WEST Kitchen – Sushi
When people think of sushi, they automatically jump to “raw fish” but sushi actually refers to the concept of vinegar + rice. Anything you make with this delicious combo can be called sushi. Today we tackled rolls (maki). The students BLEW ME AWAY with their willingness to try all the new flavors and have fun rolling their maki rolls.
Ingredients
Sushi Vinegar (Sushizu)
- 1/4 cup Rice vinegar
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
Sushi Rice
- 3 cups uncooked sushi rice
- water as directed by rice cooker
Filling
The filling can be anything that you like! Sky is the limit on creativity. Check out a menu from your favorite sushi restaurant to get some creative ideas. My favorite is raw tuna and fresh mango. Today we have these items on hand:
- Shrimp that we flash boil for 1 minute (actually we didn’t have shrimp but we PLANNED To have shrimp. Try it at home!)
- cucumbers; julienne
- red bell pepper; julienne
- carrots; julienne
- Avocado
Instructions
- Start the rice in the rice cooker
- Boil water in a large pot and flash boil the shrimp for 1 minute. Strain and run under cold water for a minute.
- Wash the vegetables.
- Each team prep their veggies. We will use a thin julienne style cut today for the best shape to put in our sushi rolls.
- Heat the vinegar, sugar and salt on the stove until it dissolves, stirring constantly at a low heat. Remove from heat.
- Add vinegar seasoning to cooked rice; a little at a time and tasting before adding more. Mix/Mash the vinegar into the rice until the grains become shiny.
- Lay out the seaweed; if needed, use your finger to brush a tiny drop of water onto the seaweed to make it soft enough to roll but often the residual heat of the rice is enough to soften the seaweed wrap.
- Dip clean fingers in cool water and use your hand to transfer rice onto the seaweed. Press the rice into a thin later on the 1/2 to 2/3 sheet closest to you
- Lay in the filling
- Roll away from your body in a tight roll
Homework
No formal homework but I heard a lot of students say they want to make sushi this week! I encourage you to do so; it was a lot of fun. You can either have everyone roll their own at the dinner table by placing a ton of prepped fillings in the middle of the table or someone can be the sushi chef and prep it all in advance. The small seaweed wraps were purchased from Costco (seaweed snack) and the large sheets (for making 10 pieces at a time) were from the asian grocery store.
Next Week
No knives or cutting boards next week. We are making muffins so there won’t be anything to cut or chop.
WATCH THIS VIDEO on how to properly measure ingredients. Proper proportions are extremely important when you bake and we want to make sure we get exactly the right amount of flour, sugar, and liquid.
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