sushi rolls!

Ian, Chris and I made sushi last night, technically "makizushi" which I think means sushi rolls, but who knows. I didn't pick up many transferable skills in Japan (for example, knowing how to say, "I would like a large draft beer," or "excuse me, where is this town's shinto shrine?" isn't very useful in America) but I would say that sushi is one of them.

I would print the directions here, but there are much better directions on the packet of roasted seaweed, along with diagrams. The brand we have here is Yamamoto Yama, although that's just written in very small print. It's a square-ish pack of dried seaweed, and it should have a picture of rolled sushi on the front. That's pretty much how I did all my shopping in Japan, by picture. It doesn't have directions for making sushi rice, so here's mine. This makes enough sushi for at least four hungry people, and for that amount I would get two packets of seaweed, 10 sheets each. You might not use it all, but better safe than sorry.

Cook 3 cups of sushi rice according to the directions on the box/bag. (it should be sushi rice, but I think I've used short grain rice before.)
Place the cooked rice in a large bowl.
In a separate bowl, mix 4 Tbls rice vinegar, 2 Tbls sugar, and 1 tsp salt.
Sprinkle over rice as someone else stirs the rice with a study mixing spoon or spatula until it's mixed thoroughly.
Wait until the rice is cool before rolling sushi.

Last night, we made california rolls with fake crab, avocado, cream cheese (we used too much cream cheese), and cucumbers. I've also made it with egg, and I love that. (scramble an egg with a touch of sugar and soy sauce, cook initially as you would an omelet, but fold it over several times, then cut into good sized strips for the sushi). I haven't ever tried raw fish. I think I'd have to be very brave to do that. Julienned carrots are good. I've seen tempura green beans, pumpkin, or asparagus in sushi restaurants, which is the only type of tempura I've ever liked. I think anything would be good, as long as it would taste good with soy sauce.

Chris was brainstorming on his ideal sushi roll, which included bacon as the filling, replacing the rice with grated cheese, and doing away with the seaweed in favor of pepperoni. The soy sauce would not be used with this roll.