Preparation:

Do I have to buy some bamboo thing?

Yes, buy a sushi mat. In the asian stores here they go for about 99 cents, so I have three. A loTbsp of little 1/8" diameter bamboo sticks, attached to each other with string to make a square floppy mat a little bigger than a piece of nori.

What about the rice? I saw a recipe for sushi rice once, but I think I saw sushi rice in my HFS. Does anyone know about this? Is it possible to make this with brown rice? I guess it wouldn'Tbsp be the same, probably not sticky.

The rice is key to the texture and taste of good sushi. Buy good rice. I've never made brown rice sushi, but I think you'd need to use a little less water than normal for brown rice and just cook until it's done, then season it as below, maybe using a stronger seasoning mix to make it more sticky.

Wash 3 1/3 cups short grain white rice until water runs clear. let stand for a few minutes. Place in a pot along with 4 cups water and a piece of kombu (thick strips of kelp). Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat, cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove cover and place an absorbent kitchen towel over the top of the pot, then replace cover and turn off heat. let rice stand undisturbed 15 minutes. But: if there's still water showing over the top of the rice after 5 min. simmer, allow to simmer a bit longer before turning off heat.

Dissolve 5 Tbsp white sugar in 5 Tbsp rice vinegar, and add 4 tsp sea salt.

After some experience, you may want to change this seasoning mixture and/or increase the strength of the seasoning.

Turn rice out into a shallow bowl of some slightly porous material. I use a big Rubbermaid bowl, and it works fine, but my cookbook recommends wood. Stir gently with a flat spoon, keep from breaking or mashing rice grains if possible. Sprinkle seasoning mixture onto rice as you stir. Rice will gradually become slightly shiny and more sticky. You can fan the rice as you stir to cool it, but lightly tossing it in a large bowl will cool it as well.

To make sushi rolls, lay out a sheet of nori on your sushi mat so that the long edge is parallel to the bottom of the mat. Use a flat spoon to spread a 1/2" (or slightly thinner, as you like) layer of rice on the nori, covering all but 1/2" at the bottom of the sheet and 1 1/2" at the top. Lay out a row of fillings on the center of the rice. Roll the nori around the rice and filling, bringing the bottom edge of rice and nori over the filling to meet the top edge of the rice layer and then rolling up the exposed nori to seal the roll. Wrap the sushi mat around the roll, using it to gently compress the roll from many directions while maintaining its cylindrical shape.

Slice with a very sharp knife.

What else can you put in besides cucumber?

Anything you put in should be cut into approx. 1/4" strips.

Some things need to be simmered in seasoning broth. I use one pot to do all simmering, starting with a mixture of equal parts rice wine and water, plus a little sugar and soy sauce.

Cook things in order of taste, i.e carrots, then mushrooms, then tempeh, so that strong tasting things don't flavor delicate things. By the end your broth will be very tasty. Things that I have picked out of sushi rolls because they taste bad: sweet red pepper

Servings:
Source:
Submitted by: Recipe Group Member
Date:

•