Sushi

A recipe from cooking-ez.com

For 6 people, you will need:

• 1 400 g rice
• 2 150 ml rice vinegar
• 3 1 tablespoon salt
• 4 1 teaspoon caster sugar
• 5 3 tablespoons sesame seeds (optional)
• 6 100 g fish
• 7 ½ teaspoon wasabi
• 8 6 noris sheet
• 9 1 cucumber
• 10 1 raw beetroot
• 11 1 egg
• 12 1 avocado
• 13 4 Preserved tomatoes
• 14 basil
• 15 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 16 3 tablespoons vinegar
• 17 2 tablespoons water
• 18 5 drops Tabasco
• Total weight: 1,670 grams

Times:

Preparation	Cooking	Start to finish
1 hour 23 min.	15 min.	1 hour 38 min.

Step by step recipe

1	Cook 400 g rice (a rice-cooker is useful). Normally you should use Japanese round rice, but for this adapted recipe, it's not absolutely necessary. Meanwhile, pour 150 ml rice vinegar into a pan, bring to the boil and add 1 tablespoon salt and 1 teaspoon caster sugar, stir to mix and remove from heat. Equally, if you don't have rice wine vinegar, use normal vinegar instead, white or wine vinegar, (in which case your rice will take on a pretty light pink colour).
2	Pour vinegar onto rice and mix well.
3	Cook 3 tablespoons sesame seeds in a frying pan without fat 4 or 5 minutes, stirring from time to time to roast (torrefy).
4	Mix sesame seed with half the rice to get two kinds: plain and sesame that you can use as you choose in the following recipe.
5	Nigiris : Nigiris are little oval-shaped cakes of rice, usually covered with a thin layer of raw fish, but this can be varied in many ways.
6	Cut your fish into wafer thin slices (see below on choosing your fish).
7	Make rice cake: take a little rice in your fingers...
8	...close your hand round it a few times to shape...
9	... and tidy ends if necessary.
10	A rice cake with sesame rice. Note: if rice sticks to your fingers too much, rub your hands with a few drops of oil from time to time.
11	Put a thin layer of fish on top of rice. The best way to do this is by sushi-factory production line, see below.
12	Before adding fish, you can add some wasabi. Tip from Jeremy: mark this hot sushi with a discreet label like a sesame seed on top for example.
13	Nigiris can be filled with many other things rather than raw fish, here are some ideas, but also let your imagination and taste guide you. Tahitian-style fish marinated 1 hour in lime juice with salt and pepper.
14	Thin layer of fish, prawns or scampi, marinated in a mix of olive oil, lemon juice and herbs.
15	Vegetables, cut into thin strips or leaves, raw or just blanched. Smoked salmon or other smoked fish, etc. yes you're right this is not sushi anymore (A restaurant in Paris is famous for its foie gras sushi), but it's still delicious, so why not?.
16	Makis: Makis are sheets of nori seaweed filled with rice and other ingredients, and rolled up to produce a green roll, which is then sliced to give the individual maki sushi.
17	Cut your vegetables into small sticks, raw for cucumber...
18	... blanched or cooked for beetroot...
19	...raw too for avocado.
20	Beat 1 egg with a fork, and cook in a frying pan to make a sort of small omelette.
21	Put a nori sheet on a sushi mat (or if you don't have one, on a towel ). Cover with rice over 2/3 of surface, not too thickly, about 1/4 inch or 1/2 cm.
22	Put the chosen ingredients for your maki on the rice, here: cucumber, basil, and tomato preserve (recipe from Ann and Jeremy).
23	Raise mat to roll sheet on itself...
24	...continue shaping by rolling tightly all the way...
25	...to the end. Finish by leaving the edge of nori sheet under the roll.
26	Cut roll into thick slices.
27	But not more than ½ inch or 1 cm.
28	Another idea: strips of carrot, cabbage and omelette.
29	Cucumber and omelette.
30	Avocado and marinated fish. Let your imagination run wild.
31	Make a quick sauce by mixing in a bowl 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 3 tablespoons vinegar, 2 tablespoons water, 5 drops Tabasco and a little grated carrot.
32	Serve if possible on large plates, arranging different nigiri and maki, as pretty to look as they are delicious to eat.

Remarks

If you serve these sushi as a starter, allow 4 or 5 per guest. For a sushi-party, about 10 and as varied as possible.
For sushi with raw fish, you should make sure that it's fresh and of the highest quality. You do not need a lot, so it's worth investing in something good - have confidence in your fishmonger.
It's also a good time to try lesser known fish: never use red tuna (Alabcore or Tunus, which will probably disappear from the oceans soon, as a result of human stupidity), but opt for organic salmon, mackerel or sardines.
Sushi can't be kept waiting too long, it's so impossible to make them the day before. 1 or 2 hours should be the maximum. The best way is to make them and eat them straight away.
For complete success, the best way is to start a sushi-factory: one person (or two) make little rice cakes, another adds wasabi, another adds fish, someone else looks after plates and their filling, and so one. This method allows fast production, and gets everybody, including guests, in the kitchen, talk and laughing, and you get nice fresh sushi.
It might be better if yet another person opens wine bottles and fills glasses (Robert is a master in this art).

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