When you're an undergrad at MIT, January is Independent Activities Period (IAP), which means that you can either hang out on campus and take assorted fun classes or you can just take the time as a vacation. That is, of course, unless you're a physics major... in which case one required class takes place during IAP. Being forced to stick around campus for this stupid class many years ago, I decided to take a couple fun classes as well. Glass-blowing was all full, but I did manage to snag spots in both Sushi-Making and Bonsai. As will come as no surprise to anyone who has ever met me, Bonsai is not for me. I don't even have 1/100 of the patience that proper maintenance of my tree would have required... and then the bass from the music I was playing in my dorm room knocked a 30-pound book of class notes off of their shelf down onto my tree not once but twice... (The fact that it happened a second time probably indicates that I had some subconscious desire to kill that damn tree.) Needless to say, the tree did not survive and I will never attempt such things again. Sushi-making, though? That was awesome.
My primary memory from the class was of the old Japanese ladies who spoke minimal English yelling "No!" They would come by to see how you were doing, see that it was all wrong, say "No! No no no..." and then summon over the chick who was fluent in English to explain what it was that you were doing so horribly wrong. It sort of rocked, and I came away realizing that the hardest part of making sushi at home is finding a source of sashimi-grade fish that won't break the bank. Now that I live in Waltham, that source for me is H-Mart. I hadn't made sushi in years heading into this dinner, so I decided to refer to a couple cookbooks to help with dinner prep. For my miso soup, I turned to Ming Tsai's Simply Ming. (I won't judge you if you like using instant miso soup... It's actually pretty darned tasty. If you have konbu, bonito flakes, and miso on hand all the time, though, there's really no reason not to make your own and you will definitely notice the difference...)
Ming's dashi is a little unconventional in that he includes a couple slices of fresh ginger during the steeping of the konbu and bonito flakes. Everything is strained out after the steeping, and you end up with a nice dashi with just a hint of a bright ginger accent.
In addition to miso, the soup includes diced silken tofu, some sliced scallions, and a bit of nori...
Whisk it together, and you find yourself with a startlingly delicious and soothing miso soup.
I was genuinely amazed by how much this soup hit the spot, and ended up having a nice big bowl of my leftover miso for brekky the next morning. Mmmm... Homemade miso soup... Another affordable and delicious bit of homemade sushi is edamame, which is a great snack but something I seldom remember to buy...
Next up was the sushi rice. Again, it had been years since last I did this, so I turned to The Japanese Kitchen, where I found that the recipe for sushi rice incorporates a little sake and konbu in the cooking of the rice (in addition to the usual rice vinegar, salt, and sugar that follow the cooking).
Pictures of rice are not super-exciting, so let's move on to the fish. I decided to make three kinds of sushi: tuna, salmon, and eel. The tuna at H-Mart is gorgeous, and that hunk below is only about $10...
I sliced some into pieces for nigiri and sashimi and some into strips for maki rolls...
... then did the same with my salmon...
Frozen barbecued eel is one of the first foods I track down when I move to a new city. Sliced over sushi rice with spicy mayo, scallions, and sesame seeds... that's my perfect Sunday breakfast.
I sliced the eel into the same shapes as my sushi-grade fish, and was ready to go.
Also on the prep table were shredded scallions, cucumber strips, and avocado.
Aside from the affordability, one of the best things about making your own sushi is that you can make it however you want (tradition be damned)... I, for instance, really enjoy Philly rolls with avocado (scandal!) and spicy eel and avocado rolls with a bit of shredded scallion...
... or spicy tuna and cucumber rolls with shredded scallion. It's my sushi, dammit. I can make it however I want...
There's really not much to it. You can make nigiri...
You can make maki...
As long as you have fresh ingredients and use the flavors that you love, you really can't go wrong. Try it out with friends some time. You'll be glad you did...
My primary memory from the class was of the old Japanese ladies who spoke minimal English yelling "No!" They would come by to see how you were doing, see that it was all wrong, say "No! No no no..." and then summon over the chick who was fluent in English to explain what it was that you were doing so horribly wrong. It sort of rocked, and I came away realizing that the hardest part of making sushi at home is finding a source of sashimi-grade fish that won't break the bank. Now that I live in Waltham, that source for me is H-Mart. I hadn't made sushi in years heading into this dinner, so I decided to refer to a couple cookbooks to help with dinner prep. For my miso soup, I turned to Ming Tsai's Simply Ming. (I won't judge you if you like using instant miso soup... It's actually pretty darned tasty. If you have konbu, bonito flakes, and miso on hand all the time, though, there's really no reason not to make your own and you will definitely notice the difference...)
Ming's dashi is a little unconventional in that he includes a couple slices of fresh ginger during the steeping of the konbu and bonito flakes. Everything is strained out after the steeping, and you end up with a nice dashi with just a hint of a bright ginger accent.
In addition to miso, the soup includes diced silken tofu, some sliced scallions, and a bit of nori...
Whisk it together, and you find yourself with a startlingly delicious and soothing miso soup.
I was genuinely amazed by how much this soup hit the spot, and ended up having a nice big bowl of my leftover miso for brekky the next morning. Mmmm... Homemade miso soup... Another affordable and delicious bit of homemade sushi is edamame, which is a great snack but something I seldom remember to buy...
Next up was the sushi rice. Again, it had been years since last I did this, so I turned to The Japanese Kitchen, where I found that the recipe for sushi rice incorporates a little sake and konbu in the cooking of the rice (in addition to the usual rice vinegar, salt, and sugar that follow the cooking).
Pictures of rice are not super-exciting, so let's move on to the fish. I decided to make three kinds of sushi: tuna, salmon, and eel. The tuna at H-Mart is gorgeous, and that hunk below is only about $10...
I sliced some into pieces for nigiri and sashimi and some into strips for maki rolls...
... then did the same with my salmon...
Frozen barbecued eel is one of the first foods I track down when I move to a new city. Sliced over sushi rice with spicy mayo, scallions, and sesame seeds... that's my perfect Sunday breakfast.
I sliced the eel into the same shapes as my sushi-grade fish, and was ready to go.
Also on the prep table were shredded scallions, cucumber strips, and avocado.
Aside from the affordability, one of the best things about making your own sushi is that you can make it however you want (tradition be damned)... I, for instance, really enjoy Philly rolls with avocado (scandal!) and spicy eel and avocado rolls with a bit of shredded scallion...
... or spicy tuna and cucumber rolls with shredded scallion. It's my sushi, dammit. I can make it however I want...
There's really not much to it. You can make nigiri...
You can make maki...
As long as you have fresh ingredients and use the flavors that you love, you really can't go wrong. Try it out with friends some time. You'll be glad you did...
2 comments:
I attempted making sushi at home for the first time a few months ago and it was a delicious triumph. I love getting eel avocado rolls when I'm out, but I would have never thought to buy it frozen and use it at home. Does it taste comparable to what you'd eat in a sushi restaurant? Looks delicious!
It tastes pretty much identical. I often find myself just craving a big bowl of eel on rice (with spicy mayo, scallions, and toasted sesame seeds), so I keep an in-case-of-emergency eel in the freezer at all times... That big piece of eel pictured in the post costs about $7 and is plenty for two servings. (And if you want to make the sauce that places usually dress it with, you can just combine 2 parts soy sauce, 2 parts mirin, and 1 part sugar over moderate heat until the sugar dissolves.)
I imagine high-end sushi places barbecue their own eel in a homemade sauce, but I'm sure a lot of less-high-end places buy this exact same frozen eel...
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