Cheating in the kitchen- Sushi Salad

I'm officially hooked, ok? Hooked!! I knew it was going to happen. First came the California roll, then the Las Vegas roll, the nigiri, the sashimi, the tempura shrimp mango roll. I can't help it! I am in love with sushi! Even worse, I love making it!! But who has the time?

During the summer months I can literally subsist on salads. No cooking! (or very little anyway) and I am always researching things- grains, cooking methods, new ways to make old favorites, updated versions of older recipes, you name it. It was just a matter of time before I tried to figure out a way to simplify this whole sushi-rolling business and come up with a way to enjoy all those flavors on a weeknight without spending hours rolling, and rolling, and rolling. Just..... a matter..... of time.

Actually, it kind of came to me in a roundabout way. Mulling over the ingredients for sushi in my fridge, and dreading the whole rolling thing, but living too far away from a sushi place..... and cruising the internet I came across a website that had salad ideas. VINTAGE salad ideas. You know the stuff- the Jello, the mayonnaise, the peas and shredded stuff. Apparently people used to be quite fond of making rice salads much like the pasta salads I make these days.

Rice salad. Fresh vegetables. Rice..... sushi rice...... SUSHI SALAD!!!!!! It was like the clouds parted and Confucious himself spoke to me! Now this is an idea I can get behind, and talk about easy. 

Let's get started with No-Roll Sushi Salad! 

You will need:

• one recipe sushi rice (get directions HERE)
• 1 lb cooked, cleaned shrimp
• 1/4 cup carrot, diced
• 1/2 medium cucumber, seeded and cut in small chunks
• 1/2 cup chopped celery
• 1 mango, peeled and cut in small cubes
• 1 avocado, peeled and cut in small cubes (toss with small squeeze lime juice)
• nori sheets or fresh kale
• pickled ginger (optional)
• 2-3 tb black, or toasted, sesame seeds
• soy sauce
• wasabi
• 1 cup mayonnaise (NOT Miracle Whip!!)
• 1-2 tb Sriracha

Make your rice- Prepare the sushi rice as directed, using rice wine vinegar and sugar. Set aside to cool while you prep the other ingredients.

Prepare the shrimp- thaw if frozen. I used frozen cooked shrimp to save on prep time but you can buy fresh and cook them, just be sure to chill them well. Rinse the shrimp and make sure they are deveined and free from shell bits. Remove tails. If you have small shrimp, leave whole. Larger shrimp need to be cut into bite size chunks. 

Prep all your vegetables- cut up mango and vegetables. If you are using kale instead of nori (and I am, I am NOT a fan of nori really), rinse the leaves well and cut into strips. If you are using nori, crumble up a sheet or two, as much as you like. You can add the nori NOW or wait until later when you serve it, so it doesn't break down and get mushy. 

Assemble the salad- In a large bowl place the sushi rice. Add all the vegetables, shrimp and sesame seed. Toss.

Make the dressing- In a small bowl combine the mayo, Sriracha, a dash of soy sauce and wasabi to taste. If using pickled ginger, finely mince it and add to dressing. Pour about half the dressing over the salad, toss again. Serve with additional dressing, wasabi, and crumbled nori sheets on the side.

It's bright, it's colorful, it's brimming with fresh sushi flavors and I didn't have to spend tedious time pressing, stacking and rolling!I love the sweet mango and the creamy avocado mixing with the crunchy celery and carrots. I needed to amp up the wasabi a bit so don't be afraid to add plenty. Now I can get my sushi fix anytime I want to just as quickly as making a tossed salad.

What is red shiso, and why did I buy it?

Tonight as I was looking through my seed packets, anxious to get the last of the seeds in before the rain arrives later, I came upon a packet of seeds I bought for this spring and forgot about- red shiso. Hmmm..... I wonder what I was thinking?

I know I have been doing a lot of research lately, trying to expand my repertoire of Asian dishes, and red shiso, a Japanese herb, definitely fits into that plan. I do know (from watching millions of episodes of Chopped) that the red leaves are used to get the distinct red color of umeboshi, or Japanese pickled plums. I've seen these odd fruits appear in the chefs' baskets of secret ingredients several times. I know they are very very salty and sour. 

Some sushi chefs sprout the shiso seed and use the sprouts in sushi-making. Maybe THAT will be a good way for me to experiment, as sushi-making is a new hobby around the Little Lake House. I've seen the leaves used as a serving vessel for wasabi on sushi plates before too.

The red leaves are also dried and crushed to make yukari, which is often used as a seasoning for rice and other dishes (or so I have read.......).

As I continue reading I see articles and blog posts of all kinds of things to do with shiso- from salad use to chiffonaded for a garnish. Use a leaf between the rice and the fish when making nigiri. Chiffonade and toss with rice or noodles. Here's one that catches my eye- infuse vodka with shiso leaves!! I can gt behind that!

Tomorrow I will be looking for a nice big pot and get some seeds started, so soon I can begin experimenting with this new-to-me herb, so stay tuned- I will have lots to share.

The Great Sushi Experiment

The time has come for The Chef and I to take the plunge and learn how to make sushi. We LOVE sushi, but living at the Little Lake House out on the country means very few opportunities for sushi unless we drive into Des Moines. Take into account both of our love for cooking and learning new cuisines and a longtime desire to find a sushi class and you've got an adventure in the making.

You might remember a few weeks back we were so surprised to find nori and a sushi making kit at a very small town market in a nearby town. Since them we have assembled some ingredients to make an as yet unnamed roll all our own creation but it's going to have shrimp, avocado, cucumber, cream cheese and maybe some slightly steamed julienned carrot for color. Might even try tempura frying this roll. I've investigated how to make spicy mayo. We have plenty of soy sauce, pickled ginger and wasabi.

Finding rice was a bit of a challenge. I searched online, asked friends- got a lot of yes you can, no you can't, and you must always use...... Of course, no small town stores carried even short grain rice, so back to Des Moines we headed. Armed with a recommended brand to buy we quickly found what we were looking for. Rice and rice wine vinegar now complete our ingredient list. It's time to play with our food!

Since we are making our own rolls, and I am not a huge fan of nori, I have to decide if I want to leave it in or just skip it. I tend to lean towards skipping it BUT I'm not so sure my roll will turn out like I want it too. I guess I'll just leave it in and be a big girl. I have found that the flavor is less pronounced in a freshly made roll as opposed to a sushi "platter" that is premade in the deli of the grocery store. I love the other ingredients we're using so I'm sure it will be fine.

Before we get started though, let's get through some common misunderstandings about sushi. Sushi itself does not mean "raw" and in fact the vast majority of sushi I have tried contained nothing raw except vegetables. The word sushi describes the rice- the vinegar seasoned sushi rice that is sticky and holds the rolls together. Sashimi, on the other hand, IS raw fish- thinly sliced raw fish and seafood. Now there ARE types of sushi made with raw fish but it doesn't have to be raw. Some of the BEST sushi I have ever had contained tempura fried shrimp and mango, or a roll with tempura fried sweet potato- it was so delicious and sweet it was like dessert sushi. And not all sushi are rolls either- nigiri are small mounds of rice with a strip of fish or other topping laid on the top. Shrimp are commonly used for nigiri and you might be more likely to find the raw ingredients presented this way. The Chef and I always fight over the shrimp nigiri- it's both of our favorite!

Anyway....back to our sushi. We are going to start by prepping all our roll ingredients- cutting the veggies and shrimp into julienne strips, softening the cream cheese (not all rolls have cream cheese but I do like those that do). Once that is done we can start on our rice. I am following the cooking directions on the package for the water and rice amounts. While the rice is cooking you want to get your seasoning made. I am using the method of cooking my rice and seasoning from Alton Brown's  recipe on FoodNetwork.com so if you want to follow along, just click and it will take you right there. Let's get started!

For the rice you will need:

2 cups sushi or short grain rice (I am using the Calrose brand-recommended to me)
2 cups water plus extra for rinsing rice
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon kosher salt

Now for the method:

Place the rice into a mixing bowl and cover with cool water. Swirl the rice in the water, pour off and repeat 2 or 3 times until the water is clear.

Place the rice and 2 cups of water into a medium saucepan and place over high heat. Bring to a boil, uncovered. Once boiling, reduce heat to lowest setting, cover, and cook for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand, covered for ten minutes.

Combine the rice vinegar, sugar and salt in a small bowl and heat in microwave for 30-45 seconds. Transfer rice to large non-metal bowl and add vinegar mixture. Fold thoroughly to combine and coat each grain with the seasoning mixture. Allow to cool to room temperature before using.

***Remember- these sushi rice instructions are property of Food Network and Alton Brown.

Now, we're ready to make our rolls. We are using:

Nori sheets
Sushi rice
Cooked shrimp cut into dice
Cucumber, cut into thin strips
Avocado, cut in thin strips
Cream cheese, very cold and cut into strips

Place a sheet of nori on bamboo rolling mat. Spread rice that has cooled over nori. 

Now, if you want the nori on the outside of the roll, place the shrimp and vegetables along the long end of the rice. 

Lift the mat and begin to roll, pressing tightly. When completely rolled, trim edges, slice roll and enjoy!

I prefer to have my rice on the outside so in order to do that, you still place the nori on the mat first and spread the rice like before, but you flip the sheet so the rice is outside. I recommend making the mat a little wet to help prevent sticking. Place fillings on nori side and roll up in the same fashion. 

With the rice on the outside you can do different garnishes, like black sesame seeds or toasted sesame seeds, tobiko, finely shredded carrots, all sorts of beautiful sauces.  I love eel sauce, spicy mayo, sometimes just a wee touch of wasabi.

I made a small batch of spicy mayo by combining mayonnaise and sriracha. Drizzled over the top of my roll, I thought it looked pretty good for an amateur. Now that we have the rice down (and let me just say, Alton Brown's method is KILLER delicious and easy) we just have our imaginations to combine all sorts of yummy combinations!

Small Town Surprise!

I set out on a qwest for vegetable soup. My destination was a teeny tiny small town (and I mean SMALL town) market. What I got was NOT what I'd bargained for!

Just a normal Friday evening for us, as The Chef has some time off right now and we are taking advantage of the evenings together, we decided, well actually I begged and he relented, to take a drive on this beautiful spring evening to the little town of Fontanelle, in Adair County, Iowa. I am planning a product review and blog post for a product that can only be found at their little store, so off we went.

Pulling in the parking area it just seemed like a smallish grocery market, nothing special. Walked in the door and right there in a special rack was the soup I came after. We decided to browse a little, and as I turned around, I became amazed at what I was seeing. 

Organic foods lined the shelves. Grains such as quinoa, hemp and chia seeds, specialty flours and grain products of many many kinds filled shelf after shelf. Brands I know- like Bob's Red Mill!! 

Gourmet sauces and condiments, Tomolives even! A nice selection of hot sauces- one of our favorite things to sample. 

Unique pastas such as Amish-made kluski and gluten free quinoa spaghetti. A small but fresh and well stocked affordable produce section. The old fashioned meat counter filled with beautiful cuts of fresh meat. 

But the best was yet to come. We love sushi. LOVE it. I've been looking around for a sushi making class so we could make our own- and here, nestled among Asian food items I had never seen even in the huge city supermarkets, were sheets of nori and a sushi rolling mat kit. Heaven !!!

I think it goes without saying, we did not leave that store with just the 2 quarts of locally made soup and I also think most of you know by now, this will not be a one-time visit.