It was a great time, and though we went all out for our first time, if we had kept it more simple, it would have been cheaper than eating at a sushi restaurant. We did end up being able to enjoy sushi for 3 days because of all we'd gotten. I think we will incorporate this into our dinner plans more often.
In addition, Brad loves tempura so he decided to make some shrimp tempura as well. I told him up front that I'd get everything for making regular sushi rolls but if he wanted tempura, he'd have to do it himself. I'm not good with oil. In fact, I almost burnt down our house when I was a teenager making mozzarella sticks! Okay, not really, but I did start a small fire on the stove!
I did some research up front to learn how to do everything and though I'd share what I learned. First off, I found this great website, http://makemysushi.com/. You have to check it out if you want to make sushi. It has demonstration graphics and all the basic information you'll need to know.
Luckily, Orlando has great Asian markets downtown that offer supplies at the best price, but many Publix supermarkets now offer everything as well, just a little bit more cost. I was lucky to have a guy help me at the Asian market who was a chef for many years and gave me a run down on how to make the shrimp tempura. A five minute lesson of what he'd learned over 10 years! I passed this info along to Brad and he did a great job with it. It turned out delicious. That was the one thing that was all gone by the end of the night. (Also, the website I mentioned has a shrimp tempura tutorial - wish we had seen that before, then we would have known to put them on a skewer to keep them straight. Well, we'll try that next time!)
If you are interested in trying this out for yourself, below are the basic supplies/food you'll need. You have to make sure to get sushi rice - it's a short grain rice that will be sticky enough to hold together when you roll it. It actually sticks to your fingers when you are making it, so have a bowl with water and sushi seasoning mixed to dip your fingers in.
Basic Supplies:
Nori (Seaweed)
Gari (Picked ginger)
Wasabi
Sushi Rice (Shari)
Sushi Seasoning (or rice vinegar, sugar and salt - see recipe at link below)
Rolling mat (the ones with one side flat and the other round are the easiest to use)
Filling Ingredient Ideas (Choose ones to make the rolls you like):
Tuna - raw
Shrimp - cooked
Imitation Crab
Carrots
Avacado
Cucumber
Cream Cheese
Green Onion
Topping Ideas:
Toasted Sesame Seeds
Spicy Mayo
Here is the direct link on how to make the sushi rice - http://makemysushi.com/index.php/Sushi-Preparations/sushi-rice.html
Check out all the other links in the Sushi University area for tips and techniques for rolling the sushi and cutting the filling items. You can make traditional rolls or just put together different combinations that look good to you and enjoy! I liked being able to try different combinations than what is typically available. All were very good!
Here are some fun photos from our sushi party. I'm definitely ready to do it again soon!
4 comments:
Wow! That looks really hard but your rolls look beautiful! Brad and I LOVE sushi but we've never been brave enough to try making it. How were your blood sugars after all that rice? Do you think it's easier to count carbs on sushi now that you know about how much of everything is in it?
Also, your table looks adorable! Love the bamboo mats and the sand garden!
Thanks Layne! It's actually really not that hard. Messy though. I actually had calculated that a typical sushi roll is around 5 carbs per each cut piece, and that makes sense based on the amount of rice we used on each roll. We were probably a bit liberal with the rice so ours probably were more carbs than that! Typically I've been fine with the blood sugars after based on that carb count, but this time I went to bed with a decent number and woke up high. :(
Oh my goodness, "my" Brad (does that make three BRADs?!?!) and I wanted to make sushi for a while, too... I am just so scared that it could never be as good as what we buy in the restaurant and would probably cost three times as much! Yours LOOKS amazing, though!!
Guess the good guys are named Brad! :)
Suzanne, you definitely need to give it a try! It's not always as pretty as at a restaurant but I promise you it tasted just as good! If you are making sushi, just the two of you, just keep the fillings to a minimum and it won't cost more at all. Or for a group night you can have a variety and definitely save, and have leftovers! We've still got more rice, wasabi, ginger, sesame seeds and such for when we make them next time.
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