Taste&Create III: Sushi with Sushi Day

November 18, 2007 at 12:30 pm | Posted in events, savory things | 6 Comments

I am always drooling over the fantastic things that you make, photograph and write about on your blogs. There are probably hundreds of recipes that I’ve seen on other sites that I’d like to try myself someday. Unfortunately, sometimes I need a kick in the seat to do things. Well, Nicole from For the Love of Food has come up with a food event called “Taste&Create“, pairing up food bloggers to try out each other’s recipes. How perfect!

Nicole paired me up with Allison from Sushi Day. Sushi! I love sushi! It is something that I get intense cravings for that must be satisfied quickly. But uh-oh. Sushi is also something that I’ve always gone out for, and never tried to make myself.

Allison has a lot of great info on her site to get a grasp of the basics of sushi-making, and a lot of great ideas for combinations, many of them inspired by trips to her favorite Japanese restaurants. While I am crazy about unagi (eel) and anything involving raw tuna, I decided to play it a bit safer for my first foray into sushi-making and make her Crunchy Shrimp Roll. I also knew that both R and my brother would happily devour anything with tempura shrimp and avocado.

After picking up a bamboo rolling mat at a local Japanese grocery, I had to read up on preparing the rolling mat and how to roll maki sushi. And I needed to start with some sumeshi, or sushi rice. Slightly sweet and vinegary, I think the taste and stickiness of the sumeshi are what’s responsible for those sushi cravings I get every couple of weeks. Then I had to fry off a few pieces of tempura shrimp, following Allison’s instructions for how to make tempura, before prepping my scallions and avocado. Assembling and rolling the maki wasn’t hard at all, thanks to Allison’s step-by-step photos and advice.

So there it is, my very first maki roll! Not too bad looking, and certainly tasty!

Since I had prepared a lot of rice and had extra pieces of tempura shrimp and avocado, I also went ahead and made Allison’s Spicy Tempura Roll as well. Its zippy, peppery kick made it another big hit at the dinner table!

Thank you Allison for teaching me how to make sushi myself– armed with my rolling mat, I will be back for more! And thank you Nicole for hosting such a cool event!

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You sushi looks perfect! Great event too!

Comment by Sara— November 19, 2007 #

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These are gorgeous!

It’s looking like we’re going to have a quiet Thanksgiving — just the two of us. I was thinking about sushi as an alternative to the traditional (like you we love it, but we’ve never made it at home). Thanks for sharing your story, and introducing me to Nicole!

Comment by Dolores— November 19, 2007 #

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Oops… thanks for introducing me to Nicole AND Alison.

Comment by Dolores— November 19, 2007 #

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What gorgeous sushi!

Comment by Jes— November 21, 2007 #

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Good evening (in Shizuoka)
Great pics!
Happy to note that your creations look Japanese!
I particularly appreciated the final note with “tobikko” (Flying fish roe”)
Looking forward to reading more!
Robert-Gilles
(shizuokasushi.wordpress.com)

Comment by dragonlife— November 26, 2007 #

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You know what? I’m not even a fan of sushi, yet your pictures make me want to give it another go.

Comment by Lori— December 21, 2007 #

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