Sushi Platter

Sushi is easy and fun! It's super cheap to make it at home and even better for large groups (i.e., dinner parties)! The trick is to 1) have fresh fish, and 2) make "sushi rice," or "shari." Other than that, it's just a quick stop in the Asian aisle or Chinatown market! The beauty with sushi is that it's just like making a sandwich - you can put in whatever you like :)

The sushi essentials:
1) fresh fish
2) filling/topper ingredients
3) sushi rice
4) nori sheets
5) bamboo mat
6) condiments (wasabi, pickled ginger, soy sauce)

And if you're doing a dinner party, it's great to serve with 7) sides. Appetizer sides are generally miso soup, cucumber salad, or seaweed (wakame) salad. Other items include sake or Sapporo (or both for a sake bomb), and quail egg shooters in the drink categories....or the best desserts: mochi ice cream or frooshi (fruit sushi). Most of these things can be easily found in the international aisle in a grocery store, but we suggest stopping by a local Chinatown market (better prices and more variety). Here's what we usually go for....

Serves: however many rolls you make!

Ingredients

• 1) Fresh Fish
• Salmon, sliced (sushi/ahi-grade or very, very fresh)
• Poke
• Chopped up fresh tuna
• Sesame oil
• Soy sauce
• Nước mắm
• Dried shrimp
• Hot chili oil (I get the stuff with black beans in it)
• Freshly toasted black and white sesame seeds
• Finely chopped scallions
• Ginger powder
• Wasabi powder
• 2) Fillings/Toppers
• Teriyaki sauce (fav recipe)
• Dynamite sauce
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise (low or fat-free ok) 
• 1 tablespoon Sri Racha hot sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon tobiko
• Spicy Krab
• 4-6 sticks Imitation Crab, chopped (to taste)
• 1-2 tbsp Mayonnaise (to taste)
• Sri Racha (to taste)
• Optional: 1 tsp Fish Sauce (to taste)
• Carrot, shredded or thinly sliced (thin carrot "sticks")
• Cucumber, thinly sliced
• Avocado, thinly sliced
• Green onion, sliced
• Sesame seeds, toasted
• Tobiko (tiny, orange fish roe)
• Cream cheese
• 3) Sushi Rice (aka, "shari")
• 2 cups Medium-Grain Rice
• 1.5-2 cups water
• 2 tbsp Salt
• 4 tbsp Sugar (white)
• 4 tbsp Rice wine vinegar
• 4) Nori Sheets
• 1-2 Packages Nori (grab the toasted kind, if available - more flavor)
• 5) Bamboo Mat
• 6) Condiments
• Soy Sauce (to serve)
• Wasabi (to serve)
• Pickled ginger (to serve)
• Optional: miso soup, cucumber salad, wakame salad, sake and Sapporo, quail egg shooters, mochi ice cream.

Directions

1. Soak the rice in cold water for at least 30-60 mins prior to cooking (if you can). Rinse the rice, washing away the powder rice starches until the cloudy water is clear (note: soaking and rinsing is important in obtaining the right "sticky rice" texture). Add the soaked and rinsed rice to a pot and fill with 1.5-2 cups of water (note: the best trick to getting the right amount of water is placing your index finger on top of the evened out rice and filling with water until it reaches your first knuckle). Bring to a boil, top with a lid, then reduce the temperature to medium-low and allow to simmer until all the water is cooked off (10-15 mins). The best way to test is the taste test! Take a bite of the rice (it'll be hot, so be careful) and if the center of the grains are still a little hard, cook a little longer (and add water if the bottom of the pot is dry). When the grains are cooked through, take the pot off the heat and using a spatula, "cut" through the rice (do not stir) to "fluff" it up. Put the lid back on and allow to sit for 5 mins.
2. In the mean time, put the salt, sugar, and rice wine in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave for 1 minute. Take it out, stir for a minute or two, and microwave again for 30 seconds and stir some more. It takes some time for the salt and sugar to dissolve, so stir when you can. When it's dissolved (~5 mins), lightly pour over the fluffed rice, "cutting" through the rice to best mix the rice...without stirring! Stirring with a spoon (for example) will smoosh the grains and you'll get a mushy, sticky mess. Now that you have a beautiful sticky rice prepared, time to prep the sushi fillings!
3. Prepare the teriyaki sauce, dynamite sauce, and spicy krab topping. Set aside. Slice the carrot, cucumber, avocado, and green onion. Toast the sesame seeds (toasting brings out the flavor tenfold). Place your filling/topper ingredients in an assembly-line on the kitchen counter and you are ready to roll!
4. Fill a small bowl of warm water and set next to your bamboo rolling mat. Place the nori smooth-side down (rough-side facing up) on the bamboo rolling mat. Wet your fingers and grab a handful of sushi rice and spread around to cover 3/4's of the sheet, leaving the bare nori side farthest from you, like this:

5. Like in the above photo, lay your "filling" ingredients across the rice. You'll want to lay them down closer to you, rather than farther down the rice, as it'll be easier to roll. Now flip over the edge closest to you and begin rolling, tightening the roll by squeezing back on the bamboo mat. The technique is quite simple, as seen below:
(jump to 55 seconds)
6. With a very sharp knife, slice the rolls and lay on a serving platter. Top with preferred topping ingredients (toasted sesame seeds, tobiko, spicy krab, dynamite sauce, teriyaki sauce, etc.) and serve with the condiments ready! Some basic sushi rolls are outlined at the bottom of this blog, so those are good places to start. But it's fun to get creative, so make every roll different! The varieties are endless :)
7. Sake bomb, sake bomb, SA-KE BOMB! Kanpai =^.^=

Teriyaki rolls.

The full platter: maki rolls, temaki (hand) rolls, nigiri and sashimi!

If you're wondering:

• Maki rolls are the popular round sliced rolls filled with rice and fish
• Temaki rolls are the hand rolls which have generous portions of the filling rolled up like an ice cream cone in the nori.
• Nigiri is a thick slice of fish formed on top of a ball of sushi rice, generally with a "dot" of wasabi and sometimes held together with a small strip of nori.
• Sashimi is a thick slice of raw fish and nothing else. The mother of sushi-lovers.

First attempt at nigiri (note: that's what sushi looks like
with long-grain rice versus short-grain....not so good, lol).

Spicy krab topped sushi.

Sashimi slices...my fav!

Spicy krab, teriyaki, and tobiko topped makisushi.

Sushi Rolls:

• California Roll: avocado, imitation crab stick, cucumber, and tobiko. Roll with sesame and rice on the outside, nori and fillings on the inside.
• Caterpillar Roll: unagi (eel), avocado, and cucumber. Roll with avocado slices and rice on the outside, nori and 3 fillings on inside (it usually looks like a caterpillar).
• Crunchy Roll: tempura shrimp (fried), avocado, and green onion.
• Dynamite Roll: yellowtail (hamachi) and/or prawn tempura, bean sprouts, carrots, avocado, cucumber, chili and spicy mayonnaise.
• Fuji Mountain Roll: tempura shrimp (fried) and avocado on the inside; tuna, salmon, yellowtail, spicy krab, teriyaki sauce, sri racha, scallion and sesame seeds on the top (it's a mountain roll after all)!
• Godzilla Roll: tempura shrimp (fried), teriyaki sauce and sri racha sauce.
• Philly Roll: salmon (raw or smoked), cream cheese, and avocado.
• Rainbow Roll: avocado, imitation crab stick and cucumber topped with tuna, salmon, yellowtail, and avocado...to look like a rainbow.
• Spicy Tuna: tuna (raw), spicy sesame oil, sri racha sauce, and spicy mayonnaise.
• Spider Roll: tempura soft shell crab (fried), cucumber, avocado, sprouts, tobiko, and spicy mayonnaise.