Sushi from a Professional: Continued

If you know me, you know I love sushi. I REALLY could eat it every day.

So...I am a lucky girl. This is Chen pictured above. He is an amazing sushi chef and has prepared food for me for years as I joined him on the opposite side of the sushi bar at Darumas in Daphne, then at Master Joe's in Fairhope. He is now the manager at Joe's so no longer behind the sushi bar. Somehow I was able to convince him to come to my home and teach me the tricks of the trade. And Whew! Rolling sushi is tricky! But after much instruction and many rolls practiced I sort of got the hang of it.

And I've continued to practice and I get better and better. Below I've tried to explain in great detail as best as possible. Chen's instructions were very precise and particular, but if mastered it's easy to make delicious, beautiful sushi and make it fast!

Here are some of the secrets and tips:

What you need:
Rooster sauce
Mayonnaise
Rice Vinegar
Seaweed
White sesame seeds
sushi rolling bamboo mat
clear wrap
rice, soy sauce, whatever fish and any other contents you want in your roll

I did spicy tuna. I rinsed the tuna, patted it dry, diced it real thin, patted it dry and added spicy mayo to it. In some of the rolls I added avocado, others jalepeno.

For the rice: Chen says any kind of rice will do, and that using a rice cooker is best. I don't use rice cookers because I feel like it's just another appliance to take up more space in my kitchen. So I used a regular pot.

Place the desired amount of rice in the pot you plan to cook it in. (I used 3 cups.) Place pot under sink and rinse rice over and over until the water is clear. Pour as much of the water out as you can and add the equivalent of water to the pot as you did rice (so 3 cups for me). (Usually rice cooking instructions are 1 part rice and 2 parts water, so I was really surprised!) Cook rice 20 minutes, remove from heat and allow to sit COVERED for 25 minutes.

Remove rice from pot and place in wooden or glass bowl. Add a generous amount of rice vinegar (I used almost 1/2 cup) and gently distribute it moving rice with a wooden spoon. Don't squish the rice! Add SUGAR and salt. I was shocked about the sugar. But it's a process that involves you tasting as you go. So add the salt, then sugar and continue to taste it until it seems right. I added about a tsp of each to mine.

Spicy Mayo: I have tried to perfect this for years. Trying one thing after another. Now that I know that it only contains two ingredients and both were in my kitchen the entire time I'm kicking myself! Mayonnaise and Rooster Sauce. That's it! Just be sure not to make it too spicy. I'm thinking one part rooster sauce to 10 parts mayo. Again, it's a taste as you go thing.
And for my egg-free people: I'm so sorry to say that the egg-free mayo didn't work. I will continue to look for something that works.

Turn the oven or toaster oven broiler on and toast sesame seeds until they turn golden brown or black... but be careful! they burn fast.

Get the 8x7 inch seaweed and fold it over in half like a sheet of paper. Then fold it on the same crease in the opposite direction and gently tear in half on the crease. One side is glossy and the other side is "sticky" (meaning the rice will stick best to that side.)

On a bamboo mat wrapped in clear wrap place one of the halved seaweed sheet sticky side up. Get a firm heaping hand full of the rice and place on the top left side of the seaweed. Using the tips of your fingers pull the rice distributing it all over the seaweed, but don't squish the rice... basically try not to touch the rice any more than necessary.
Sprinkle some sesame seeds on top. You can do a mix of black and white, if desired.

Flip the seaweed over so the shiny side is up. Place desired roll contents inside. Be careful not to be over-zealous and overdo it. Chen said this is where most people mess up: they try to pack a roll too full and it is very difficult to wrap, cut and eat.

To roll the sushi, pull the bottom of the bamboo up and over so the side of the seaweed closest to you covers all the roll contents. Put a small amount of pressure on it, sort of squeezing it. Roll the other half to finish the roll and again put a small amount of pressure on it to keep it in tact.

Use the sharpest and best knife you own to cut the roll. The first cut should be in the dead center of the roll. Put the sliced pieces next to each other and cut both of them at the same time in the half again. Then cut twice more, once on each end.

Plate and squirt with spicy mayo, rooster or teriyaki sauce and serve with soy sauce, pickled ginger and wasabi.