Sushi! Snake in the Grass ala Stovall
One of the things I enjoy most is trying to recreate the tasty meals we have in some wonderful restaurants. Can I just say that we have had some amazing sushi through the years . . . especially at the California Grill at Walt Disney World created by Yoshi, their sushi chef? One of our favorites was a variation of a dragon roll called “Snake in the grass.” Currently, the California Grill is under refurbishment which means a new menu, and when it reopens I don’t know if that “Snake in the Grass” will be an option. I have always wanted to try to make sushi at home and this past Friday seemed to be the best time.
I purchased all the tools needed at the Japan pavilion at EPCOT, but I am sure you can purchase these at any asian market. I purchased a wood sushi bowl, spatula, and nori sheets.(The nori sheets didn’t make it into this picture.)
So, here it goes. I made 3 cups of sushi rice with my rice cooker. It is important that you use sushi rice rather than regular rice as sushi rice is a shorter grain and holds better. For this experiment I mixed 3 cups of sushi rice with 1/2 cup of sushi vinegar. This made really too much rice for us but the ratio of rice to sushi vinegar made it just sticky enough. Sushi vinegar is a mixture of rice vinegar and sugar that, mixed with the rice, makes it sticky enough to hold together. While there are recipes on the internet that give guide you in mixing your own sushi vinegar, I purchased a bottle of sushi vinegar at Albertson’s and it did great.
Three cups of sushi rice was really too much for the two of us. Next time I will probably just make two.
When the rice was cooked, I dumped it into the wooden bowl and then slowly folded the sushi vinegar into the rice. Once it was thoroughly mixed, I covered it with a damp towel and allowed it to cool to room temperature. Never, never, never, refrigerate sushi rice. Let it cool naturally.
I wanted to make several rolls as well as nigiri sushi. Nigiri sushi is your typical sushi with a ball of rice topped with a piece of seafood. For this foodie experiment, I used smoked salmon, shrimp, tuna, and unagi (eel). An important note here, for the tuna and unagi, it is important to find “sushi grade” fish. I found mine at Central Market. The distinguishing characteristics is that “sushi grade” fish is frozen at a point that kills all parasites making it safe to eat. The tuna nigiri is truly raw. The unagi (eel) is cooked and quick frozen. I thawed it, heated it up in the microwave for 1 minute and then placed in on the rice ball with a dab of wasabi. The black piece is a strip of Nori (seaweed paper) that holds it together. Shrimp is always cooked (boiled) and the salmon is smoked. I think in the future I will try crab versus smoked salmon. We will see.
I made three different rolls. First, at the top is a spicy tuna roll. I diced 2 oz of tuna and mixed it with 1 tsp of green onion and 1 1/2 tsp of Siracha sauce. This made the stuffing for the roll. Once the roll was cut, I topped each slice with a dollop of spicy mayo which is 1 tsp of Kewpie Japanese Mayo and 1 tsp of Siracha sauce.
The second roll was a spin on a Philly roll. It included 2 oz of smoked salmon, a little fat free cream cheese and zucchini (Jay doesn’t like cucumber so I subbed Zuch). The outside of the roll has a dusting of sesame seeds.
The last roll is the “Snake in the Grass” ala Stovall. I tempura fried two shrimp. Now, when frying the two shrimp, they stuck to my fry basket, so I may try frying them in a skillet next time . . . or I hear that Trader Joe’s has really good frozen tempura shrimp. For one roll I placed 2 tempura shrimp, a few slices of avocado, and zucchini (or cucumber). Once rolled, I topped it with heated unagi (eel) and topped with eel sauce. (This is probably not the best picture, but I am learning!)
For the eel sauce, I mixed 1/4 cup Mirin, 1/4 cup Soy, 1/4 sugar. Then I heated it to a simmer in a small sauce pan and let it reduce to 3/4 cups. I made this sauce up the day before and it was absolutely amazing! I also topped the Unagi nigiri sushi with the ssuce.
This really made more sushi than we could eat, but for two of us, it is hard to reduce the amount and still get the variety you want.
I also could not stop with out showing our plates before. This is Jay’s. Note that Jay does not do ginger, so he gets extra wasabi, in a “Hidden Mickey.” I did find pickled ginger for me. (SIDE NOTE: The chopsticks are true Japanese chopsticks that were given to us by my very good friend and Maid of Honor, Nora. Not only was she a 2+2 journeyman, a sister to a missionary to Japan, a wife and a mother, she was my encourager and accountability partner. The Lord healed her from cancer by calling her home several years ago. I can’t wait to see her again!)
Will I do sushi again? or maybe a spam musubi ?, is spam musubi healthy? ABSOLUTELY! It was so good, relatively easy, definitely cheaper, and tasted oh so better … MY INNER FOODIE!
