What I ate: Sushi!

What do you do when you accidentally drop $20 of Jacks your hard-earned money 

on two pieces of SUPER fresh tuna?
Well, I'll you what you don't do. 

You don't leave that shit on a shelf to rot because you made a mistake.
What you do is, take advantage of the situation and turn it into an opportunity to make sushi at home!
Yeah. Aren't you glad you owned that mistake? I sure am.

Jack and I love us some sushi.
We eat it like it's kraft dinner - but it's not, and it can get pricey - especially when you're going out to get it.
For a while we were good and made smoked salmon [could never time it right for the fresh stuff] sushi at home, but we've since fallen out of that groove - sad face.
So when FRESH tuna presented itself at the fish counter that fated Friday, 
I nearly passed out from excitement.

TEMPURA
I love tempura. I love it battered around veggies for an appetizer, around naners for a dessert and stuffed into my maki roll for an added crunch. However, I don't love how I become a danger to myself and those around me when making tempura. During my last attempt, I caught my stove on fire and blackened the surrounding walls. SO. Jack makes the tempura now.

All you need is a box of tempura, water, oil and a pan - preferably a wok.
Once your pan is hot, pour your tempura mixture into the oil and let it cook, approximately 4 minutes per side - or until golden.

If you're making tempura veggies, slice your veg of choice, coat in tempura batter and then toss into the oil and let cook until both sides are light golden.

RICE
I do not have a rice cooker, I heard it helps the stickiness factor a bunch if you can use one. Instead I use my trusty sushi tip book. According to them begin with your brand of sticky rice, and make a cup (that was enough for the four rolls we made). Once done cooking, add rice vinegar, sugar and salt - I'm not exactly sure what this does.. all I know is that I do it. It's alright. If you'd prefer to just stick to the straight up sticky rice, feel free. Key here is to make your rice, and then let it cool. The hotter it is, the more it'll stick to your fingers and not to the nori sheet.

TUNA MAKI ROLLS
Now we're talking, this is where the magic happens. I've got my rice, I've got my tempura, I just need to choose my veggies and put it all together. My favourite veggies to find crammed into a maki roll all happen to be green: avocado, green onions and cucumber. Other great veggies (also green) are asparagus and lettuce...

Chop those all up - julienne is best (long and thin) as it allows you to pack it as tight as possible and still fit lots of veggies. I tend to always end up with extras because no matter how hard I try, there's only so much you can fit into a maki roll. Set aside.

Chop and crush the tempura cooked from earlier.
 
Chop, dice or slice your fish. Depending on the fish, there is a right way and a wrong way to cut it. When using tuna for a maki roll, slice against the grain, about 5mm thick per piece. If you have smoked salmon just tear it into similarly sized pieces. Set aside.

Grab your sheet of nori (I bought mine at the Atlantic Superstore) and place on a flat surface. Place some rice on and begin to spread and flatten across the sheet. Feel free to use your hands - I used a spatular because the rice was not fully cooled and was sticking to my fingers like nobody's business. Leave an inch or so free along one edge.

Once your rice is on, place pieces of fish lengthwise along the edge. Follow with your tempura bits and veggies. Now it's time for the rolling. I've been told that a sushi rolling mat is a god send however I have yet to take the plunge, so my rolling experience is always a little tougher. I begin by using a knife to bring the nori sheet and ingredients up. Once lifted, I move the knife in front to help keep everything in place while I roll. Once you've got your fixings tightly secured you're good to keep going. Wet the edge without the rice and stick to the roll to seal.

When cutting, I slice down half-way and then chop straight to the bottom. I don't know if this is an effective way to explain it but aside from you taking a trip into my brain and fiddling with my vocab, it's all I've got. 

 

Ta-daa! your sushi is ready!

 
SALAD
One of my favourite parts of a meal at the Hamachi House is the garden salad with ginger dressing. I am obsessed. I just love that ginger dressing. I need to go under cover as a chef there for a week so that I can steal their recipe and use it for life. Unfortunately I have yet to do so and although the Oishi-oilve oil dressing was decent, the salads were a bit of a let down - BUT raw veggies are good for you, so I would recommend choking it down eating them anyway.

Notes:

No notes today folks, I've written myself ragged.