before i made the sushi though i took a trip to cincinnati asian market (aka CAM) to pick up some supplies. if you have never been to CAM, you need to go. it is by far the best source of asian foods anywhere in cincinnati. much bigger and more selection than the place at findlay market and all the other small places around.
look no further for all your asian food needs
CAM offers a variety of brands of chinese sausage but kam yen jan is my favorite
yes, they have an entire aisle of soy sauce and rice vinegar
crazy big bags of rice
CAM is very vegetarian friendly. if i were a vegetarian i would shop here all the time. they have more kinds of gluten, bean curd, and fake meat than i ever knew existed
all that and an amazing tofu selection!
if you like fun drinks then CAM is the place for you. they have all kinds of yummy juices and coffees.
where else in cincinnati can you buy fresh quail eggs?
the sweets aisle. my favorites are pocky, fruit gummies, and ginger candyCAM also offers a lot of other good stuff not pictured above. they have fresh roast pork and duck. they have all kinds of vegetables and fruits that you can't find anywhere else (chinese broccoli, longan, chayote, rambutan, daikon, etc.). they have a huge fresh fish selection. they also have a huge frozen fish selection. there is an entire aisle of frozen dumplings and buns and other yummy dim sum items. they have a wide variety of rice cookers, steamers, teapots, chopsticks, and other kitchen wares. they have an aisle dedicated solely to pickled vegetables.
after my jaunt to CAM, where i bought necessary sushi supplies (rice, nori, pickled ginger) as well as some completely unnecessary treats (kimchi, pocky, jasmine tea, canned mackerel belly in ginger sauce) i came home and started on the sushi. i was using a recipe that avani's friend had given her, and i was supplementing that with an ina garten recipe i had seen on tv a while ago.
this recipe has seen a lot of use
it may seem odd to use sushi recipes from an indian girl and a white woman from the hamptons, but i tried googling and got overwhelmed so i decided to just stick to what i kind of knew on my first try. so i gathered my supplies together and got started. i decided i would do veggie rolls with some combination of cucumber, carrot, and avocado, and fish rolls. i was too cheap to buy sushi grade fish, so i bought smoked salmon and cream cheese and did philadelphia rolls.
ready, set, sushi!
i ended up making about six rolls with mixed results. first of all, i don't think i was rolling some of them tightly enough. i guess that comes with practice. another problem i had was that my fillings were not staying in the middle. this caused a problem because i think the heat of the rice is what causes the nori to stick to itself. in the places where the cold veggies and fish touched the nori, it wouldn't stick to itself. i remedied that by putting a little hot water on the nori and then squeezing the roll for a while, but i don't think that is the ideal way to do it. my knives are perpetually too dull so that was kind of a problem when cutting.
also, fyi, the recipe above calls for way too much rice vinegar. i used 4 tablespoons for 2 cups of rice, and it was almost too much.
the finished product
my sushi turned out ok but not great. i am very pleased for my first try though. i nibbled on a few pieces that kind of fell apart while i was cutting them. however, at the end of the process, i no longer felt like eating sushi. that happens to me sometimes where i am really craving something kind of complicated, then i go through all the work of making it and then when it is done i don't want it anymore. it's annoying. does that ever happen to you guys?
at any rate after all that sushi making i decided in the end that i wanted mashed potatoes and made that. the sushi is all sitting in my fridge. hopefully i will feel like eating it tomorrow for lunch...
after my jaunt to CAM, where i bought necessary sushi supplies (rice, nori, pickled ginger) as well as some completely unnecessary treats (kimchi, pocky, jasmine tea, canned mackerel belly in ginger sauce) i came home and started on the sushi. i was using a recipe that avani's friend had given her, and i was supplementing that with an ina garten recipe i had seen on tv a while ago.
this recipe has seen a lot of use
ready, set, sushi!i ended up making about six rolls with mixed results. first of all, i don't think i was rolling some of them tightly enough. i guess that comes with practice. another problem i had was that my fillings were not staying in the middle. this caused a problem because i think the heat of the rice is what causes the nori to stick to itself. in the places where the cold veggies and fish touched the nori, it wouldn't stick to itself. i remedied that by putting a little hot water on the nori and then squeezing the roll for a while, but i don't think that is the ideal way to do it. my knives are perpetually too dull so that was kind of a problem when cutting.
also, fyi, the recipe above calls for way too much rice vinegar. i used 4 tablespoons for 2 cups of rice, and it was almost too much.
the finished productmy sushi turned out ok but not great. i am very pleased for my first try though. i nibbled on a few pieces that kind of fell apart while i was cutting them. however, at the end of the process, i no longer felt like eating sushi. that happens to me sometimes where i am really craving something kind of complicated, then i go through all the work of making it and then when it is done i don't want it anymore. it's annoying. does that ever happen to you guys?
at any rate after all that sushi making i decided in the end that i wanted mashed potatoes and made that. the sushi is all sitting in my fridge. hopefully i will feel like eating it tomorrow for lunch...
8 comments:
I've made sushi and I definitely felt like I didn't really want sushi by the time it was done. I am slow, for one thing, so I was wallowing in sushi smells for, like, two hours or something.
It does take practice to roll them tightly. My decision about the whole process was, it's worth $4.50 a roll to have a sushi chef do it and just eat it.
I agree with greenepiece...sushi, for me at least, is one of those things I'd rather just pay someone else to make. When I've tried to make it on my own, I do have the exact experience you had Liz - namely that the duration of the act of making it is in direct proportion to my declining interest in eating it. (I have this same problem with chili - the idea of making a bit pot of it sounds so yummy right now...but I know as soon as it's done cooking, I'd rather eat anything but chili.)
But the other problem with making sushi and eating it the next day (or days later) is that the seaweed tends to get very moist from the rich and therefore almost soggy and the whole thing usually falls apart. I hope you have better luck with yours!
sounds like you had a busy sushi making day. Like sara, I prefer to have someone make it for me and enjoy it. I've never tried making it at home for that exact reason. it's too much work for not much output.
did you enjoy it for lunch today?
ehhh, it was ok. the seaweed didn't get too soft so that was good but the rice was a little dry. maybe you need more rice vinegar if you are going to save it. or maybe i could have just put a damp paper towel on top of it.
my coworkers who ate it liked it so that is good. i think i just got bored of it b/c i made it. it tasted to me like very average grocery store sushi. i would have preferred carry out or even the sushi from whole foods or fresh market.
i might make it again though b/c i did have fun doing it and i would like to learn to do it better. also, for large quantities, it saves you a lot of money.
Making sushi has been on my list for a while too... yet I keep skipping over it for things that quite so overwhelming. I'm definitely like you... sometimes the whole process turns me off by the time it's ready to eat! I'm definitely impressed with your results though!
Done it, had the same reaction. I do make sushi rice from time to time-- yummy.
Where is the supermarket?
Just clicked - duh!
See you tonight!
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