Sushi Night At Home!

Growing up in Dallas, there are so many restaurants to spoil a food lover.  My all time favorite by far is Kobe Steaks.  It's a fabulous hibachi grill that I would request for every special occasion.  The wait list was usually about 2 hours on a Friday or Saturday night, but always worth the wait.  My husband and I would go at least 2 times a month (before kids) and on every date night (after kids) until we moved too far away. 

Oh my, what were we to do now!  We had to find a new hibachi grill and pronto!  We got lucky and really enjoyed the first one we tried.  And this one has an entire area of the restaurant dedicated to sushi.  We do not eat raw fish, but we finally decided to try some California Rolls and Shrimp Tempura Rolls.  And then I was hooked!  Since we enjoy watching the crazy Hibachi master chef cooking up our favorite steaks, shrimp, chicken, and fried rice, we always sit at one of the Hibachi grills.  He always puts on a great show with lots of fire and tricks.  My girls love eating there on Sunday afternoons.  My hubby and I even take our little 3 year old for an early lunch on his day off during the week.  We always order a Spicy Volcano Roll as an appetizer, which is like a California roll topped with a spicy sauce and either fried crawfish or shrimp...amazing!

I've heard some food bloggers talk about how simple these California rolls are to make at home at decided to give it a try.  I used the recipe for Sushi Rice over at Mommy's Kitchen as she explained it the best and had lots of pictures to follow.  I'm not posting a recipe on my blog.  Please visit Mommy's Kitchen if you want a great tutorial and recipe for California rolls and please leave her a nice comment.

I found all the Sushi making equipment (bamboo mats, rice paddles, pretty plates, and dipping bowls) at World Market.  They also have fancy reusable chop sticks and all the Asian cooking supplies (Sushi rice, Nori, wasabi paste, red chili paste, Sriracha, Tamari).  You can find the protein and produce at your local grocery store as most now have a fully stocked Asian aisle. 

Look at the cute Sushi serving set I found at Ross for only $9.99.  They also had a red/black set.

I carefully prepared the Sushi rice, chopped up all the fillings, and got to work.  My hubby stood next to me using his own bamboo mat.  He doesn't like "to be told what to do...nobody controls him, ever!" so his first roll turned out a mess.  Our girls were laughing so hard!  He said, "yours look so good...how did you do that?"  I explained that I have been researching and was simply trying to help guide him through the process first.  MEN!!!  So my hubby then made another roll with the rice and fillings inside the Nori, and left me to assemble the rest.  I thought it was fun!  My girls stood there watching me like it was a TV cooking show, absolutely mesmerized...how cute!  They were really excited to try their Mommy's creation.  Luckily, they really liked the rolls, but had a hard time taking little bites through the Nori.

We made four different rolls:  

California Rolls - Sushi rice on the outside, then the Nori sheet, filled with imitation crab, cucumber, and avacado

Fried Shrimp Rolls - Sushi rice on the outside, then the Nori sheet, filled with fried shrimp, cucumber, and avacado

Hubby Creation #1 - Partial sushi rice on the outside, then the Nori sheet, filled with crab, fried shrimp, cucumber, avacado, and more sushi rice (it was HUGE)

Hubby Creation #2 - Nori sheet, sushi rice, filled with crab, fried shrimp, cucumber, and avacado

I made a simple spicy sauce to top mine and Hubby's rolls.  I just mixed together some mayonnaise, Sriracha sauce, a splash of rice wine vinegar, and a pinch of sugar.  We like it spicy and this definitely did the trick.  Hubby also used some red chili paste because he likes his rolls really spicy!  I also made a little dipping sauce by stirring a little bit of wasabi paste into Tamari soy sauce.  My girls used a simple soy sauce for dipping.

This was a fun family mea!  It takes a little planning and preparation, but is well worth it.

We finished our Sushi meal with some comforting warm Caramel Apple Pie

And we all went to bed with very happy tummies!