Making Sushi - California Crab Rolls - Fox 28: South Bend, Elkhart IN News, Weather, Sports

California Crab Roll

Ingredients

• 1 cup (230g) prepared sushi rice (see below)
• ½ avocado
• 4 crab sticks (or real king crab or jumbo lump crab meat for a luxury California roll)
• ½ cucumber (preferably a kirby)
• 1 sheet dried nori seaweed
• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
• For a spicy California roll, add a few drops of hot pepper sauce to the mayonnaise

Preparation

1. Cut the peeled and pitted avocado and the peeled cucumber in quarters lengthwise.
2. Spread the sushi rice over the sheet of seaweed, and sprinkle the sesame seeds over the surface.
3. If you don't have a bamboo rolling mat, place a sheet of plastic wrap on the worktop, and turn the layer of seaweed and sushi rice upside down flat on the the plastic wrap so that the seaweed ends up on top.
4. Place the avocado, cucumber and crab sticks evenly down the center, and coat the filling with mayonnaise. Roll the layer up from one edge, and slice the roll into 8 pieces.

How To Make Sushi Rice

To cook sushi rice, it is important to remember that the rice should be cooked with less water than usual, and vinegar added to it while hot. Here is how to cook the perfect sushi rice.

Ingredients

• 2 cups (450g) Japanese rice
• 2¾ cups (630ml) water
• 1.5" x 1" piece dried konbu (seaweed, optional, for umami flavor)
• 1/2 cup (100 ml) rice wine vinegar
• 2½ tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt

Preparation

1. Wash the rice and cook in water with konbu.
2. Make the vinegar solution. Put the pan on low heat and heat until the sugar dissolves. Cool the vinegar mixture.
3. When cooked, spread the hot rice in a flat-bottomed bowl or glass baking dish (the Japanese use a special wooden bowl called a sushi-oke). Sprinkle the vinegar mixture over the rice and fold swiftly with a spatula. Be careful not to mash the rice-just allow the vinegar mixture to come into contact with all of the grains. Move the spatula as if scooping the rice rather than blending it.
4. Cool the rice swiftly using a paper fan, and gently turn the rice with the spatula. Fanning the rice prevents it from becoming overly sticky, and also adds luster. Use sushi rice immediately-don't store it in the refrigerator. Cover it with a damp cloth if you won't be using it for 10 minutes or more, to prevent it from drying out.

Makes 4-6 servings.

Sushi: A variety of preparations made with vinegared rice. Contrary to popular opinion, sushi does not mean "raw fish," but "vinegar rice": su = vinegar, shi = rice. See Zushi for issues of correct spelling. There is vegetarian sushi as well as sushi made with cooked fish and with raw and cooked meat. The main types of sushi are maki sushi (rolls, including temaki, hand rolls), nigiri sushi (slices of fish on pads of rice) and oshi-sushi, (rice with fish and other toppings molded in a wood box and cut into bite-size rectangles or squares). The photo at left shows, clockwise, salmon and tuna sashimi, cucumber and tuna rolls (maki), and four nigiri: shrimp, yellowtail, salmon and tuna.

Sushi Bar: In Japan the sushi bar plays a role similar to the pub in England: a relaxed and informal atmosphere. True aficionados sit at the actual sushi bar on a stool, watching the itamae (sushi chef) prepare the selections.