Here is a fun ‘interactive’ party; you set out the ingredients, the guests ‘roll their own’ cone sushi.
sushi party showing (counterclockwise from lower left): salmon, tuna, fish roe, miso soup, tea, wasabi, cucumber, shiso leaf and avocado plate, nori, with shredded faux crab in the center.
The ingredients:
NORI – large flat sheets of seaweed cut into ~ 4 inch squares
SUSHI RICE – Japanese white rice (the non-Japanese rice is either not sticky enough or too sticky) mixed with ‘sushi vinegar’ and cooled quickly by fanning and ‘folding’ the rice in a large flat pan. Cover and set aside.
FILLINGS – a selection of seafood and vegetables all sliced fairly small to fit into the sushi cones.
Our filling choices were :
- sashimi-grade salmon sliced,
- sashimi-grade tuna sliced,
- fluorescent orange fish roe,
- faux crab, shredded
- julienned Japanese cucumbers (the English ones have too many seeds; if you use them scoop the seedy centers out)
- sliced avocado
- shiso (perilla) leaf – very unusual flavour but I liked it. One student felt it added a ‘freshness’ to the sushi. I found it hard to describe but took some home to Al who pronounced it ‘lemony with a hint of Lysol…”
- sliced plain omelette
CONDIMENTS – soy sauce, wasabi, Japanese mayonnaise, pickled ginger
miso soup and a sheet of nori awaiting fillings
To start we made Miso Soup, with tofu and an amazing expanding dried seaweed that blows up to about 10x size! The sushi was a symphony of greens (nori, green tea, cucumber, avocado, wasabi) and corals (salmon, roe, crab, tuna); I almost wanted to add the nori and some of the other ingredients to my painting in my mixed media class!
dessert of orange jelly slices and strawberry mochi dumplings
And to end, two unusual desserts: Kanten Orange Jelly Slices (kanten is agar, a vegan gelatin) and Mochi Dumplings filled with red bean paste and strawberries.
The Japanese Home-Cooking Class is offered by UBC Continuing Studies and taught by Hana Dethlefsen. Hana has her own blog with lots of Japanese recipes and restaurant reviews at: http://letsforking.wordpress.com/
Her mochi dessert recipe is at: http://letsforking.wordpress.com/2010/07/29/ready-for-a-pounding-lets-making-mochi/
