...knows how to make sushi at home.
I am not that man, but I do know how to do it now. I did it Last Thursday, on International Sushi Appreciation Day, or whatever it was. It was Facebook's idea, and I do whatever facebook says. I also did it, just to make sure I knew how, on Father's day for my girlfriend's dad, who LOVES sushi.
Here's what you do, because you can do this!
Go to that Asian market that you drive by sometimes and say "Oh cool, an Asian market." Walk in and get some sushi rice (short grain rice). It'll say "sushi rice" on the bag. Get some of that, and some seaweed wraps, and some rice vinegar. What you put in it is up to you. My Victoria does not like fish, so I get a little fish for me, and some stuff that's not fish for her. I'm not going to tell you what to put in yours, but I can tell you it doesn't matter in the least what you put in. You can be as creative as you like. Shop with imagination when making sushi. The options are endless. In the checkout line you'll find yourself wondering how you got all that stuff for so little, and then you'll be shopping there for EVERYTHING. (The market I found is just south of 95th and I-35, on the west side of I-35, behind the O'Reiley Auto Parts place, and it is AWESOME.) Note that you will have to buy your fish frozen, more than likely, unless you have a seafood department in your grocery store that handles sushi grade fish.
Ok. so now you're at home looking at all the stuff you bought. Here's what you do now.
First thing, make the rice.
Don't just start cooking it. It doesn't work like that. To get it really sticky, and you do want it really sticky, you have to do a simple process that is fool proof. I know it is because Alton Brown said so, and I've done it twice without incident. Here's the process:
Rinse 2 cups of rice using a mesh colander and the pot you'll be cooking it in . Put the rice in the colander and the colander in the pot and fill with water. stir it around good to get everything rinsed. I don't have any idea what you're rinsing off, but after about five rinses, the water will be clear, or close enough to clear to be moving on.
NOW. You can cook the rice.
Throw 2 cups of water in with your 2 cups of cleaned rice. Bring it to a boil. As soon as it comes to a boil, cover the pot and set your heat to the lowest possible setting and let it cook for ten minutes. Don't think you can save some time by doing other prep work during this time, because it won't help. Just wait. At the end of ten minutes, pull the rice off the heat, leave covered and let it set for fifteen minutes. Now you can do something productive while you wait.
I don't know the science for this next part, so I just assume it's magic and respect the process. This is what turns the rice into awesomeness.
I like to use one of those pyrex measuring cups for this part. because it's got a good spout on the lip of it. Pour in 2 tablespoons of sugar, and 2 tablespoons of rice vinegar, and a bit of salt. throw that in the microwave for a minute or so, then take it out and mix the sugar and vinegar together into kind of a simple syrup.
Now, at the end of letting the rice steam for fifteen minutes, put the rice into a glass bowl. Metal isn't good for this part. I don't know why. Like I said, it's magic.
Add the vinegar syrup stuff to the rice slowly, a little at a time, folding it in completely. Sometimes on food shows they tell you to stir something in to something else, but they just poke at it for a second and move on. Be thorough. Don't fuck around, and be gentle, doing your best to coat each grain of rice.
There. Now you have to let the rice cool to room temperature. Since this takes a while, and you're all wound up from folding rice, you can go ahead and do the prep work on the rest of your ingredients. I suggest you bone up on your julianne skills. I have no real instructions for you here. Just make everything look like it does in the restaurants. Not hard.
Now you are ready to start rolling up sushi. Oh crap. You forgot to buy a rolling mat, didn't you. Now would be the time to go get it. When you get back, I'll tell you the rest.
..............................
Ok. Now. You've seen in the restaurants that they wrap their mats in saran wrap, right? I found if you put it in a big ziplock bag, it's the same thing. works great, and you don't have to fumble with that crap.
Throw a piece of seaweed on the mat, wet your hands and grab some rice and throw it on the seaweed, pressing it in a thin layer to the edges, leaving about an inch at one end. Put whatever filling you want on the rice and roll it up, using the mat. If you wet the seaweed at the end, it makes a nice seal that won't open up.
See how easy that is? You'll find yourself using the leftover rice too. Just roll it into balls and snack away. It's SO GOOD.
Hope you enjoy.
Here's what my sushi looks like to me:
Here's what it would look like to you:
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