Simple Sushi Recipes for the Brave New Cook

If you love sushi and are brave enough to try and make it in your kitchen even if you never have before, take heart. There is a whole new adventure waiting for you and on top of that, there are also some simple sushi recipes that you can try cutting your teeth on.

For Your First Trial

You can make futomaki with kani, hosomaki with tuna and California roll. With these three kinds of sushi and some nice garnish, your resulting tray of goodies will not look as if they were done by an amateur. For these sushi recipes, you will need:

• sharp 4-inch knife
• 1 bamboo sushi mat
• Plastic wrap
• 8 pieces nori sheets
• 6 cups of cooked sushi rice
• 2/3 cup rice vinegar
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 large tuna fillet sliced into long cylinders
• 2 large dried mushrooms, soaked till soft then cooked in water with a little sugar and salt the sliced very fine
• 4 sticks of kani
• ¼ c. Japanese mayonnaise
• 2 eggs, scrambled
• Avocado, sliced into 8 strips
• 1 small radish, julienned lengthwise
• 1 cucumber, cut into long strips
• Pickled ginger
• Soy Sauce
• Wasabi
• Toasted sesame seeds

Preparing the Rice

The first step is to prepare the rice which is a basic ingredient in all sushi recipes. Use 4 cups of very well washed short grain rice and cook it with a little less than 5 cups of water. Let the rice sit in its own steam for 15 minutes after it has been cooked. Meanwhile, prepare your flavored vinegar by mixing the vinegar, salt and sugar and simmering over low heat just until the sugar and salt are dissolved. Transfer the rice to a glass bowl, sprinkle the flavored vinegar on the rice and mix everything, using a firm but gentle cut-and-fold motion. Cover the rice with plastic wrap and proceed with the rest of the sushi making.

Starting with Futomaki

Futomaki is a good beginning for the new sushi cook because it is larger than hosomaki and easier to handle. Take out your sushi mat and cover it all around with plastic wrap. Lay one whole sheet of nori on it, shiny side down. Take about 2/3 cup of sushi rice and spread this on the sheet, patting the rice so that it sticks to the nori but not mashing the kernels. Place half a sheet of nori over this and press against the rice. Arrange a row of tamago, a row of crabmeat, a row of cucumber strips and a row of dried mushroom. Using the makisu or bamboo mat, fold over the nori and begin rolling, making sure the nori does not get stuck under the roll. Using an inward pulling motion with your fingers, compress the roll before removing the mat. To slice, cut off any extra material on the end of the roll then cut the roll into two. Put the two resulting cylinders together and cut into a total of 8 pieces.

Doing Your Hosomaki and California Roll

Roll out the nori as before, spread and gently press rice Lay a row of tuna on the rice, add a row of cucumber then roll. Using a sharp knife, cut off extra filling on the ends and slice the roll into 6 to 8 piece.

To make your California roll, lay out the nori and spread rice over it, pressing the grains firmly to make sure they stick to the nori. The, turn the nori and rice mixture so that the rice is at the bottom and the nori is facing you. Pile a row of avocado followed by a row of roughly minced kani. Pile mayonnaise in one even row over these ingredients then fold over the rice mixture carefully, taking care that you come up with as solid a cylinder as possible. Dredge the

Sushi roll with sesame seeds then slice your California roll into 6 to 8 pieces.

Arrange your sushi rolls artistically, garnishing with julienned radish, cucumber and sweet pickled ginger. If you have some Japanese style plates, your decorated sushi will look as good as they will taste with no one suspecting that you made sushi for the first time.