Sushi Party!

The last piece of meat I have ever eaten was sushi in Kobe, Japan. I thought it would be the most ceremonious way to end my carnivorous career and indeed eating raw octopus and some other unidentified raw fish (I can only hope they were some kind of sea creature) was an experience! I had always been a huge fan of sushi before, my favorite being shrimp tempura. In fact, shrimp tempura is one of the only meat-filled foods I ever crave anymore. I do love veggie sushi, particularly avocado rolls and asparagus tempura rolls, but it always seems like a very expensive meal to buy at a restaurant, seeing as it is only a small piece of vegetable wrapped in a palm-full of rice. I have always been tempted to make my own sushi, but never seemed to have the time to actually pull it off. So when Rose asked me what I wanted to make for my birthday dinner, sushi seemed like the perfect choice!



Neither of us had ever made sushi, nor did we do any research like we normally do before trying a new dish. We entered the kitchen with a pot of sticky rice, nori (seaweed paper), some veggies, and tempura batter and just went at it.

First was prepping all the veggies and cutting them into small, thin pieces. We started with carrot, cucumber, avocado, and red pepper. Next, we cut up some sweet potato, onion, zucchini, yellow squash, green beans, and mushrooms to be fried in the tempura batter.


We started frying the tempura vegetables until they were golden brown in a pot of hot peanut oil. I never fry unless I have to since I have an aversion to flesh-burning-hot oil for some reason…but I overcame this apprehension for my love of tempura. For the most part, the frying went well and there were no serious burns or other injuries.


After the cutting and frying was complete, we were ready to start rolling the sushi! Thankfully the nori package had directions and little diagrams. While sushi seems somewhat self-explanatory, once you are standing there in front of the sushi mat, the task seems slightly daunting that first time. We placed a sheet of nori on a sushi mat and then spread about a ½ cup of sticky rice over the nori. Starting with the end closest to us, we started laying the veggies in thin rows next to each other. I then started rolling the mat up, making sure to squeeze the sushi roll right throughout so that it keeps its form.


Once rolled, we cut the sushi into 6-8 pieces. After trial-and-error, we discovered that you have to cut the roll in the same direction that the nari was rolled. If not, the cuts become rough and the sushi pieces start to fall apart.


I was surprised to find how easy it was make the sushi rolls! We served the sushi and tempura vegetables with a side of soy sauce, soy & wasabi, and teriyaki. For about the same price of ordering a few rolls of sushi at a restaurant, we were able to make easily 50 pieces, enough to feed four people and still have leftovers for another meal.


This will be my last DC post for about 7 months, since I will be moving back to Baltimore for three weeks before I leave for Tucson, AZ! But that does not mean the end of posts! I will continue writing about my cooking experiences from across the country plus my experiences working at the Tucson food bank. I am sure there will be an increase in the amount of ice cream I make since I hear the heat can be atrocious.


So please leave some ideas for a fun/crazy/unique ice cream flavor for me to (try to) make!

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