Sushi Rolls
Ingredients
Sushi rice
Rice wine vinegar
Salt
Seaweed wraps
Sushi grade fish (ask for the bones and skin to be removed)
Whatever vegetables you want: carrots, avocado, cucumber
Pickled ginger
Wasabi
Spicy mayo (sriracha + mayo until it’s the color/heat you want)
Soy sauce
Materials
Cutting board
Bamboo mat
Saran wrap
Sharp knife (a super sharp fish knife is the best)
Bowl with water (best way to handle the sticky rice so it doesn’t stick only to your fingers)
9x13 pan
Spoon
Steps to make it
Cook as much sushi rice as needed. Once it’s done, put in the 9x13 pan and pour the rice wine vinegar into the cap and pour into the rice (1 cap per 1 cup of uncooked sushi rice). Lightly salt the rice and stir together and spread out so it can cool quickly.
Cover the bamboo mat with saran wrap and cut your fish against the grain. Make sure the fish is about ½” to put in the rolls.
There are loads of great youtube video tutorials on how to add rice to the seaweed wrap and how to roll so I won’t detail that all here.
I do usually make a roll or two and let them sit before I cut them. It softens the seaweed somewhat and makes it easier to cut. Cut in 1” segments.
It’s Samantha’s birthday this week and in celebration I’m writing about sushi rolls which she once requested we make for her birthday and are super fun to make in general. Samantha and I met at an Information Architecture Conference (when it was still called the IA Summit) years ago. I think it was Vancouver but I’m not totally sure. I was still working at Wolfmotell and she had recently moved to Minneapolis to work for Thomson Reuters. We were both excited to meet someone from Minneapolis and when I was seated on the plane waiting to go home doing some sort of craft she was on the same flight and stated as she walked by “We are going to be really good friends!” In the years since we have bonded over user experience, crafts, food, gardening, and books. She joined my bookclub and introduced me to the loveliest people and I always appreciate when she invites me along to try a new activity or recipe.
When Samantha married Karl, I was so excited to go on a roadtrip to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan where Karl is from. Most of you know that road trips are my favorite and I will pretty much drive anywhere. Since I was driving I brought a bunch of stuff for the wedding and brought the gifts back with me. I came back through a smaller border crossing so I could stop in Baudette, MN where my grandparents had lived. When asked about what I was bringing back with me, I stated that they were wedding gifts from a friend’s wedding, and then had to stand by while they searched all the gifts since I didn’t know what they were exactly. Thankfully everything arrived home safely and I still got to have lunch at Ballards Resort where my grandparents used to hang out. Returning to a place 20 years after your grandparents were last there I was asked why I was stopping. I said my grandparents had lived near the resort and when she asked who they were she told me how much she loved my grandmother. I got a little choked up because I felt the same. I only got Marriam Baker for the first 11 years of my life, but what an impression she made. 20 years later she was still loved in a small town in northern MN. I’m so glad I stopped.
Karl and Samantha moved to Ohio for awhile and we stayed in touch, visited each other a bit, and then it was lovely when she and Karl moved back to MN with their son, Niles. Niles is as delightful as his momma and I was fortunate to hang out and explore the city with him each week (for a month or six weeks - I can’t totally remember how long) while his parents got settled. Here he is teaching me about the Earth and it’s core. We have also created a board game together, made a few forts, and he showed me his ninja moves. Now that’s he’s a teenager I’ve seen him here and there. The most I’ve seen him in the last couple of years was when I brought an adorable baby Oscar over to meet the family and their dog, Casper. It’s amazing how effective puppies are at extracting teenagers from their rooms.
I’ve always loved sushi but the first time I made it was through a sushi making class at Coastal Seafoods with Becca. She and I have taken quite a few cooking classes together but I think this may have been the first one. I think it was learning to make the rolls, sashimi, and nigiri for something like $60. I was stuffed when I left that class and I don’t think I’ve ever had a delicious sushi dinner for less than $100. I bought all the ingredients and tools…and then I made it and brought it to Susan after Oz was born, but then got intimidated and didn’t do it again.
Then Anna came to live with me and loved sushi as much as I did and convinced me to watch the Youtube videos so we could make it ourselves. I think we either ordered it or made it weekly. We had a lot of good practice. I got very comfortable making sushi while Anna lived here. She would put her piece of sushi where the soy sauce went and pour soy sauce over the top of it. That girl loves herself some soy sauce. But she also started putting a bit of wasabi on her sushi too, so that felt like a win.
The first time we bought fish from Coastal, Anna was concerned that it wasn’t frozen to kill the bacteria. Make sure to get sushi grade fish (locally Coastal Seafood is my favorite). I get it fresh the day I’m making sushi and then if there is leftover, freeze it already cut and ready for rolls and sashimi. I move it to the fridge that morning and it’s defrosted and ready to use by that evening. This was Oz and I shopping for sushi grade fish. Susan and I were so proud of him because he tried an oyster while we were there (it wasn’t his favorite, but he tried it anyway).
Anna’s dad makes sushi as an appetizer for the Christmas Day meal he cooks and he let Anna and I help make it this year. Josep was so nice about letting me help cook and teaching me new recipes. We have a bit of a language barrier, but it’s good practice for Anna and Oriol or Google Translate comes to the rescue. Though I do still need (and intend) to learn Spanish and/or Catalan.
I delight in making sushi with friends. And it is so much cheaper than getting it from a restaurant. Just have to make sure you don’t add too much rice to the roll you’re making. The reason I actually have pictures of the process is because Susan was there and she is the very best at taking pictures. Me? Not so much. I get caught up in the experience rather than capturing it which can make writing these recipes with images a bit harder. But it always seems to work out even though I wish I had more pictures of my friends. There is never enough time and never enough pictures, but always so many good memories.
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I got this fillet knife and it has made cutting the fish and rolls so much easier.