Author: Allison

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

• 6 sheets nori
• 3 cups sumeshi
• 1 package frozen unagi
• 4 oz cream cheese

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!

A while ago when we make the New Zealand Roll, one of our readers suggested we try making an unagi roll with kiwifruit on top (rather than a California roll with kiwifruit on top, which is what the New Zealand Roll is.) He was right… the roll turned out wonderfully! Son really liked it, and we would definitely recommend it to anyone who likes unagi and kiwifruit.

It’s been forever since I have had kiwifruit – for the longest time, I didn’t even know if I like it or not. I remember having some kiwifruit ages ago in preschool, but I don’t think my parents ever had any around, so I hadn’t had any until a few months ago when I made the New Zealand Roll. Same thing with peaches… I haven’t eaten those since I was a little kid either. I used to love them… until I was maybe two years old and I had an incredibly sour peach. My parents have before and after pictures of me eating that peach… before I bit into it I had a huge smile on my face, and after… my face was all scrunched up because it was so sour. I still don’t eat peaches – I’ve been scarred for life. Maybe I’ll make a sushi using peaches… now there’s a thought!

Makes 6 rolls, or 36-48 pieces.

Ingredients

• 6 sheets nori
• 3 cups sumeshi
• 1 small cucumber
• 1 package frozen unagi
• 4 small kiwi fruits

Cooking Directions

1. Cook sushi rice.
2. Cook the unagi according to the package.
3. Wash the cucumber and slice into long thin strips.
4. Slice the unagi into long thin strips.
5. Roll the sushi inside-out, using cucumber and unagi as your fillings. Place thin slices of kiwi fruit along the top of the roll, and use the rolling mat to press them into place.
6. Serve with shoyu, wasabi, and ginger if desired. Enjoy!

According to Son, this roll “tastes like a seaweed-wrapped burrito”. It’s a good roll, although I think it’s better to expect the taste of a burrito rather than the taste of sushi. Dimora e-mailed me the idea for this roll… although I changed a few things, I think her version looks much better!

When you make this roll, be ready to make a mess! It is VERY messy! Son described this to be “like a burrito with no cover on the butt”. 😛 In other words, the ingredients have a tendency to squish out the open ends… so be careful! Also, Dimora recommended putting the beans and the sour cream in ziplock bags and cutting off one of the corners, then squeezing them into the rolls. I didn’t do this the first time around, but I really recommend it, as it made it much easier to have even amounts of the ingredients in the roll, and it’s less of a squishy mess.

Of course you could also do what we did… make one maki roll… then use the rest of the ingredients for burritos! Yum! 😉

Makes 6 rolls, or 12 pieces.

Ingredients

• 6 sheets nori
• 3 cups sumeshi
• 1 bag tortilla chips
• 1 large avocado
• 1 can refried beans
• 8 oz sour cream
• shredded mexican cheese
• salsa
• store-bought or homemade carnitas

Cooking Directions

1. Cook sushi rice.
2. Crush the tortilla chips.
3. Cut the avocado in half, discard the pit, slice into thin slices while still in the tough skin, then discard the skin.
4. Warm up the carnitas and refried beans as instructed on the packages.
5. Spread the rice on the nori, then sprinkle the crushed tortilla chips on top of the rice, pressing them into the rice so they stick.
6. Place the refried beans, salsa, and sour cream inside individual ziploc bags or squeeze bottles, and snip off a corner of the bag to make piping bags.
7. Roll the sushi inside-out, using refried beans, salsa, avocado, sour cream, shredded cheese, and carnitas as your fillings.
8. Enjoy!

This is a very pretty roll, with the alternating stripes of cucumber and avocado. You might like to keep the tails of the shrimp on for decoration (like we did), just make sure that you don’t eat them!

I chose the name “Summer Breeze Sushi” because in this heat wave we’re getting in SoCal that’s something we could really use! Aren’t we supposed to be getting rain right now (or at least cooler weather)?!?! The heat is completely scrambling my brain, so if my post doesn’t make sense… please let me know!!! 😀 All I want to do is stay in bed at my nice cool apartment, but of course I can’t do that… it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to ditch class in the last week of the quarter! Gotta go study for finals now… :P.

Makes 6 rolls, or 36-48 slices.

Ingredients

• 6 sheets nori
• 3 cups sumeshi
• 12 pieces tempura shrimp
• 1 medium cucumber
• 2 large avocados

Cooking Directions

1. Cook sushi rice.
2. Bake tempura shrimp as directed on the package. I used this tempura shrimp, but I’m sure other types, or even homemade tempura shrimp will work just fine. You can also fry the tempura shrimp if you choose, but baking it is healthier, and you can prepare other things (such as the sumeshi) while it’s baking.
3. Cut tails off the tempura shrimp.
4. Use a vegetable peeler to peel the cucumber into thin strips. Cut these strips in half.
5. Cut the avocado in half, discard the pit, slice into thin slices while still in the tough skin, then discard the skin.
6. Roll the sushi inside-out, using 2 pieces of tempura shrimp as your filling. Place alternating strips of avocado and cucumber along the top of the roll (similar to how we did the Frisky Roll) and squeeze with the rolling mat to press the ingredients into the roll.
7. Slice, drizzle with Eel Sauce, and enjoy!

This is a very simple roll, but still interesting due to the flavors of the teriyaki sauce and hot sauce. You can also use hoisin sauce in place of the teriyaki sauce if you don’t have any teriyaki sauce, and it will still taste good! 🙂

Only one more week of school left of the winter quarter… and then finals! Bleh. Time seems to be going by so quickly nowadays… I’ll have graduated before you know it! I think it’s partially because I am so busy these days – I have classes to study for, homework to do, sushi to make, posts to write, a website to make for my mom, and Son to take care of! I’m not complaining, because I enjoy it all, but still… it’s a lot to do! 😉

Makes 12 rolls, or 36-48 slices.

Ingredients

• 6 sheets nori
• 3 cups sumeshi
• 12 pieces tempura shrimp
• teriyaki sauce
• hot sauce

Cooking Directions

1. Cook sushi rice.
2. Bake tempura shrimp as directed on the package. I used this tempura shrimp, but I’m sure other types, or even homemade tempura shrimp will work just fine. You can also fry the tempura shrimp if you choose, but baking it is healthier, and you can prepare other things (such as the sumeshi) while it’s baking.
3. Cut tails off the tempura shrimp.
4. Slice tempura shrimp in half lengthwise.
5. Roll the sushi inside-out, using 1/2 a sheet of nori instead of a whole sheet, and 2 slices of tempura shrimp (one whole shrimp) as your filling.
6. Drizzle teriyaki sauce over the roll, and squeeze a stripe of hot sauce along the roll. Enjoy!

This is a very mild but delicious roll. The asparagus is sweet and juicy, while the smoked salmon is nice and salty. It really doesn’t need any accompaniment, but if you would like, you can mix in some wasabi with your mayonnaise to add an extra little kick.

Makes 6 rolls, or 36-48 slices.

Ingredients

• 6 sheets nori
• 3 cups sumeshi
• 6 stalks asparagus
• 4 oz smoked salmon
• mayonnaise

Cooking Directions

1. Cook sushi rice.
2. Microwave the asparagus for about 1 minute.
3. Roll the sushi. For your fillings, use a stalk of asparagus, some smoked salmon, and a line of mayonnaise.
4. Serve and enjoy!

This is a roll that I first tried and loved at the Maki Maki in Irvine, California. I liked it so much that I thought that I should try making it myself… and I was very pleased with the result! It actually tasted almost exactly like the one at the restaurant. 🙂 Yum!

As always, please be careful while you are using dangerous things such as knives and hot oil! Son was actually the one who made this and another roll that we haven’t posted yet because clumsy me stabbed herself with a knife! I was pitting the avocado and the knife slipped and went straight into my hand, so now I have a lovely little battle wound. 😛 Luckily in the week since we made this sushi the stab wound has closed up nicely, although I still can’t push on it or carry heavy things with that hand. No negative effects from the bits of avocado that probably got in my hand 🙂 (I put rubbing alcohol on it once it stopped gushing, but who knows now much good it was able to do by then!) Yes, I am clumsy… always have been and probably always will be. 😀

Makes 6 rolls, or 24 pieces.

Ingredients

• 6 sheets of nori
• 3 cups sumeshi
• 1 medium avocado
• 1 cup imitation crab
• 1 small cucumber (optional)
• ¼ cup mayonnaise (to taste)
• sesame seeds
• ingredients for tempura batter

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. If you choose to use cucumber, slice it into long, thin sticks.
7. Using avocado sticks, cucumber(if desired), and the imitation crab mix as your fillings, roll the sushi inside-out.
8. Cut the rolls in half and then tempura fry the inside-out rolls. It helps to spoon tempura batter over the roll while you are frying it because when you dip it at first it kind of soaks into the rice and isn’t quite enough. You will have to flip it quite a few times while you are cooking it, putting a little more batter over it each time.
9. Cut the rolls in half diagonally.
10. Drizzle eel sauce over it and serve with wasabi, shoyu, and ginger (if desired). Enjoy!