Tuna Maki, Sushi and Sashimi

Tuna Makis

We went to Aldina for lunch again and while waiting for our food to be served, Hub and I took turns to visit the covered market opposite as inspiration struck on an ad-hoc basis as to what we would like to get from this market. I guess it's difficult being near a market and not buying anything from it.

On my trip I got bio bread and wild strawberries. Then while waiting for dessert, Hub asked me if I had what it took to make Tuna Makis and I said yes, except for the tuna, and so off he went to buy some tuna.

I don't eat sushi and other raw stuff like that. But I have attended 2 Japanese cooking classes a few years ago in Singapore and understand the basic principles of making such food. And I had excellent Hokkaido Japanese rice, nori seaweed sheets, wasabi, Japanese distilled vinegar...in stock.

My teacher told us that the sushi rice has to be harder than other rice. The rice has to be washed, drained and then left in a colander to dry for 30 minutes before being cooked. This is to make sure that the moisture will penetrate the grain and the sushi rice will not be soft on the outside and hard on the inside when cooked. And the cooking time normally shouldn't be too long (15 mins?). When cooked, the seasoning (7 parts Vinegar: 4 parts Sugar : 1 part Salt : 1/2 part Sake) has to be mixed with the rice with minimum disturbance so as not break the grains. Sushi rice is normally cooled in a cyprus-wood basin but I made do with my wooden salad bowl. One has to fan the rice to help it cool and may be allowed to use electric fans, but do not leave the rice out in the cold as it would dry up the grains and harden them.

Tuna Sushi and Sashimi

Each time I made my makis, the challenge would be to lose the minimum number of the rice grains to bad technique. I am pleased that this evening, I counted only 4 grains in my bowl of cold water.

Prawn Sushi looked like 3 Cats :-)

Had a big bowl of rice leftover so I fried some (frozen) breaded prawns, prepared a Tempura sauce and made a Ten Don for myself.