Sushi Fail

One of my recent experiments into Japanese cuisine was Sushi making. I made maki (rolls) and cones (hand rolls). I tried to be healthy and fancy and used wild rice instead of sushi rice. Big mistake. Wild rice, even when mixed with rice vinegar, does not stay sticky, especially once it cools. As well, rolling sushi is not as easy as it looks. My rolls were very loose and ended up coming apart as we ate them. I couldn't figure out how to roll the cones properly so they ended up being weird cylinder shapes. The plus side is that the "sushi", and I use that term loosely, was pretty good.

I'm not going to give instructions on how to make what I made, because I am certainly no expert. You can probably find hundreds of sushi tutorials on the net that can help you just fine. I will tell you what I put into my rolls.



Crab and Veggie Rolls

I had "California Rolls" in the back of my mind when putting these together, but I didn't want the heavy mayonnaise/crab mix. Instead I used fresh Alaskan King Crab meat and omitted the Japanese mayo entirely. The results were surprisingly good - light and fresh.

- Alaskan King Crab meat (bought bulk at the local seafood shop)
- yellow mango, sliced into matchsticks
- English cucumber, sliced into matchsticks
- avocado, sliced
- carrot, sliced into matchsticks
- brown & wild rice blend
- nori seaweed wrap
- wasabi



Shrimp & Veggie Hand Rolls (Cones)

- Baby shrimp
- English cucumber, sliced into matchsticks
- yellow mango, sliced into matchsticks
- avocado, sliced
- carrot, sliced into matchsticks
- brown & wild rice blend
- nori seaweed wrap

If I had any leaf lettuce or pea shoots I would have used those too... and I also considered baking a yam and adding that (I love yam rolls!) but I wasn't quite that prepared. Sushi making isn't my forte that's for sure, but it was a fun experiment!