t cook an egg well, I reserve the right to walk out on your establishment.”

[PrincessFiona60]

Originally Posted by sparrowgrass

Now you made me hungry for sushi!! I use jasmine rice in mine--I know it is heresy, but it tastes good.

I bought some wasabi mayo--that is nice with Krab or shrimp. I also shred some carrots to add color, and some very finely julienned celery.

I'm considering julienning all veggies and lightly steaming them, making them easier to chew. I had a hard time with cucumber and yellow pepper in my store bought sushi.

Thanks!

[PrincessFiona60]

Originally Posted by 4meandthem

Basics: Tamagoyaki or Atsuyaki Tamago, Japanese sweet omelette | Just Hungry

Originally Posted by spork

I actually own a sweet omelette frying pan, a 5x7 rectangular non-stick with three deep square sides and one short end side that slopes up to the lip. So I do make it once in a while because it’s very tasty, but it’s a bit of a pain and whenever I make it, I find myself muttering, “why am I bothering with this?”

The beaten egg is diluted to a watery consistency, cooked onion-skin thin and tightly rolled. Repeat with another onion-skin layer. Roll, roll, roll, all the while focused on timing so that each successive rapidly cooking skin is just wet enough to adhere to the growing cylindrical omelette. For just the last layer, turn up the heat to try and get an appealing browning. When done, squeeze it into sushi shape (with sushi mat).

Mixtures can vary, but my sweet omelette is basic:
4 eggs
3 Tbsp dashi soup stock
3 Tbsp sugar, or less to taste
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp sake rice wine
pinch of salt

By the way, sushi restaurants hate it when a customer’s first order is for “tamago.” It’s a declaration, “If you can’t cook an egg well, I reserve the right to walk out on your establishment.”

Thank you, since I like egg, I suppose this will be making an appearance each time.

[PrincessFiona60]

How long will Dashi keep in the fridge? There is no way I can use it up in a week. Would it freeze well?

Also, is there an instant Dashi and what is the name of it? I could be looking right at it, but not know, if it's in Japanese...:)

[spork]

It freezes well; you can make them into ice cubes and store in ziploc. It also refrigerates well. Personally, with straight dashi, I start to worry around the two week mark, but I admit that I have no basis or source document for this worry.

Instant dashi comes in dry granulate or powder. It therefore comes in any sort of packaging. And, dozens of brands. I'm not sure how to advise you...

da - shi is written in Japanese

だし

the two hash marks after the first character indicate the hardend consonant "d," the second character can be remembered because it looks sursurrant, like a tailing "shhh." If the package also has a graphic of a football shaped fish, pretty good bet that it is dashi.

The instant is helpful for making, and not wasting, a small batch.

[NoraC]

Sushi requires only seasoned rice to be sushi. The mat is used for making certain types of rolled sushi. You can make "authentic" sushi with a press or with nori cones filled on the spot or with nori battleship rounds. I LOVE sushi, but if you are looking at sushi as a health choice, consider whether the carb/protein balance works with your metabolism and goals. Sashimi is better for me, because carbs make me hungry. I eat a lot of sushi, and love to make it, but if I am feeling pudgy (like after Christmas) or nutritionally out of balance, sushi isn't where I go.

[PrincessFiona60]

Thank you Spork! I may not be able to read it, but I can see the symbol, I've duplicated it onto the margin of my shopping list! Now I can look for it! I figure the instant will travel better to work.

I will freeze it in one cup batches. That's what I use for a bowl of soup, can always double it when I cook rice.

[PrincessFiona60]

Originally Posted by NoraC

Sushi requires only seasoned rice to be sushi. The mat is used for making certain types of rolled sushi. You can make "authentic" sushi with a press or with nori cones filled on the spot or with nori battleship rounds. I LOVE sushi, but if you are looking at sushi as a health choice, consider whether the carb/protein balance works with your metabolism and goals. Sashimi is better for me, because carbs make me hungry. I eat a lot of sushi, and love to make it, but if I am feeling pudgy (like after Christmas) or nutritionally out of balance, sushi isn't where I go.

Thanks, Nora! Sushi is my way of incorporating more vegetables, that I like, into my diet. And for putting neat, new foods into my Bento Boxes. I started out wanting to learn to make rolled Sushi, like you see in the stores. Now that I have studied it, I understand Sushi and see it for what it really is...a finger food. What counts is what goes into it. My horizons have expanded from my initial desire to learn about making Sushi.

[spork]

Originally Posted by NoraC

I eat a lot of sushi, and love to make it, but if I am feeling pudgy (like after Christmas) or nutritionally out of balance, sushi isn't where I go.

I agree. Sweet carb with a touch of sour to get saliva going is a recipe for overindulgence, as I always do with chirashi zushi, trash sushi, a rice bowl topped/mixed with all the leftovers of a sushi restaurant, such as irregular ends of raw fish fillet. I eat it like a pig; nothing healthy about it.

[blissful]

Spork, you have so much information! Thank you for that.
Fiona - I like the bento box idea and the sushi idea for portion control reasons.

I've used the wasabi powder, and just mixed it with water. There are probably better ways to make a wasabi sauce/or paste.

My favorite rolled sushi is with raw shrimp or raw scallops, chopped, a little mayo and some wasabi. My dipping sauce is usually soy sauce with wasabi, and I have some pickled ginger on the side.

When we make rolled sushi with veggies, we use any combination of carrot, cucumber, avocado, peppers-all colors, green onion, etc, and a little cream cheese or sauce (mayo, soy, wasabi, ginger). Steaming the crisper veggies seems like a good idea for chewability sake. If you use seaweed wrappers, they can be quite chewy, but they get softer the longer they sit against the seasoned rice.

[PrincessFiona60]

Originally Posted by blissful

Spork, you have so much information! Thank you for that.
Fiona - I like the bento box idea and the sushi idea for portion control reasons.

I've used the wasabi powder, and just mixed it with water. There are probably better ways to make a wasabi sauce/or paste.

My favorite rolled sushi is with raw shrimp or raw scallops, chopped, a little mayo and some wasabi. My dipping sauce is usually soy sauce with wasabi, and I have some pickled ginger on the side.

When we make rolled sushi with veggies, we use any combination of carrot, cucumber, avocado, peppers-all colors, green onion, etc, and a little cream cheese or sauce (mayo, soy, wasabi, ginger). Steaming the crisper veggies seems like a good idea for chewability sake. If you use seaweed wrappers, they can be quite chewy, but they get softer the longer they sit against the seasoned rice.

I am doing really good with the portion control. I've been using the bento "Idea(l)" for all meals. And have learned to have a snack between meals, oranges, bananas, a little hummus and crackers. I am losing weight! It's been a fun discovery and journey.

Now I have to pay a bit of attention to my baking.

[VRecipes]

If you're willing to be a little adventurous, you can make some pretty wacky combinations that are really tasty. Some of my more successful rolls include:

Apple slices, toasted walnuts, parmesan slices
Sauteed spinach and portobello mushrooms
Roasted cauliflower with goat cheese
Tomato, mozzarella and basil
Sliced egg, avocado and roasted red pepper puree
Mashed black beans with guacamole and salsa

I think my favorite approach is just looking at what I have leftover in the fridge and figuring out what sounds like it might go well together. As long as you use things you know you like, you're very unlikely to make something that tastes terrible.

[infinitecookbook]

If you want to make sushi without raw fish and even a bit lower on the carbs here are some ideas. One thing I like to do (because I am on a low carb diet at the moment) is make what I call "finger rolls". If you're familiar with a sushi "hand roll" this is like a mini version of that only without rice. Basically, what I do is I pick up these "Nori Strips" which are crunchy roasted seaweed just like the larger sheets you'd make hand or cut rolls with but these are about the size of a finger. They have them at a lot of oriental markets and actually they're good even just on their own (like chips!).

Anyway, I take them and individually wrap them around whatever the filling is which can vary (shrimp, crab, krab, scallops, lobster, avocado, steamed octopus, conch...). One great thing about doing this is that the seaweed stays crunchy! Nori can get soggy and chewy pretty fast and in my opinion it's best when a roll is eaten shortly after it's made (one of the benefits of eating from the sushi bar!).

Here's an example made with a really great spicy shrimp filling.



Here's the recipe for that spicy shrimp. You mix some mayo in a bowl (and if you're on a diet you can use something like Smart Balance with Omega 3 etc. - I am and it's fine to me). Put some masago (smelt eggs) in there, chop up some green onions and put that in there too. Then a few drops of sesame oil and chili oil (or you can get "Hot Sesame Oil" which has both in one). There's also a bit of red chili sauce you can add in there too. Mix it around and then add in your cooked shrimp (chopped or not). That's it!

In the pic above I added some avocado too. The cool thing about this finger roll idea is that you really only need to eat as many as you're actually hungry for. One thing that can be frustrating about full size rolls is that once the roll is there you feel the pressure to eat them all until they're gone. They don't save very well otherwise (although I have a fun idea on how to "spark up" a sushi roll left-over if you want to know). Anyway, with your spicy shrimp salad, sesame tuna dip, smoked salmon dip or whatever your filling is you can keep that in the bowl and only make as many as you're going to eat!

All around without the rice and with portion control it's pretty tasty and not too bad if you're on a diet. You can even cut out the mayo if you want (but we all have our limits... that's useful glue and a nice vehicle for the spicy flavor. A tough one for me to leave out but it can be done!).

I made a whole album on here of some ideas along these lines if you want to see more.

[Selkie]

Sushi is NOT necessarily raw seafood (or even seafood at all,) it is:

A Japanese specialty based on boiled rice flavored with a sweetened rice vinegar mixture called sushi meshi, with seafood, usually cooked, and vegetables wrapped with nori. It is usually served with pickled ginger and wasabi paste. It can be strictly vegetables if you desire.

Sashimi is sliced raw fish or other seafood, usually NOT wrapped with nori (seaweed paper), but resting atop a bed of sticky rice and served with a selection of condiments such as Daikon radish, gingerroot, wasabi and a soy-based dipping sauce.

[powerplantop]

Originally Posted by Selkie

Sashimi is sliced raw fish or other seafood, usually NOT wrapped with nori (seaweed paper), but resting atop a bed of sticky rice and served with a selection of condiments such as Daikon radish, gingerroot, wasabi and a soy-based dipping sauce.

When I was in Japan Sashimi never came out on a bed of rice. It usually came out looking something like this.
Sashimi | I love all recipes, foods from AllRecipes.com

[Selkie]

Originally Posted by powerplantop

When I was in Japan Sashimi never came out on a bed of rice. It usually came out looking something like this.
Sashimi | I love all recipes, foods from AllRecipes.com

The sashimi I got didn't look like that when I was in Okinawa in the early seventies...

Oh, well!