Update and Redux: C – One of my favorite sushi rolls. It’s all because of the lettuce in it. Just one leaf can make a difference between something good and something great. The lettuce is it for this sushi dish. It’s crispy yet tender texture makes an amazingly wonderful bite. I just had to include this one in lettuce week.
C – Making sushi rolls has always been a challenge for me.
I can see why master sushi chefs have to study so long to be so incredible. I don’t think I will ever be a master. All I want is to eat lots of good sushi, without going to a restaurant all the time. My sushi rolls have always been California style. Just fake crab meat mixed in mayonnaise with avocado and cucumbers. I never thought to make my own spicy tuna roll before.
After having a great fish monger around the corner, I knew I had to make sushi for myself. Or, manage to get a professional chef to make it. Luke, are you willing to try? Yes. Although, he was a little reluctant. He knew that sushi masters take somewhere between 10 years to their entire lifetime to make perfect sushi. But, he was willing to give us some basic pointers.
Spicy tuna rolls are one of my favorites. Having some really fresh tuna from around the corner was going to be perfect.
One important tip in making good sushi is having the best ingredients … like the fish. Never eat raw fish, if it isn’t sushi grade. It could really get you sick. Get to know your fish monger. Or, even dare to ask where your favorite sushi restaurant is getting their fish. If they don’t know, or they give you a strange answer, don’t eat their sushi. You might get sick. Also, ask them what day their last fish shipment arrived. The answer should be today or yesterday. I would more likely order cooked items than raw, if their last shipment was a few days ago.
It was really simple to make a spicy tuna hand roll. The hand rolls contained chopped, fresh Ahi tuna, some seasoning, cucumber, lettuce leaves, sushi rice with sushi rice seasoning all wrapped up with good-quality nori seaweed paper. Luke made these quickly. They were a bit bigger than we expected them to be due to the fact we had big nori sheets. Next time I have to plan in advance to make sure the nori sheets are cut into smaller squares.
The maki roll was just as simple. Luke made these a lot prettier than I would have. He places a thin layer of rice, some seasoned Ahi tuna and cucumber and he rolls away. He finishes by cutting them into small pieces and serving them with soy sauce and ginger.
| Spicy Tuna Rolls |
- ½ tsp hot chili oil
- ¼ pound Ahi tuna, chopped
- ½ tsp, Sriracha, more if needed
- 1 Tbsp chives, finely chopped
- ½ tsp black sesame seeds
- 2 sheets nori, cut into 5inch square pieces
- ½ cup sushi rice, more if needed
- 2 small lettuce leaves
- 6 strips of cucumber, ¼ inch thick
- 10 sprigs of radish sprouts
- ½ tsp hot chili oil
- ¼ pound Ahi tuna, chopped
- ½ tsp sriracha, more if needed
- 1 Tbsp chives, finely chopped
- ½ tsp black sesame seeds
- 2 nori sheets, 8 inches square
- ½ cup sushi rice, more if needed
- 4 cucumber strips
- Mix Ahi tuna, hot chili oil, sriracha, chives and black sesame seeds. Combine well.
- Place nori on board. Place it to make it look like a diamond.
- Place enough sushi rice in to center to cover ½ of the nori sheet.
- Top rice with a piece of lettuce and press down onto rice.
- Place 3 cucumber strips on top.
- Place 5 radish sprouts on top.
- Place 1 tablespoon ahi tuna mix on top of radish sprouts.
- Roll the nori into a cone, tightly.
- Repeat with remaining ingredients
- Serve on a plate with soy sauce, wasabi and pickled ginger.
- Enjoy!
- Mix Ahi tuna, hot chili oil, sriracha, chives and black sesame seeds. Combine well.
- Place nori wrapper in board. Arrange to make it look like a square.
- Place rice thinly to cover the lower half of the nori, but not to the edges.
- Add a 1 inch line of Ahi mixture in the middle of rice.
- Add 2 strips of cucumber along the line of the Ahi tuna.
- Place sheet on to a bamboo sushi roll mat covered in plastic.
- Using the bamboo mat, being to roll from the bottom to the top. Partway through the roll, press down and in tightly to press everything together before finishing. Then, finish the roll. Remove roll from bamboo mat.
- Cut into 1 inch pieces.
- Repeat with remaining ingredients
- Serve on a plate with soy sauce, wasabi and pickled ginger.
- Enjoy!
The taste was, of course, just like in a sushi restaurant. I liked them a lot. I wished he made more. The three of us devoured these quickly.
On to more sushi tomorrow. Can’t wait.