Tag: seafood
Sushi Hand Roll, 4 ways
Sushi Hand Roll, 4 ways
Japanese hand rolls are a great introduction to making sushi at home. All you need is sushi rice and sheets of nori, plus whatever you want in your hand roll. I included 4 different hand rolls that just about anyone can make: tuna salad(believe it or not, a popular flavor in Japan), smoked salmon and cream cheese, crab and mango, and tobiko(flying fish roe). I highly recommend doing research on sanitation and using raw fish before venturing any further into the sushi world.
Ingredients
- nori sheets
Sushi Rice
- 1 cup sushi rice washed 6-8 times
- 1 1/4 cup water
- 3 tbsp rice vinegar
- 3/4 tbsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
Tuna Salad Hand Roll
- 1 can yellowfin tuna drained
- 2 tbsp mayonnaise
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 avocado sliced
Smoked Salmon Hand Roll
- 1/4 lb cold smoked salmon
- 2 oz cream cheese
- cucumber julienned
Crab and Mango Hand Roll
- imitation crab sticks
- mango sliced
- cucumber julienned
Tobiko Hand Roll
- tobiko roe
- mango sliced
- cucumber sliced
Instructions
Sushi Rice
- Place the washed sushi rice and water into a pot. Simmer over medium heat for 15 minutes until cooked through. Add more water if needed.
- Mix together the rice vinegar, sugar, and salt. Pour that into the sushi rice and mix. Set aside.
Prepping the Ingredients
- To make your life easier, have all of the ingredients prepped and ready to go. You can either quarter the sheets of nori to make small hand rolls or trim off 2” of a full nori sheet for larger hand rolls.
Tuna Salad Hand Roll
- Mix the mayo and lemon juice together. Stir into the tuna. Season with salt. Place a couple tbsp of the sushi rice down the center of a sheet of nori. Place a couple of spoonfuls of the tuna salad on top of the rice down the center. Placd a couple of slices of avocado next to the tuna salad.
- Roll it up into a cone shape.
Smoked Salmon Hand Roll
- Place a couple of tbsp of sushi rice down the center of a nori sheet. Place the cream cheese down the center. Place a few pieces of smoked salmon on one side of the cream cheese and a couple of pieces of cucumber on the other side.
- Roll it up into a cone shape.
Crab and Mango Hand Roll
- Place a couple of tbsp of sushi rice down the center of a nori sheet. Place a crab stick down the center of the rice. Place a couple of slices of mango on one side of the crab stick with a few pieces of cucumber on the other side.
- Roll it up into a cone shape.
Tobiko Hand Roll
- Placd a couple of tbsp of sushi rice down the center of a nori sheet. Arrange a couple pieces each of the cucumber, mango, and avocado on top of the rice. Spread a tbsp of tobiko on top of veggies.
- Roll it up into a cone shape. Place a tsp more of tobiko in the cones opening.
Takoyaki
Takoyaki
Takoyaki is one of my favorite Japanese appetizers. You can find them on just about every ramen and sushi menu that you read. They are kinda like little pancake balls, still slightly gooey inside, filled with octopus, green onions, and pickled ginger. They are then topped with takoyaki sauce, Japanese mayo, crushed seaweed, and bonito flakes. While you need to have a special takoyaki pan to make them, they are extremely easy to make. You can find the pans on Amazon for around $20. If you aren’t a fan of octopus, substitute shrimp, ham, or sausage.
Equipment
- Takoyaki pan
- Chopsticks
Ingredients
- 1 cup dashi stock
- 1 large egg beaten
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup flour plus 2 tbsp
- 2 green onions finely chopped
- 1 tbsp pickled ginger chopped
- 1/2 lb octopus
- vegetable oil
Toppings
- takoyaki sauce
- kewpie mayo
- dried crushed seaweed
- bonito flakes
Instructions
- Wash your octopus. Rub it with salt.
- Drop the octopus in salted boiling water. Boil for 2-3 minutes. Shock in ice water.
- Chop the octopus into small pieces. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, mix together the dashi, soy sauce, salt, egg, and flour.
- Over medium high heat, lightly brush oil in each of the takoyaki pan holes. Fill up each hole with 2/3 of the takoyaki batter.
- Drop a few pieces of the octopus in the center of the batter in each hole.
- Cover the top of the pan with green onions and pickled ginger. Let the takoyaki cook for 3 minutes.
- Using a chopstick, push the edge of the takoyaki and turn each one half way. Start to tuck the green onions and pickled ginger inside of the takoyaki. Pour the remaining batter into the holes. Let cook for a minute.
- Completely turn the takoyaki upside down. Let cook for 2 more minutes. Remove from the pan.
Octopus Ceviche
Octopus Ceviche
Recipe #666, on Halloween 2020. Wanna venture out to another type of ceviche that’s not fish or shrimp? Ceviche de pulpo, aka octopus, is the way to go. You can purchase all ready cooked octopus, or buy a whole raw one and cook it yourself like I did. The octopus takes about 2 minutes to cook in a pot of boiling water. Scoop the octopus out and place in ice water to stop the cooking process. It’s really that simple.At this point, cut the octopus into thin bite sized pieces. Mix with hot peppers, some red onions, and lime juice. Let that marinate for 2 hours. Marinate the remaining half of the red onions with salt and lime juice. Once the marinating process is over, mix the ceviche together with the lime-pickled red onions, cilantro, and olive oil. Serve the ceviche with plantain chips.
Servings: 2
Ingredients
- 12 oz octopus
- 1/2 medium red onion thinly sliced on a mandolin
- 1 serrano pepper thinly sliced on a mandolin
- 5 limes juiced
- 3 tbsp cilantro chopped
- 1 tsp olive oil
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Rub your octopus with salt. Wash and rinse the octopus in cold water.
- Bring a pot of water to a hard boil. Drop the octopus in. Boil for 2 minutes.
- Place the octopus in an ice bath to shock and stop the cooking process.
- Place the onions in a bowl. Season with salt. Cover with cold water and let sit for 10 minutes. Drain and rinse the salt off.
- Chop up the octopus in small bite sized pieces. Mix them together with the serrano peppers and half of the red onions. Juice 3 limes over the bowl. Season with salt. Place in the refrigerator and let marinate for 2 hours.
- Juice 2 limes over the remaining onions. Let marinate in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
- Mix together the lime pickled red onions with the rest of the ceviche. Mix in the cilantro and olive oil.
