Sushi for One, Day 1 (American South and Algerian)

My definition of “sushi” might be somewhat loose. It’s mostly a wrap with a nice dipping sauce, I suppose, although there is a strong tendency for nori (seaweed) and sweet sushi rice. But I thought it would be fun to take sushi around the world and see what happens.

For Day 1 of Sushi Week, I’m going to start at the beginning of the alphabet of my collection of Sushi around the world. Go ahead—cross some borders!

You’ll need a standard amount of sushi rice for two rolls, but the filling amounts are too small to worry about. You have fun with it on your own!

½ cup sushi rice (small grain, white rice)

1 cup of water

1 teaspoon granulated sugar

1/8 cup rice vinegar

Nori sheets for wrapping makis

1. Cook the rice in the water. Watch it, because small amounts of rice like this will suddenly be cooked and burning! Put it into a medium-sized bowl.
2. Combine the vinegar and sugar in a small bowl. Using a sweeping motion with the rice paddle, pour the vinegar solution over the cooked rice, smooshing the vinegar into the rice with the paddle. Make wide Zs over and over in the rice, occasionally bringing the bottom rice up to the top until the sweet vinegar is thoroughly combined.
3. Wait until the rice is COMPLETELY COOLED. Don't put it in the refrigerator, though. It gets an unpleasant stiffness to the rice if you do. 

Tra-la-la

Now, let’s get to the wrapping. I’ve provided two methods for wrapping: the Old-Fashioned method and the one for klutzes, like me.

Old-Fashioned Normal Person Method:

1. Cover a sushi rolling mat with plastic wrap and place a sheet of nori on it.
2. Put about half of the rice on the nori sheet close to the bottom edge and smoodge it flat to cover about ¾ of the sheet. It will be sticky. Getting your hands damp helps with that.
3. Line up your fillings in a neat little row near the bottom of the rice. You’ll want to pile it as neatly and horizontally as possible.
4. Pick up the edge of the mat and roll the nori and rice up inch by inch, using the mat to help you keep it tight. Pause often to make sure it’s really tight and resettle the roll on the mat. Keep rolling until you’re finally through the whole roll. Stop just short of rolling it the last little bit.
5. Take some of the remaining rice and smoosh it thoroughly against the edge of nori to act as glue, and then finish rolling the maki up.
6. Place the roll on a piece of plastic wrap and slice it in half (the short way, silly, unless you’re going to do something fancy). Slice each of those halves in half, and then cut those halves too. You should have eight pieces of sushi.

Handy Device, High-Tech Method for Klutzes (I used this http://tinyurl.com/k9zrh69 ):

1. Cover a sushi rolling mat with plastic wrap and place a sheet of nori on it.
2. Dampen the bottom of the device and smoodge about ¼ of the rice into it. It will be sticky. Dampening your hands will help with that.
3. Line your fillings up and put another quarter of the rice on top of them into the nifty device. Smoosh the top of the device down on the rice and push hard! It should squish out a bit at the sides.
4. Take the top off the device and turn the contraption and its contents upside-down onto a blank piece of nori, quite near the bottom, but not quite at it.
5. Push the rest of the device carefully off of the rice so that you have a tidy little rice log on the nori sheet.
6. Pick up the edge of the mat and roll the nori and rice log up inch by inch, using the mat to help you keep it tight. Pause often to make sure it’s really tight and resettle the roll on the mat. Keep rolling until you’re finally through the whole roll. Stop just short of rolling it the last little bit.
7. Take some of the remaining rice and smoosh it thoroughly against the edge of nori to act as glue, and then finish rolling the maki up.
8. Place the roll on a piece of plastic wrap and slice it in half (the short way, silly, unless you’re going to do something fancy). Slice each of those halves in half, and then cut those halves too. You should have eight pieces of sushi.

Now, then, on to flavors. Today’s are American South and Algerian. I’ve never been to either place, but I'm told that their food is distinctive.

American South Sushi: Watermelon, cantaloupe, and mint with a lemon and powdered sugar dipping sauce. I surrounded mine with figs because, you know, figs. 

Algerian Sushi: Grated carrot, avocado, steamed spinach, with rice on the OUTSIDE of the nori sheet and flipped over. Then I made the inside log of rice and goodies, rolled it up inside, and draped cooked sweet potato over the top. This one I dipped into traditional wasabi-laden soy sauce.