Year: 2008

Yellowtail Nigiri

I first tried yellowtail sashimi late last year, and it was love at first bite. Now, if you held a gun to my head and forced me to choose (please don’t, by the way) yellowtail would be my sashimi of choice, even over tuna and salmon! It has such light flavor and just melts between your teeth – it’s not chewy at all! There’s nothing not to love about yellowtail!

A little background information about yellowtail: A lot of people think that yellowtail is a type of tuna. This is a huge misconception… Yellowtail is actually a type of Jack Fish, but is also called yellowtail kingfish in Australia and New Zealand. It’s called yellowtail because… you guessed it – it’s tail is yellow! The yellowtail is a super duper powerful swimmer and has a very aerodynamic… er… aquadynamic? (edit: one of my readers, Lodewijk, has informed me it’s actually hydrodynamic 😀 ) body, shaped like a torpedo. This makes it very fast and a popular game fish. It is one of the top three game fish in Southern California – I’ve even found it at my farmers market! It is generally found in the tropical waters of the Southern Hemisphere and in the northern Pacific. (California, Baja California, Japan!)

Ingredients

1 cup sumeshi
1 oz yellowtail sashimi

Cooking Directions

Cook sushi rice.
Using either your hands or a rice mold, form the rice into 5 or 6 small oblong balls.
Cut the yellowtail into slices larger than your rice balls.
Place each slice of yellowtail on top of a rice ball. You may place a small dab of wasabi on the underside of the yellowtail if you wish.
Serve with shoyu, wasabi, and ginger if desired.

Nigiri Recipes

Tuna Nigiri

So simple, and yet so good. This is definitely the most basic type of sushi, and the most common one seen in media, sushi bars, and anywhere else sushi or pictures of sushi might be found. Not surprisingly this is what most people thing of when they think of sushi.

Tuna (maguro) nigiri is something I get at almost every sushi restaurant/bar I go to, just because it is so darn delicious! However I wouldn’t recommend serving this to people who are grossed out by the idea of eating raw fish… a little too much of a fishy flavor for that. Personally, I think it would be better to start out with yellowtail (hamachi) or white tuna (ono)… they have much subtler flavors, and are much softer to bite into!

We were so lucky to receive this tuna. Over Thanksgiving weekend last year, we spent Thanksgiving day with my family, and then went home. Later, that Saturday, we went back out to my parents’ to go with the family to an annual Christmas party that I hadn’t been to in years. Coming home, we found out that a neighbor of my parents had gone fishing that day (he owns his own boat) and caught some fantastic yellowfin tuna. He cleaned, filleted, and vacuum-packed the fish on his boat, so it was all ready for us to take home! All I had to do was slice the fillet and roll it in sushi! Are you hungry yet? 🙂

Ingredients

1 cup sumeshi
1 oz sashimi-grade tuna

Cooking Directions

Cook sushi rice.
Using either your hands or a rice mold, form the rice into 5 or 6 small oblong balls.
Cut the tuna into slices larger than your rice balls.
Place each slice of tuna on top of a rice ball. You may place a small dab of wasabi on the underside of the tuna if you wish.
Serve with shoyu, wasabi, and ginger if desired.

Maki Recipes

New York Roll

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Yeah, I know… don’t ask. I have absolutely no clue why this is called the New York Roll! If anyone has any idea of the origin of the name, or any suggestions for a roll better deserving of the name, please share! 😀 (Do my New Yorkers have any good suggestions? 🙂 )

This is very similar to the Naked Spicy Tuna Roll except not spicy… no jalapeños! Oh, and it’s inside out, and has sesame seeds, and I actually tried this one. 🙂 A perfect alternative for those of us who can’t take so much spice!

Recipe
Nutrition Info

Ingredients

6 sheets nori
3 cups sumeshi
1 cucumber
4 oz cream cheese
6 oz sashimi-grade tuna
1 oz sesame seeds

Cooking Directions

Cook sushi rice.
Cut cucumber into sticks.
Slice tuna into 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch by 2-3 inch sticks, against the grain.
Roll the sushi inside-out*, using a few sticks of cucumber, some cream cheese, and some tuna as your fillings.
* After you spread the rice on the nori but before you flip the nori over, sprinkle some sesame seeds over the rice and press them in so they stick.

Serving Size: 1 roll New York Roll

Calories: 238
Fat: 8g, 13% DV
Saturated Fat: 4g, 19% DV
Cholesterol: 31mg, 10% DV
Sodium: 597mg, 25% DV
Total Carbohydrates: 29g, 10% DV
Dietary Fiber: 2g, 7% DV
Sugars: 17g
Protein: 10g, 21% DV
Vitamin A: 22%
Vitamin C: 7%
Calcium: 6%
Iron: 9%
Magnesium: 9%
Potassium: 5%

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.

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Maki Recipes

Naked Spicy Tuna Roll

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Hot hot hot! This is another spicy tuna roll, but it gets it’s heat from a completely different source. Instead of the Sriracha sauce that is in normal spicy tuna rolls, this one has a jalapeno as one of it’s fillings. Even though it has cream cheese to soothe your taste buds… it really doesn’t help much. Or so I hear. To be honest, I made Son try this one, and I didn’t even have a bite! If I had, I guarantee I would have been running around the kitchen with tears running down my face. 😀 Those of you who are like me and not huge spicy fans… yeah you, you know who you are!… this one isn’t for you. However the rest of you who adore spicy foods… yes I know you know who you are too!… you will love this!

Recipe
Nutrition Info

Ingredients

6 sheets nori
3 cups sumeshi
1 cucumber
4 oz cream cheese
6 jalapeño peppers or a bunch of sliced jalapeños from a jar (this is what I used)
6 oz sashimi-grade tuna

Cooking Directions

Cook sushi rice.
Cut cucumber into sticks.
Slice jalapeños… but be careful! Don’t get the oils in your eyes! Discard the stem.
Slice tuna into 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch by 2-3 inch sticks, against the grain.
Roll the sushi, using a few sticks of cucumber, some cream cheese, a sliced jalepeño and some tuna as your fillings.

Serving Size: 1 roll Naked Spicy Tuna Roll

Calories: 218
Fat: 6g, 10% DV
Saturated Fat: 3g, 17% DV
Cholesterol: 31mg, 10% DV
Sodium: 965mg, 40% DV
Total Carbohydrates: 29g, 10% DV
Dietary Fiber: 2g, 7% DV
Sugars: 17g
Protein: 10g, 20% DV
Vitamin A: 29%
Vitamin C: 11%
Calcium: 3%
Iron: 7%
Magnesium: 6%
Potassium: 5%

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.

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Maki Recipes

Unagi Asparagus Roll

Tuna tuna tuna… so many tuna sushi recipes lately! What? I’m catching up for the entire year that I didn’t use any sashimi at all! 😀 A quick break though… it’s an unagi recipe today, and then it’s back to tuna! Mmmmm…

I love asparagus. That might not sound like anything special unless you know that I hate vegetables. Well, I used to at least. When I was little my parents used to make me (and my siblings… it wasn’t just me!) eat our vegetables before we ate the rest of our dinner! I’m getting much better though, not I’ll eat asparagus and most other vegetables without making horrible faces. 😀 So obviously, I had to put some asparagus in a roll, and what better companion than unagi? Seriously. It’s gooood.

Ingredients

6 sheets nori
3 cups sumeshi
1 package frozen unagi
6 spears asparagus

Cooking Directions

Cook sushi rice.
Cook unagi according to directions on package.
Wash asparagus.
Cut about 1-2 inches off bottoms of stalks, discard.
Steam asparagus until tender, but still crisp.
Roll the sushi, using some unagi and a stalk of asparagus as your fillings.

Maki Recipes

Feisty Tuna Roll

The Feisty Tuna Roll is a little bit spicy but not overwhelmingly so, and definitely tasty. The avocado helps cool it down a little more, so even people who aren’t huge fans of spicy foods will probably like this. 🙂

Ingredients

6 sheets nori
3 cups sumeshi
1 large avocado
2 tbsp mayonnaise
2 tsp Sriracha sauce
6 stalks green onion
6 oz sashimi grade tuna

Cooking Directions

Cook sushi rice.
Cut the avocado in half, discarding the pit.
Cut off the hard skin and discard.
Slice the avocado into thin sticks.
Mix the mayonnaise and Sriracha sauce.
Wash the green onion, cut the long green stalks off of the white bulb-like things. Discard the white bulbs.
Slice tuna into 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch by 2-3 inch sticks, against the grain.
Roll the sushi, using avocado, green onion, tuna, and a little of the mayonnaise sauce as your fillings.

Maki Recipes

The Red Violin

This is another one of the tuna rolls that we made oh, about three months ago. Behind? Who, me? Okay, fine, you win. I am waaaaaay behind in my sushi posts, and I’m not done yet! We still have a bunch more tuna rolls left to post! I know what you’re thinking, “Maybe you should post more often Allison!” Yeah, I know. I should. What with me graduating in a few months and trying to make sure I have all the right classes I need to graduate and trying to figure out what’s going to happen after I graduate, I have gotten a little behind in my posts. Time has been going by so fast! I guess that’s what happens when I’m busy. I post something and before I know it, more than a week has gone by and I still haven’t posted something new! Oi. Oh, and happy belated Valentines Day! In case you are wondering, Son didn’t get me flowers or chocolates or jewelry or anything like that. No, it was MUCH more exciting. He got me cookbooks! 😀 He knows how to make me happy hehe.

Ingredients

6 sheets nori
3 cups sumeshi
1 large avocado
1/2 cup cilantro
3 tsp Sriracha sauce
6 oz sashimi-grade tuna

Cooking Directions

Cook sushi rice.
Cut the avocado in half, discarding the pit.
Cut off the hard skin and discard.
Slice the avocado into thin sticks.
Wash cilantro.
Slice tuna into 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch by 2-3 inch sticks, against the grain.
Roll the sushi, using some avocado, several cilantro leaves, a few sticks of tuna, and about 1/2 tsp of Sriracha sauce as your fillings.

Other Recipes

Cheese Age

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I first introduced you to Cheese Age waaaay back when I first tried them at Honda-Ya for Son’s birthday. Yeah, I’m a bit behind in my posts, can you tell? 😀 Anyways, I promised you I would try making them and then write a post about them… and I did! Make them anyways. I made them for my great-aunt’s Christmas party the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and they were a hit! One of my great-aunts loved them so much, she took all of the left-overs home!

These are addictive. Quite spicy, so I can only eat one at a time and run for water between pieces, but soooo good! Plus, these are a perfect snack to bring for a Super Bowl party! (I’m actually doing this… I’ll make them Saturday, refrigerate them overnight, then send them with Son because unfortunately I can’t be at his friends’ Super Bowl Party this year!) Cheesy, spicy, fried… perfect with a beer or two while watching the big game! Of course, if you are more in the mood for sushi for your Super Bowl party, you can definitely check out our Super Bowl Rock N’ Roll that I made last year (a suggestion by one of our favorite readers, Ralph Whitbeck! 😀 ).

Recipe
Nutrition Info

Ingredients

1 package of wonton skins (I used the square ones, but you can use the round ones instead if you would like)
1 package of Velveeta individual cheese slices
1 jar of sliced jalapeños
vegetable oil
1 egg white

Cooking Directions

Lay down a wonton skin so one of the corners is pointing towards you. (I’m writing this as if you are using a square wonton skin. If you are using a round one, then it doesn’t matter which side is towards you 😛 )
Place a jalapeño slice just below the halfway point of the wonton skin.
Break the cheese slice into thirds.
Break each third of the cheese slice into pieces, arrange on top of and around the jalapeño.
Using a pastry brush ,brush the bottom two edges of the wonton skin with egg white.
Fold the top half of the wonton skin down over the fillings.
Press the edges together to seal the wonton.
Pour enough oil into a frying pan so it is at least an inch deep, heat it until it is hot (sorry, I have no exact temperature for you).
Place one layer of the filled wontons into the pan.
Fry wontons until they are golden brown. When we did this, we found that they expanded quite a bit and would start to leak cheese if one of the sides hit the bottom of the hot pan (which is why we want the oil to be deep enough so this doesnt happen.
Let cool, and enjoy!

Serving Size: 1 piece Cheese Age

Calories: 25
Fat: 1g, 1% DV
Saturated Fat: 0g, 2% DV
Cholesterol: 2mg, 1% DV
Sodium: 133mg, 6% DV
Total Carbohydrates: 4g, 1% DV
Dietary Fiber: 0g, 0% DV
Sugars: 0g
Protein: 1g, 1% DV
Vitamin A: 2%
Vitamin C: 1%
Calcium: 2%
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.

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Maki Recipes

Maguro Karakuchi Spicy Tuna

Post author By Allison
Post date January 20, 2008
28 Comments on Maguro Karakuchi Spicy Tuna

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Amazing. Just… amazing. That’s the only way I know how to describe this roll (okay, so not the only way, but definitely one of the best ways!) This has been added to my list of my favorite sushi rolls, so it’s gotta be good, right? The Sriracha sauce adds a pleasant kick, but it’s mellowed out by the mayonnaise so it’s perfect for those of us who don’t like super spicy foods. The tobiko adds a wonderful crunch to the sushi, and the green onion brightens it up a little. Overall, it’s a delicious roll! (As for the name of the roll, I cannot for the life of me remember where I found this roll, but this is what they called it and I can’t really come up with a better name 😛 )

You also should try the sauce for this (mayonnaise, Sriracha, masago, and green onion) mixed into canned tuna and sandwiched between two slices of toasted bread… it’s absolutely scrumptious! 😀 Whenever I have leftover masago or tobiko in the fridge, I make this for lunch… filling and just delicious! I love it. 🙂

As for the Sushi Day shirts, we have had a few delays in getting the order form up, so hopefully it will be up by the end of this week! Keep your fingers crossed!

Recipe
Nutrition Info

Ingredients

6 sheets nori
3 cups sumeshi
6 oz sashimi grade tuna
4 tbsp mayonnaise
2 tsp Sriracha sauce
4 tsp tobiko or masago
4 tbsp green onion

Cooking Directions

Cook sushi rice.
Slice tuna into 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch by 2-3 inch sticks, against the grain.
Cut green onions into small pieces.
Mix mayonnaise, Sriracha sauce, tobiko, and green onion together.
Roll the sushi, using several slices of tuna and about one tablespoon of the sauce as your fillings.
Enjoy!

Serving Size: 1 roll Maguro Karakuchi Spicy Tuna

Calories: 231
Fat: 8g, 13% DV
Saturated Fat: 1g, 7% DV
Cholesterol: 55mg, 18% DV
Sodium: 639mg, 27% DV
Total Carbohydrates: 28g, 9% DV
Dietary Fiber: 1g, 5% DV
Sugars: 17g
Protein: 10g, 20% DV
Vitamin A: 29%
Vitamin C: 15%
Calcium: 1%
Iron: 8%
Magnesium: 5%
Potassium: 4%

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.