Month: April 2007

Categories
Maki Recipes

Apex Roll

apex roll

This roll was originally called something else, but since I wanted to keep SushiDay family friendly, I changed the name to something different, but technically meaning the same thing. Im sure you can guess what the original name was… but I’m not telling you if you can’t. 😛 Keeping things PG-rated here 😀

Anyways, this is a really good roll… the saltiness of the smoked salmon really balances out with the coolness of the cucumber and creaminess of the mayo/imitation crab mix. Delicious!

Makes 6 rolls, or 24 pieces.

Ingredients
Cooking Directions
  1. Cook sushi rice.
  2. Mix imitation crab and mayonnaise, separating crab pieces and mashing into smaller pieces.
  3. Cut the avocado in half, discarding the pit.
  4. Cut off the hard skin and discard.
  5. Slice the avocado into thin sticks.
  6. Slice the cucumber into long, thin sticks.
  7. Using avocado sticks, cucumber, and the imitation crab mix as your fillings, roll the sushi inside-out.
  8. Place thin strips of smoked salmon across the top of the roll, and squeeze them into the roll with the rolling mat so they stick.
  9. Serve with wasabi, shoyu, and ginger (if desired). Enjoy!

Categories
Maki Recipes

Unagi-Philly-Cali Roll

unagi philly cali

The best of both rolls: unagi and cream cheese from the Unagi Philly Roll, and avocado and imitation crab from the California Roll. This is a very rich roll, with the unagi, avocado, crab and cream cheese, and it’s oh so good! This roll will probably feed more people than the average roll of sushi since it is so rich and filling. You might have noticed we have been doing a lot of unagi rolls lately… it’s all Son’s fault! He loves unagi, so we tend to buy it a lot and then make a bunch of sushi with it. 😉 Of course if you have any suggestions of rolls that you would like to see up here, I’m all ears! 😀

Life is so crazy right now! I’ve got midterms starting this week, a research proposal due Monday, loads of homework and, of course, SushiDay! Not that I’m complaining, of course. 🙂 But if I seem to disappear every now and then, you’ll know why!

unagi philly cali roll

Makes 36-48 pieces.

Ingredients
Cooking Directions
  1. Cook sushi rice.
  2. Cook the unagi according to the directions on the package.
  3. Slice the unagi into thin strips, about 1/2 inch wide.
  4. Cut cream cheese into thin sticks, about 1 cm wide.
  5. Cut the avocado in half, discard the pit, slice into thin slices while still in the tough skin, then discard the skin.
  6. Wash the green onion, cut the long green stalks off of the white bulb-like things. Discard the white bulbs.
  7. Roll the sushi, using unagi, imitation crab, avocado, and cream cheese as your fillings.
  8. Serve with shoyu, wasabi, green onion, and ginger if desired. Enjoy!
Categories
Nigiri Recipes

Ham Nigiri

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I know Easter was over a week ago so most of you probably don’t have any ham left, but if you do this is a great way to use it! (Or you could go out and buy some right now! :D) This is a simple version of nigiri, and doesn’t go bad nearly as quickly as fish does, plus it’s a great option for kids or those who prefer to avoid fish! You can eat this like normal sushi with wasabi and shoyu, but a really yummy alternative is to dip it in deli style horseradish mustard. I am OBSESSED with this mustard… I first tried it on some of the delicious steak Son’s dad makes (he’s an amazing cook!), and have since become obsessed with it… I put it on steak, ham, those little English muffin pizzas with chicken apple meatballs on top… mmmmmm so good! 😀

I would also like to offer my thoughts and prayers to the victims and everyone involved in the Virginia Tech shootings. This is such a horrible tragedy, and I really hope that none of you were victims! It’s sobering to realize that everyone is vulnerable, since we tend to think of school and college campuses as safe havens for learning. I’m just thankful that we haven’t had any incidents like this at the university I attend, and hopefully we won’t see any other incidents like this anytime soon!

Please be safe my friends and readers, and enjoy your sushi!

Makes about 5-6 pieces.

Ingredients
  • 1 cup sumeshi
  • 1 large slice of honey baked ham (if you still have leftover Easter ham, this is a great way to use it!)
Cooking Directions
  1. Cook sushi rice.
  2. Using either your hands or a rice mold, form the rice into 5 or 6 small oblong balls.
  3. Cut the ham into 1.5″ x 2.5″ pieces.
  4. Place the piece of ham on top of the rice ball. You may place a small dab of wasabi on the underside of the ham if you wish.
  5. Serve with shoyu, wasabi, and ginger if desired. Something I really liked was dipping it in deli style mustard with horseradish. Yum!

Serving Size: 1 piece

  • Calories: 41
  • Fat: -g, 0% DV
  • Saturated Fat: 0g, 0% DV
  • Cholesterol: 1mg, 0% DV
  • Sodium: 219mg 9% DV
  • Total Carbohydrates: 9g, 3% DV
  • Dietary Fiber: 0g, 1% DV
  • Sugars: 5g
  • Protein: 1g, 2% DV
  • Vitamin A: 0%
  • Vitamin C: 0%
  • Calcium: 0%
  • Iron: 0%
  • Magnesium: 0%
  • Potassium: 0%

Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet. These values are only estimates based on the individual ingredients, and not meant to replace the advice of a medical professional.

More Pictures

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Categories
Other Recipes

Spinach Dip

spinach dip

Okay, so it’s not sushi, but I promise I’ll have more sushi up this weekend! Since you have all been so great and asked nicely, here is the spinach dip recipe I promised! It is so much better than any other spinach dip recipe I have tried! Ever since I was little I have always requested that my mom make this for birthdays, holidays, and any other special occasions. But beware! If you are like me, you will sit in front of the bowl and just eat it and eat it, so if you are dieting, this might not be for you (or make sure you have a bunch of friends over to share it with!) On the other hand, if you enjoy good food, this is a perfect recipe for you! And once again, sorry to be going off on a non-sushi related tangent, it’s just that this is soooo good I had to share! I promise more sushi this weekend!

Serves 1 very indulgent person (me!) or 6 normal people.

Ingredients
  • 1 bunch of spinach
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1/2 cup mayonnaise
  • a dash of onion powder
  • a dash of garlic powder
  • French bread (I prefer to get the soft kind so my gums don’t take a beating, but if you like the crusts it’s completely up to you!)
Cooking Directions
  1. Break the spinach leaves off of the stems, discard the stems and any icky looking leaves.
  2. Wash the spinach very well… I don’t want anyone getting e-coli!
  3. Put the spinach, sour cream, and mayonnaise in a blender or food processor (I use a blender, my mom uses a food processor, it comes out yummy both ways 🙂 ), blend until smooth. You might have to add the spinach in several batches, blending it in between, since an entire bunch of spinach takes a lot of room. When you add the spinach, try to mix it into the sour cream/mayonnaise or the already blended dip – this makes it so the spinach is heavier and will sink to the bottom where the blades are. Otherwise it takes forever to blend it all!
  4. Chill the spinach dip. (You could eat it right away and it will still be good, but trust me, it is SO much better cold!
  5. When you are ready to eat the spinach dip, cut the French bread into cubes.
  6. Generously dip the bread into the dip, and enjoy!

Categories
Maki Recipes

Gunkan Maki

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Gunkan maki, also known as Battleship maki, is a common, more traditional type of sushi. It is topped with ikura (fish eggs, larger than tobiko, which is what was used on the Boston Roll), so it is very salty. We also used some wasabi tobiko (the smaller green fish eggs), but contrary to what their name claims, they didn’t really add any spice to the sushi. If you like ikura and tobiko, you might like it on Inari-Zushi too… we tried it and found it is a really good combination! The sea saltiness of the ikura and tobiko compliment the sweetness of the inari very nicely.

Since people have asked so nicely, I will be getting the spinach dip recipe up later this week, when I have time to go out and buy some spinach so I can tease you all with pictures! 😉 Meanwhile, check out my archives and make some sushi! 😀

Makes 6-8 pieces

Ingredients
Cooking Directions
  1. Cook sushi rice.
  2. Form a small ball of rice with your hands or use a round cookie cutter to make a small circular rice shape about 1″ tall and 2 inches in diameter.
  3. Cut the nori into 2″ strips. Wrap a strip of nori around the circumference of each rice ball.
  4. Place about a tablespoon of ikura on top of each ball of rice.
  5. Enjoy with shoyu, wasabi, and ginger if desired.

Coming Soon!

More Pictures

IMG_1794_1.jpggunkan-makiIMG_1798_1.jpgGunkan MakiGunkan Maki

Categories
Other Sushi Randomness

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! Even though my family isn’t really religious, we still celebrate it every year. We spent some time yesterday dying eggs… my little brother was having a little too much fun doing it! We have these little plastic wrappers that you can put around the hard boiled eggs, then put them in boiling water to shrink-wrap them around the eggs. He ended up shrink-wrapping every one of his eggs to the little wire egg dippers (seen in this egg dying tutorial).. luckily we have a lot of egg dippers from previous years! And yes, we are technically a bit too old to be doing this… those of us dying eggs range in age from 14 to 25! (Well, my mom also did a few eggs, but I’m not telling you how old she is!)

Happy Easter!

Tomorrow morning we get to wake up and do an Easter egg hunt in our backyard… some traditions never get old, and for Son they are very new – last year was the first year he had ever dyed Easter eggs or done an Easter egg hunt! Growing up in Vietnam he had a lot of different traditions than those we have here in the U.S., so I have been introducing him to a lot of new things (carving pumpkins for Halloween, having a stocking for Christmas, dying Easter eggs, etc.). Later in the day we have a super yummy Easter dinner: ham, scalloped potatos, asparagus, and the best spinach dip in the world! (If you ask me nicely, I may just share the recipe!) Yum… I can’t wait!

Happy Easter!

So now I want to know, what are your Easter traditions? I have never celebrated Easter with anyone aside from my own family, so I would love to hear how your traditions differ from mine! Have a wonderful Easter!
Happy Easter!

Categories
Maki Recipes

Unagi Philly Roll

unagi philly roll

In a time long, long past, one of our readers suggested a roll that combines unagi (eel) and cream cheese. (Okay so it was only 4 months ago, but that’s almost SushiDay’s entire lifetime!) We finally got around to trying it, and Son and I definitely agree – it’s really good! It tastes very similar to the Philadelphia Roll, so this is a great alternative for those who aren’t so fond of fish but like unagi!

It’s back to school again! … and I’m sick. 🙁 I caught a cold from Son, who caught it from my little brother (we were over at my parent’s house last week), so now I’m coughing my head off! Bleh. It’s alright though, at least I didn’t get sick until the end of spring break! 🙂

Makes 6 rolls, or 36-48 pieces.

Ingredients
Cooking Directions
  1. Cook sushi rice.
  2. Cook the unagi according to the directions on the package.
  3. Slice the unagi into thin strips, about 1/2 inch wide.
  4. Cut cream cheese into thin sticks, about 1 cm wide.
  5. Roll the sushi, using unagi and cream cheese as your fillings.
  6. Serve with shoyu, wasabi, green onion, and ginger if desired. Enjoy!