Make Your Own Sushi Party

Some friends of ours hosted a Make Your Own Sushi Party this weekend.  Although Scott and I both love to eat sushi, neither one of us had previously attempted to make it ourselves.

For the first round, one of us had a beautifully hand-crafted sushi roll, and the other had a hot mess of sushi ingredients whose slices fell over like the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

I will let you guess whose is whose…

Sushi Roll #1

Sushi Roll #2

Ha! The difference in appearance is quite dramatic.  Who would have ever guessed that I am the horrible one at rolling sushi while Scott is apparently a master?

Not me!

The concept is simple, really.

• Start with a plate of chopped vegetables and sides.

Our lovely party hosts Mallori and Chris prepped shredded carrots, cucumbers, avocado, jalapeno, cream cheese, wasabi and ginger.

• Buy nori (seaweed paper) to roll and make sure to have a large bowl of rice on hand.

Our friend John decided to bring the biggest bowl of white rice… ever.

• Set up a sushi rolling station with a bamboo rolling mat, nori, vegetables, meats, a sharp knife and a wet towel to wipe the knife off with.

• Start with the rough side of the nori facing up, dip your fingers in a bowl of water and wet the paper.

• Line the paper with a thin layer of rice, at about a 1/2 cup.

• Choose your meats, vegetables and spices.

I chose shrimp, crab, jalapeno, cucumber, avocado and carrots.

• Wet the ends of the paper and fold the sushi into a roll, using the bamboo mat.  Slowly inch it forward and pack it down inch by inch until you get a nice roll.

• Secure the paper down by adding water under it and pack the sides in tight.

• Use a sharp knife to cut the roll in half first.  Reposition half of the roll behind the other, then continue to cut vertical slices in a saw like motion.

I think this is where mine went wrong.  Scott, on the other hand, nailed it.

Plate it up and adorn with whatever sides you like.  Scott chose to load up on wasabi, fresh ginger and sri racha (which was inside the roll).

We enjoyed the a full sushi dinner complete with hot salted edamame and a cold ginger salad.

Everyone had a fun (or for some of us… slightly frustrating) time making their own sushi rolls.  Don’t worry, a pregnant Molly at the end made her rolls vegetarian.  When she offered to share a piece with me, I happily accepted and added a shrimp on top of it.  It was delicious.

With a plethora of rice left over, we had to put some of it to use.  Leave it to a group of men to come up with the idea of making rice animals.

Why yes, you seemed to have guessed correctly… you do in fact see a dinosaur on the left, Nemo on the right and Stuff the Magic Dragon in the middle, crafted by no other than my husband.  Men Boys.

Thanks to our friends Chris and Mallori for having us over to make our own sushi!  We had a great time, and next time I will have to try to make my sushi resemble an actual roll like everyone else seemed to do.

Also, thank you for letting us take home a good amount of chopped vegetables and meat that turned into Saturday night’s dinner.

Gotta love leftovers!

Questions of the Day

Have you ever tried to make your own sushi?

What are your favorite sushi rolls?

When ordering out at a restaurant, my favorites include the Dragon Roll, Spicy Mexican Roll and Volcano Roll.  Every now and then I will order a sweeter fruit roll with mango, strawberries, kiwi and usually topped with coconut flakes.  For some reason I steer away from tuna and lean towards shrimp, crab, scallops and even eel.  Any kind of lobster roll is an all-time favorite!