It's been a long time since I've managed to post anything, which doesn't mean that I haven't been cooking. I've just been too busy to write up the recipes and more recently, not had a camera to hand to get a photo. However, now that summer is nearly on us and there is more daylight, I'll hopefully get more done.
This weekend I had a second attempt at making sushi. My first attempt worked quite well, but I only made simple Maki the first time around and I wanted to get a little more adventurous and make inside-out rolls (California Rolls or Sakamaki). I didn't go too far out of my way to source quality fish, partly because it was only my second attempt and I didn't want to make a mess with a nice piece of raw tuna or salmon. So, I just went for some cheap smoked salmon and crab sticks along with avocado and cucumber (which tasted fine, but not as nice as raw tuna). Next time, I'm going to go a travel a bit further for some nice fish, and probably do some Nigiri and some of the other more advanced rolls.
I'm not going to go into detail about how to make these as I learnt most about how to make sushi at home from imakesushi.com, which provides easy to follow instructions, with photos of each step in the process. There are other websites too, but I spent more time going back to this one while making mine. The only thing I would say is that it's probably best not putting the wasabi into the rolls as I know a number of people who simply don't like it, so having it on the side as an option is a safer bet.
Making sushi wasn't as time-consuming as I first thought it would be, however, preparing the rice definitely takes longer than for any other rice-based dish I have made. All the instructions I read said to fan the rice after applying the seasoning, so it was just as well I had an electric fan to hand so that I could get on with other preparation while I waited for the rice to cool down. Once the rice is ready, the rest of the preparation doesn't take too long, and the end result is definitely very satisfying.
