posted by ms cesar 01-10-100 6:47 PM
Sushi No Gu
Kampyo (dried gourd) Preparation:
1 pkg (2oz) kampyo
3/4 cup dashi (recipe below)
2 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp mirin (sweet rice wine)
1 Tbsp shoyu (soy sauce)
1/2 tsp salt
Sprinkle salt on kampyo, add some water and rub in well. Wash in clean water until saltiness is gone; add clean water, cover with otoshibuta or waxed paper and cook until tender.
Add dashi, sugar and mirin, cook about 10 minutes. Add shoyu and salt; continue cooking 10 to 15 minutes or until well seasoned. Drain and cut into 1/4 inch lengths. Leave in lengths for maki sushi, sut into slivers for chirashi sushi.
Shiitake (dried mushrooms) Preparation:
2 oz shiitake, soak in warm water until tender, and sliver
1 1/2 cups dashi (stock)
2 Tbsps sake (rice wine)
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp shoyu
Add dashi, sake and sugar to shiitake and cook for 5 to 6 minutes. Add salt and shoyu; cook over low heat with otoshibuta until sauce evaporates.
NOTE: Otoshibuta is a lid smaller than the sauce pan or skillet used, that goes directly on top of the food (waxed paper or small lids from other pots may be used) to ciculate the heat to cook food evenly.
Carrot Preparation:
1/2 lb carrots, cut into 1 inch lengths, then slivers
1/2 cup dashi
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
Parboil carrots, drain, add seasonings and cook until tender. Do not overcook.
Takenoko (bamboo shoots) Preparation:
2 to 3 Takenoko, sut into fine slivers
1/2 cup dashi
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp mirin (sweet rice wine)
1/2 tsp shoyu
1/2 tsp salt
Parboil takenoko, drain and cook in dashi with mirin and sugar, about 10 minutes. Add salt and shoyu and continue cooking 5 to 10 minutes or until takenoko is well seasoned.
Shrimp Oboro (Flakes) Preparation:
1/2 lb shrimp, cook and flake. (Flaking can be done with suribachi (grinding bowl) and pestle or food processor or blender.)
2 Tbsps sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp mirin
2 Tbsp sake
Few drops of red food coloring
Place flaked shrimp into a double boiler, add seasonings and cook until dry. Mix often with chopsticks while cooking.
Usuyaki Tamago (Thin Fried Egg) Preparation:
4 eggs
1 Tbsp sake
1 tsp cornstarch
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
Combine sake, cornstarch, sugar and salt and mix well. Add mixture to eggs and blend well. Oil heated egg pan or skillet and pour only enough mixture to cover the bottom of the pan. Fry over low heat. when top is about dry, turn over and press down with spatula and remove from pan immediatly. Place fried egg between paper towels to absorb oil.
Nori (laver) Preparation:
Toast 2 sheets of nori over flame or bake in oven until crisp. Place in plastic bag and crumble.
Koya-Dofu (Dried Bean Kurd) Preparation:
2 koya-dofu(freeze dried bean curd)
2 cups dashi
2 Tbsp mirin
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tbsp shoyu
1/2 tsp salt
Soak koya-dofu in hot water for 20 minutes, squeeze out all cloudy liquid, cut into thin slices. Mix the rest of the ingredients, combine with koya-dofu and cook over low heat until sauce is gone.
Su-Renkon (Vinegared Lotus Root) Preparation:
1 lb renkon (lotus root)
1/2 cup vinegar
6 Tbsp sugar
3 Tbsp mirin
1 tsp salt
1/2 pkg. dashi-no-moto (see note below)
Pare renkon and slice into thin rounds. Soak in vinegar water ( 2 tsp vinegar to 4 cups water) for about 1 hour. Drain.
Heat vinegar and other ingredients and add renkon. Cook for a few minutes and let cool in the sauce.
NOTES:
* All cooked ingredients for sushi may be prepared in quantity and frozen. Freeze in small quantities for easy use. Thaw in refrigerator or microwave oven. This makes preparing sushi easy and quick.
* Use cooked ingredients for chirashi, barazushi, norimaki sushi and other sushi favorites.
* Dashi is available in powdered form, usually in small packets, much like boullion cubes.
* Kamaboko (Fishcake) is also used alot in sushi. Buy it prepared and just cut into desired lengths or slivers.
*Norimaki sushi gu should be julienne, or 1/4 x 1/4 strips; Chirashi gu should be cut into slivers.
Dashi (Instant Stock)- Basic Recipe
#cups dashi = #cups water + #teaspoons dashi-no-moto
4 cups 4 cups 2 1/2 tsp (1 pkg.)
3 cups 3 cups 1 3/4 tsp
2 cups 2 cups 1 1/4 tsp
1 1/2 cup 1 1/2 cups 3/4 tsp
1 cup 1 cup 1/2 tsp
1/2-3/4 cup 1/2-3/4 cup 1/4 tsp
Will add the sushi recipes to this thread separatly now. Figure this one is long enough.
Nori Maki Sushi
12 cups prepared sushi rice
8 sheets nori
Prepare ingredients of your choice such as watercress (blanch), 1 can unagi (eel), fish, avocado, or any of the above sushi gu.
Toast the nori by passing the shiny side over a high flame.
Place one sheet of toasted nori, shiny side down, on sudare (bamboo mat) wetting hands with tezu (see below), spread 1 1/2 - 2 cups sushi rice evenly over 3/4 of the nori sheet leaving about a 1-inch margin on end farthest from you. In the center of the sushi rice arrange strips of sushi gu, eah layered on top of each other in a horizontal row. (The Japanese use items in numbers of 3, 5, or 7.)
Roll away from you, being careful to hold ingredients in place with finger tips. When the sudare touches the rice, lift the mat and continue to roll, as you would for a jelly roll, until the filling is completely encased. Press mat gently, but firmly around roll to shape and tighten sushi. Cut each roll into 8 pieces with a moistened knife. Arrange on platter cut side up, garnish with pickled ginger if desired.
NOTE: Tezu is "hand vinegar"- used to dampen hands when working with seasoned rice: 1 Tbsp vinegar with 3 Tbsp water.
Variation:
Tamago Maki Sushi:
Instead of nori, use fried egg sheets following this recipe.
12 eggs, well beaten
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cornstarch
1 Tbsp mirin
salad oil for frying
Combine sugar, salt, cornstarch, and mirin; then add to beaten eggs and blend well. Oil heated square pan and pour only enough egg mixture to cover the bottom of pan. Fry over low heat. When top is about dry, turn over and press down with spatula and remove from the pan immediately. Place each fried egg between paper towels to absorb oil.
Follow directions above to roll the tamago maki.
Chirashi or Bara Sushi
This is the easiest and most popular home style sushi. No raw ingredients are used. The idea is to use many different colored ingredients to make a festive looking dish.
When sushi rice is cooled to about body temperature, add kampyo, bamboo shoots, carrots, and koya-dofu. Mix thoroughly, rice should not be mushy. Other additons could include kamaboko, chinese peas, usuyaki tamago, shrimp flakes, and shiitake.
Garnish with crumbled toasted nori if desired.
The amount of "gu" or ingredients to be mixed with sushi rice is about 1/3 the amount of rice. Combine the different gu to make up the amount to be mixed with rice.
Our favorite is to use all of the above mentioned "gu". Try variations till you have your own favorites. Some people like to add things like portuguese sausage, sauteed onions, green onions, etc.
This is a great pot luck dish.
Temaki Sushi (Hand rolled sushi)
Amounts of ingredients will vary depending on how many kinds are used.
9 cups prepared sushi rice
Nori
1 avocado
1 pkg kaiwari (white radish sprouts)
Japanese cucumber, julienned
Fresh tuna, salmon, salmon roe, yellowtail fish (hamachi), King crab or imitation crab sticks
Shoyu
Wasabi (horseradish) paste
Fold nori sheet in half back and forth to break sheet into two halves. Use one half sheet for each temaki roll.
Scrub cucumbers with a brush and cut into julienne strips. Slice avocado and cut roots off the kaiware.
Slice all fish into 3 inch long strips. Arrange all items attractively on a large platter.
Place the nori in palm of hand and spoon about 3 Tbsp of sushi rice and spread out. Place a streak of wasabi along center of rice with finger. Lay ingredients of choice on top. Wrap nori around filling, starting at lower end of nori and rolling into a cone shape. Dip in shoyu to eat.
Variartion:
Spam sushi is a local favorite using strips of spam cooked in:
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 shoyu
1/4 mirin
1 tsp grated ginger
Inari Sushi
12 aburage (deep fried tofu or bean curd)
Sauce for aburage seasoning:
2 cups dashi (see above)
2 Tbsp mirin
3 Tbsp sake
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup shoyu
Cook aburage in boiling water about 3 minutes to remove excess oil. Drain and remove liquid. Cook aburage in dashi for 5 to 6 minutes over low heat. Add mirin, sake, and sugar; simmer with otoshibuta for 10 minutes. Add shoyu and continue simmering until sauce is well absorbed. Drain aburage and cut into 2 pieces. Open the cut side carefully to form a pouch.
3 cups prepared sushi rice
2 Tbsp toasted goma (sesame seeds)
5 dried shiitake (mushroom), soak in water until soft, dice
1 oz. kampyo, soak to soften, rinse well, and cut into 1/8 inch pieces
1/2 gobo (burdock), sliver,soak in vinegar water to remove harshness
1/2 med carrot, sliver
Vegetable Seasoning:
2 cups dashi stock
2 Tbsp sake
2 Tbsp mirin
3 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp shoyu
Combine all vegetables, add 2 cups dashi and sake. cook over low heat for about 5 minutes, add sugar, salt and mirin and cook for additional 10 minutes. Add shoyu and continue simmering until sauce is almost gone.
Combine sushi rice, cooked vegetables, and goma; mix well.
Fill cooked aburage pouch with prepared rice. Lightly press the rice, do not pack too much.
This is one of my personal favorites, slivered string beans can also be added to the vegetables for a variation.
posted by ms cesar 01-10-100 9:10 PM
Sushi Gohan (Rice)
4 cups rice
5-inch piece dashi konbu (kelp)
5 cups water
1/4 cup mirin
Wash rice, soak for about 1 hour and drain. Wipe konbu, make about 3 or 4 lengthwise slits in konbu, add 5 cups water and cook over med heat. Remove konbu when water begins to boil. (Use heavy bottomed pan or automatic rice cooker to cook rice.)
Measure 3 3/4 cups liquid (knobu dashi), add mirin, stir and bring to a boil. Add drained rice, stir well, cover and bring to a boil over med heat. When it begins to boil, lower heat so it will not boil over and simmer for 8 minutes. Continue cooking additional 10 to 15 minutes on low or until all water has been absorbed. Turn heat off and let steam, covered, for 10 to 15 minutes. Makes about 12 cups.
Remove cooked rice into a large, shallow container and toss rice with Awase-Zu of your choice (approximately 1 cup awase-zu to 5 cups cooked rice). Use cutting strokes sideways to avoid mashing. Do not mix with circular motions. When tossing the rice, cool quickly with a fan, this helps to retain vinegar flavor and gives the rice a glossy sheen. Set aside and use for desired sushi. Cover with a damp cloth when rice reaches room temp to prevent drying out.
Awase-Zu No. 1
Makes about 3/4 cup
1/2 cup rice vinegar
6 Tbsp sugar
1 1/4 Tbsp salt
Awase-Zu No. 2
Makes about 3 cups
1 1/2 cups rice vinegar
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 tsp Hawaiian (rock) salt
Awase-Zu No. 3
Makes about 6 cups
3 cups rice vinegar
2 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup mirin
3 Tbsp salt
Dashi Konbu (kelp), optional
Combine Awase-Zu ingredients and heat only until sugar and salt dissolve. Cool.
Awase-Zu No. 4
Makes about 2 quarts
3 1/4 cups Japanese rice vinegar
1/2 cup salt
4 1/2 cups sugar (decrease if desired)
Combine all ingredients and mix thoroughly. Pour into jar and refrigerate for use later.
Easy Sushi Rice No. 1
Makes about 4 cups
1 1/2 cups rice
3 Tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp sake
6 Tbsp rice vinegar
1 cup water
Rinse and drain rice. Combine remaining ingredients in a suace pan stirring well to dissolve sugar and salt. Add rice, cover and bring to a boil over high heat; turn heat to low and continue cooking until rice is tender, about 20 minutes. Turn off heat. Or cook in automatic rice cooker and steam 5 min after rice is cooked.
Easy Sushi Rice No. 2
7 cups rice
7 cups water
1/2 tsp Hawaiian salt
1/2 tsp sugar
Awase-Zu No.2
Cook rice as above, or cook in automatic rice cooker. Let steam covered 5 minutes after rice is done. Sprinkle rice with Awase-Zu.