Japanese Rolled Sushi (Hosomaki) Recipe

Serves/Makes: 4

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cooked Sushi Rice (see recipe below)
• 2 teaspoons wasabi paste
• 3 sheets toasted nori, each about 8 x 7 inches (20 x 18 cm), halved
• Pickled young ginger slices, to serve
• Sashimi Soy Dip (see recipe below), to serve
  
  Fillings:
• 7 ounces fresh tuna fillet
• 1 Japanese cucumber
• 5 ounces pickled daikon radish

How to cook:

• Follow the instructions on Sushi Rice recipe to make the Sushi Rice. While the rice is cooking, cut the cucumbers into quarters lengthwise. Remove seeds from the cucumbers, if any. Slice the pickled daikon into long, thin strips. Cut the tuna into long strips. Set the Fillings aside.
• Place a halved nori sheet on a bamboo rolling mat with the shiny side down. Spread 1/3 cup of the cooked Sushi Rice evenly on the nori sheet, leaving a border of about 1/2 inch exposed along the top edge. Dab a little wasabi along the center of the rice. Place 2 strips of the cucumber across the center of the wasabi.
• To roll, hold the edge of the mat nearest to you with one hand, press the cucumber with the other hand to hold it in place, and roll the mat over the rice. Lift the top of the mat and complete the roll, squeezing gently along the length of the roll. Unroll the mat, and press to seal.
• Roll the sushi in the mat again. Slice the roll in half, and cut both rolls twice to give six uniform pieces. Repeat with the remaining cucumber, daikon radish and tuna fillings. Serve with the pickled ginger and Sashimi Soy Dip on the side.

Sushi Rice Ingredients:

• 1 cup uncooked Japanese rice (yields 2 cups of cooked rice)
• 1 1/4 cups water
• 1 strip dried kelp (konbu), (4 inches long), wiped with a damp cloth and quartered
  
  Dressing:
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 1 tablespoon sake
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt

Sushi Rice Preparation:

• Rinse the rice gently and drain or see packet instructions. Cook the rice, water and kelp in a saucepan and bring almost to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat, discard the kelp, and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes until the rice is cooked.
• Turn the heat off, remove the lid and cover the pan with a towel to absorb condensation. Set aside for 20 minutes. Stir the Dressing ingredients in a non-reactive bowl to dissolve the sugar. Set aside. Put the cooked rice in a wide wooden tub or large bowl.
• Add the Dressing and stir gently in a circular motion with a rice paddle or wooden spoon. Ideally, the rice mixture should be fanned to help cool it. Cover the rice with a damp cloth until ready to use. Do not refrigerate. Keep at room temperature and use within 4 hours.

Sashimi Soy Dip Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons sake
• 1/2 cup Japanese soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons tamari soy sauce or mirin (sweet rice wine)
• 1/2 cup dried bonito flakes
• 1 small strip dried kelp (konbu), wiped with a damp cloth (optional)

Sashimi Soy Dip Preparation:

• To prepare the Sashimi Soy Dip, place all the ingredients in a small saucepan and simmer on medium-low heat for 5 minutes.
• Remove from the heat, allow to cool, strain and discard solids.

Note:
The Sashimi Soy Dip can be stored for up to a year if kept refrigerated in an airtight jar.

Comments:
In Japanese cuisine, sushi is vinegared rice, usually topped with other ingredients, including fish (cooked or uncooked) and vegetables. Outside of Japan, sushi is sometimes misunderstood to mean the raw fish by itself, or even any fresh raw-seafood dishes. In Japan, sliced raw fish alone is called sashimi and is distinct from sushi, as sashimi is the raw fish component, not the rice component. The word sushi itself comes from an outdated grammatical form of a word that is no longer used in other contexts literally, sushi means “it’s sour.”

This recipe for Japanese Rolled Sushi (Hosomaki) serves/makes: 4

Main Ingredient: Seafood Mix
Preparation Method: Marinated/Uncooked
Cuisine: Japanese