Tonight I made maki-zushi, futomaki to be exact, which is basically sushi with veggies instead of raw fish. Not that i don't like sushi, but when making it at home I don't really want to deal with the raw fish. I found some interesting ideas for veggies from this article on the NYTimes website. So off to the store I went!
I decided not to spend too much money because a few ingredients can go a long way with maki-zushi and sushi rolls. I got asparagus, cucumber, avocado and white mushrooms. I like creminis but for this I figured a lighter taste was better.
I cooked my rice:
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup rice
Boil 1 minute, reduce heat and simmer with a lid on for 15-20 minutes. Pour out of pan onto a plate or something to cool.
Mix 1/4 cup rice vinegar and 1/4 cup sugar and microwave for about 30 seconds to help dissolve the sugar. When the rice has cooled, mix about half of this vinegar/sugar mixture into the rice. Let set.
I cut off the bottom 1/3 of the asparagus stems and discarded. Then I cut the remainder of the asparagus into thirds and chopped the mushrooms into strips. I sauteed these together with some sesame oil.
I didn't do anything to the avocado and cucumber. I tried several different styles of rolls but I decided the basic, rolled with the bamboo mat rolls still worked best. You can usually find sushi kits in bookstores or kitchen stores like Bed, Bath and Beyond.
Of course I dipped my rolls in a mixture of low-sodium soy sauce and wasabi! Have fun!
