Sushi Saturday: Nigiri and Rolls Galore

Like the true heroes of the kitchen you undoubtedly view us as, Kevin and I fought through the fast approaching food coma compliments of our earlier Miso Soup, Edamame and Sapporo Tempura Shrimp and Zucchini to finish our mission and create some tasty sushi. Thanks to our excitement for the task and a complete misunderstanding of fiscal responsibility, we had purchased far too much to stop now.

It was finally time to brave the uncertainty of our Asian market fish and turn the night into something legendary.

Basic Ingredients for a Super Sushi Adventure
Tuna

So focused and wearing my finest shirt!

Yellowtail (himachi)
Tempura Shrimp (see previous recipe)
Sushi Shrimp (but not super raw shrimp, that'd be bad)
Crab meat (stay clear of imitation even if it is way cheaper)
Cucumber, sliced long and thin
Avocados, sliced thin
Nori
Bamboo Rollers 
Saran Wrap
Sushi Rice
Spicy Mayo
Masago
Mint
Lemon
Wasabi
Ginger

Sushi Rice
Adapted from All Recipes

2 cups uncooked sushi rice
3 cups water
1/2 cup rice vinegar
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1/4 cup white sugar
1 tsp salt

1. Rinse the sushi rice in a strainer until the water comes out clear. Combine with the water in a saucepan or rice cooker, cover and cook for ~ 20 minutes or until all the water is absorbed. Let cool.
2. Combine the rice vinegar, oil, sugar and salt in a saucepan over medium heat until all the sugar dissolves. Cool then stir well into the cooked rice. 
3. Always handle the rice with wet hands or wooden spoons dipped in vinegar and water to keep the rice from sticking.

This rice was billed as "Perfect Sushi Rice" from the random person who wrote the All Recipes article, so we had some pretty high hopes. Initially we were a little distressed by how vinegary and slightly sweet the rice was on its own, but, luckily, it actually goes extremely well with fish and managed to not shame its mysterious internet scribe.

Spicy Mayo
Equal parts Sriracha and Mayo

Alter the mayo/sriracha ratio to your taste

Cayenne Pepper
Salt
Garlic Powder


The secret to elevating even the most subpar sushi is the sweet kick of Sriracha based spicy mayo. I modeled this after the killer dipping sauce from my Heart of Palm "Crab" Cakes, but I just toned down the Cajun some.

Standard Nigiri

The basics of nigiri are simple. Just mold some sushi rice into a nice oblong shape, place a dab of wasabi on top to help stick the fish on and top with you expertly filleted sashimi. We made tuna, shrimp and the oh so perfect Texas Style Himachi, which deserves its own section.

Texas Style Himachi

Texas Style Himachi is the definitive nigiri in my opinion. Ever since being introduced to the powerfully spicy yet refreshing magnificence at Kubo's back in my impressionable college days, I have been a firm believer in this one cultural bastardization of sushi. For this slightly more complicated piece of sushi, top your rice with wasabi, a mint leaf, yellowtail and a jalapeno. Then lightly drizzle with some lemon juice. I may have made several extra of these as the night evolved into a roll making party because it was just too delicious to call it quits.

Just pure, utter perfection. Every simple layer is delightful.

Shrimp Tempura Roll

Everyone knows that if you want to feel properly disgusting from a sushi extravaganza, you're going to need to fill yourself with an ungodly amount of rolls.

To make a roll, cover a bamboo roller with saran wrap to prevent sticking. Then top that with a piece of nori, a thin layer of rice (that doesn't quite extend the full size of the nori) and your fillings. Rolling works best if you place all the ingredients toward the edge of the nori (and not the center as we were about to learn following that pic). Also, it's definitely worth cutting the pieces of nori to prevent from over-ricing the rolls. Once it's all rolled tightly, slice it evenly with the seam down. If your "skills" mimic our Kindergarten level ones, you will find yourself frequently tossing out the edge pieces, which may be a little uneven.

For our shrimp tempura roll we went with our previously made shrimp, avocado and cucumber. We then topped it with a little masago for some added crunch.

Our next great sushi excess will likely involve multi-colored masago because, damn, that'd be pretty. 

Inside-Out Yellowtail Roll

We decided to mix things up for our next roll by creating one that was inside-out. Simply put the rice before the nori, but beware this one is a little more unwieldy when it comes to cutting. Our filling consisted of yellowtail, cucumber and avocado (Are you noticing a theme? These are scientifically proven by us to give a nice combination of smooth, crunchy and refreshing.). We then rolled these in sesame seeds, but masago would also work quite well. Finally, feel free to top some pieces with tuna or shrimp for added color a la the rainbow roll. Another easy and delicious variation of this roll would be to substitute in the mint and jalapeno for a Texas Style Himachi roll (which I now severely regret not thinking of at the time).

We later realized that we spent $10 on roe purely for trying to make our sushi prettier...

Shaggy Dog Roll

Somehow Kevin's fancy camera even managed to make our shaggy dog roll look nice. My picture looked like an insane cry for help from two drunk children, so I will spare you from it.

To make the shaggy dog roll, top a shrimp tempura roll with crab meat (again, we highly recommend you spend the extra cash on real crab meat and not the cheap and not very shaggy imitation crab), spicy mayo and crispy tempura pieces (look at us being resourceful and using the failures from our frying).

Spicy Tuna Roll

The crown jewel of our rolls was without a doubt the spicy tuna roll. Our superb spicy mayo provided a creamy kick that made this by far the liveliest of our rolls. It's a shame that we saved this for last because we were no longer in any condition to truly appreciate its greatness.

The roll seemingly spewing out spicy tuna provides even more of a quote than the ever stoic Kevin did (but, darn it, how can I stay mad at those baby blues).

To make the spicy tuna roll cut your tuna in long, thin strips and dredge through the spicy mayo. Fill with the tuna and our standard cucumber and avocado. For added awesomeness and kick, top with jalapenos and diced spicy tuna.

Up close and personal with how to make the perfect roll even more delightful.

Our latest cooking bonanza may have been several months overdue, but it was quite possibly our best yet. We were extremely pleased with everything we made, but the Texas Style Himachi and Spicy Tuna Roll were the obvious highlights of the evening. We also learned an important lesson about excess, and will make sure to have at least 6 other people present the next time we decide to do this. Making sushi is incredibly easy and fun, so it's perfect for a big gathering of friends (who you can then make do all the work under the guise of "instructing"). Plus, everyone loves giant Japanese beers and sake, so we will be doing this again.

This may be my favorite pic because it looks like we're trying to sneak up on the sushi from below.

Sushi Saturday: Sapporo Shrimp and Zucchini Tempura

Following our delicious start of Miso Soup, Kevin and I wanted to venture back into our American comfort zone by deep frying meat and vegetables before going into full blown sushi mode.  For our tempura goodness, we chose zucchini cut in not one but two ways (cuz we fancy) and the ever versatile shrimp (also reserved for later use in sushi rolls).

Would a giant bottle of Sapporo elevate our frying efforts to new heights or would we have to call it a night following horrible oil splash burns (which would still totally be worth it for delicious friedness)?

Sapporo Tempura
Time: 20 minutes

Equal parts flour and Sapporo beer
Cayenne Pepper 
Salt and Pepper
Sriracha (recommended improvement)
Oil for Frying
Shrimp, peeled and deveined
Zucchini, sliced thin and long or in rounds

Make sure to save some Sapporo

1. Mix the batter by whisking together equal parts flour and Sapporo with cayenne pepper, salt and pepper to taste. We highly recommend adding Sriracha for some garlic and extra kick.
2. Heat oil in a large pot to 370 F. Make sure there's plenty of extra room in the pot to prevent nice hot oil splash burns.
3. Coat your zucchini in the batter then fry for 3-4 minutes or until the golden brown and slightly puffed up. Remove with a slotted spoon and place on a plate coated with paper towels to remove excess oil.
4. Repeat with the shrimp. Feel super awesome if you manage to keep your shrimp from curling, which we were unable to do.
5. Serve with dipping sauce and enjoy.

Hmm, these veggies look super delicious.

But how could we possibly make them healthier?

Much better. 

Was there really any doubt that fried shrimp and veggies would be amazing? While, this was fantastic as expected, it surpassed our hopes for the second course thanks to the incredible Sapporo batter. The only change we would've made (in case you didn't gather it by me suggesting it in the instructions and ingredients) would be to add sriracha to the batter for a little extra kick and garlic (fortunately, we were still able to apply it directly to the end product). Our decision to cut the zucchini two ways was also a brilliant way to bring some variety to the mix, and the delicate vegetables went beautifully with our light and airy beer batter. In non-veggie related news, the tempura shrimp ranked among some of the finest shrimp I've ever had (just narrowly missing out at number one behind my mom's incredible fried shrimp). The real struggle was making sure we didn't stuff ourselves on all the tempura perfection since we still had a whole lot of raw fish to deal with and thirty minutes to kill until the sushi rice was ready.

Who shot it better? Kevin and his fancy camera?

Or me and my iPhone after I cleared enough space for pictures? (Dammit, I didn't know we could use props!)

Coming up next, the thrilling finale of entirely too much sushi for two people to eat!

Sushi Saturday: Miso Soup

Sapporo may not have been used to make the miso, but it was instrumental in the night's success.

Kevin and I had a shocking realization this past week- We had not partaken in a massively extravagant cooking adventure in months. The most recent non-grilling event was our delightful Mother's Day Waffle-Off back in May (imagine that- law school, surgeries and jobs take up time), so it was time to revisit our cooking guy love with a vengeance! We would prove our culinary dominance and our bravery by having a night filled with the best Japanese cuisine has to offer- Miso, Tempura and Sushi.

Would we be able to rekindle our cooking chemistry with a one of a kind Sushi feast, or would we be felled by giant beers, sake and questionable fish?

Miso Soup
Adapted from All Recipes
Servings: 4-6

Soft tofu doesn't stand up to cutting well.

Time: 20 minutes

2 tsp dashi granules
4 cups water
2 tbsp red miso paste
1 tbsp white miso paste
8 oz silken tofu, drained and diced
2 Chinese Chives, diced into 1/2" pieces.

1. Combine the water and dashi in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil.
2. Reduce the heat to medium and whisk in the miso paste. Stir in the tofu and green onion.
3. Simmer lightly for 3 minutes and serve.

I managed to not make a single "Miso horny" joke once all night! Adulthood achieved (Ahhhh, crap...)

While Kevin proved his manliness by getting oil scorching hot for deep frying the tempura (but more so I could cleverly force him to peel and devein all the shrimp), I took care of the standard appetizer fare of steamed edamame and miso soup. I was amazed at how simple it was to make miso. Seriously, just twenty minutes and essentially stirring like 5 ingredients into a pot of boiling and then simmering water is all that's required. Mixing red and white miso provided some complexity to our simple soup and allowed it to stand up to any restaurant miso I've ever had. We were definitely off to a great start to our flavorful journey to Japan (plus it's always super cool watching the miso clouds form and move about).

Kevin's fancy camera makes our mushy edamame look far more exciting than it was (note: be careful when steaming still frozen edamame). Also, enjoy the sneak peak of our tempura.

Stay tuned for the final two amazing chapter of Sushi Saturday: Sapporo Tempura and Sushi Rolls and Nigiri Galore! Watch as our creativity increases as a direct function of sake consumption!

The secret to fancy pictures is selective blurriness. Kevin's fancy camera makes me feel like I'm writing for an actual serious food blog. Take that, uninteresting tuna!