Assorted homemade maki
Rarely do I entertain, but when I do I use the Happily Upcoming Guest Event (HUGE) as an excuse to make appetizers, entrees, or sweets that I wouldn’t otherwise make due to time, ingredient, or calorie restrictions. When I do decide to that that annual or semiannual HUGE plunge, suddenly thousands of recipes become intriguing possibilities and the what-to-serve dilemma becomes dauntingly enormous.
Past gatherings have inspired tortilla chips with strawberry salsa and a sausage and red bell pepper quiche from epicurious.com, and a deceptively delicious low-fat dark chocolate pudding from Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites. A few gatherings back, my then-boyfriend (and current hubby) Gary offered to make sushi. His assorted maki and nigiri plate was a hit. Since it’s been a long time since we’ve made our own sushi, I decided to build the next HUGE menu around it. In a crazed attempt to narrow menu options while still allowing for fun and creativity, I embraced an all roll-up event. Though Gary was slightly bummed that my decree ruled out his beloved nigiri, he dashed out to the Kotobukiya Market in Porter Square and eagerly bought up sushi rice, sushi vinegar, tobiko (flying fish roe), nori (seaweed wrappers), and sushi-grade salmon and tuna. Plus some avocado and cucumbers at the local Shaws. Knowing that one guest will not get near raw fish, I picked up some neufchatel cheese and lox as well.
The maki assortment was salmon maki, tuna maki, New York roll (salmon, avocado, apple), Philadelphia roll (cream cheese, lox, cucumber) and veggie roll (avocado and cucumber). I gotta confess, the avocado we had was absolutely divine; were they all avocado-only rolls I would not have complained.
A most divine avocado
Lessons learned:
- Allow yourself plenty of time to prepare and roll your maki, especially if you haven’t made maki in over two years. If you don’t have the time to carefully press a thin layer of rice onto the nori, or you forget not to cover the entire nori sheet with rice, you might end up with giant rice balls with a relatively small smidgen of fish or filling within. The only problem with these rolls was they were too big and overstuffed with rice.
- If you will be storing uneaten maki in the fridge, you have to prepare the rice so it won’t dry out, losing much of its taste and creamy texture. Gary remembered after the fact that the rice should have been prepared somewhat differently, but he couldn’t remember exactly how.
- Don’t try to make inside-out rolls in a pinch if you’ve forgotten how to make them.
- Cream cheese is a real pain in the ass to work with when you’re trying to make sushi.
Stay tuned for Rallying for Roll-ups! Part 2: Summer Rolls (Sort of)