Last summer I finally got the hang of fresh fava beans and we were hooked. This year we haven’t had any yet, but last weekend I picked up a few pounds at the Gresham Farmers Market.

Summer Rolls - Shiso & Favas

The combination of shiso in our garden and fresh favas inspired me to answer Christie’s desire for sushi.

The favas are pretty slippery, which made putting the roll together a little tricky.  I was also rushing a bit with the rice, which meant it was a little thick. Next time I try these out I’ll do a much thinner layer of rice and perhaps a really thin maki roll.

These make me want to get some purple shiso growing. I think the contrast to the bright green favas would be striking.

Although there’s a bit of labor involved in the whole “peel, boil, blanch, peel” process, fresh favas are amazing. I made sure to set aside a few for each of us to enjoy.

Beautiful Favas!

I also made us a very quick salad with purple cabbage, aged brown rice vinegar, and shiso flowers.

And the feast was rounded out by grilled tofu, two ways, and grilled kale.

Grilled Goodness

Yes, you read that right, I grill our kale. It becomes a little crispy, little smoky, a little wilted, and entirely delicious! I’ve also found that a drizzle of tamari and wasabi over the grilled kale is fabulous indeed

Tofu 1 (on the right): “Mushroom Ultimate” seasoning. We bought this seasoning last time we drove down to California. We make a regular stop in Corning to visit the Olive Pit. I used the seasoning like a dry rub for the tofu, then grilled. Really delicious!

Tofu 2 (on the left): “The Old Favorite” being a mix of nutritional yeast, freshly ground black pepper, and granulated garlic. This is such a favorite mix I’m going to start keeping a blend of it in our spice cabinet.

While shopping at Uwajimaya recently Christie spotted a fresh lemon relish made with very thinly sliced lemon, sea salt, sugar and rice vinegar. Some was out to sample and it was delicious. Sweet, salty, sour, tangy. I had to get some.

The result was another Japanese-inspired feast! No recipes yet, this is nothing but Food P0rn, but I am working on a recipe for my own version of the fabulous, fresh lemon relish!

By the time I was done cooking, prepping and plating we were too hungry to take photos with the Nikon and the light tent, but I’ve decided that phone-taken photos with our kitchen’s lousy light are better than none at all.

Of course, there was a roll!

Shiso, Avocado, and Lemon Relish Roll

But the rice ball with avocado and the lemon relish was my favorite!

Don't you love the little rose of preserved lemon!

There also was miso-tangerine glazed, grilled tofu, snow peas and asparagus.

Thus Begins the 2012 Grilling Season!

Plus a simple carrot and daikon salad.

Hurrah for the Plum Blossom Food Cutter!

I made some sushi today (Alton Brown’s rice method is dead simple and perfect), just the standard spicy (fake) tuna roll, spicy and non-spicy versions of a Cali roll with fake crab and chayote instead of avo (sorry, Sherri), and random veggie roll (cheap bag o’ broccoli slaw makes an excellent, crunchy mix) with tofu, plus a couple of the above with brown rice. And some of it was good. One of the Cali rolls was very tasty. But I found myself wanting something more… weird.

Tonight I did a lot of searching, finding things like Tex Wasabi’s weird and gringo-friendly sushi (sans nori) and Hawaiian Spam sushi. That got me thinking, and I made a couple super-simple experimental rolls.

Roll 1: vegan ham (seitan), mayo, and broc slaw mix

Roll 2: breaded vegan chicken patty, mayo, veggie ham, and broc slaw mix

Both were super tasty, particularly after I toasted the nori in the toaster oven for 20 seconds. And I could almost hear the graves of the ancient sushi chefs vibrating as their occupants spun crazily. My sushioija board spelled Breaded vegan chicken patty — on SUSHI?!

But I don’t care. I’m all into non-traditional sushi, now, plus twisting some American classics. For example, I’m thinking I might try a mock Philly roll with Tofutti cream cheese and veggie ham in place of the smoked salmon.

Isa has some interesting sushi ideas on her site, including the “Elephant Roll” with oily peanuts, which sounds fantastic! I’m betting Trader Joe’s blister peanuts would be perfect, though maybe too crunchy.

So I put this question to the other clubbers and our non-existent outside readers: what other supremely non-traditional ingredients would be good inside a sushi roll?

So Andy’s been craving sushi. We’ve talked about going out to Mio, however, haven’t really followed through since Andy’s noted that it really smells of fish (something I’m not real wild about). Although we have made it at home in the past it isn’t something we’ve done in ages.

Well, that’s changed and we’ve been reminded that it isn’t all that difficult once you have all the ingredients prepped and ready to go. We couldn’t find the rolling mat so I improvised with a bamboo place mat folded in half. I discovered the avocado was all brown inside so while Andy ran to the market I got the rice prepped with some sushi vinegar. By the time he was back the rice was ready to go.

At first I tried pushing the rice into place with the paddle, but Andy quickly reminded me that in the past I found using wet hands worked best. He got me a small bowl of water so I could keep my hands wet and I quickly set to getting the rice spread out against the nori.

In pretty short order we had two avocado/cucumber rolls, one done inside-out. A vegan remake of a roll Andy used to love: vegan cream cheese, avocado, and asparagus tempura with spicy sauce and “roe” on top. We also made a yam tempura roll, one of my favorites. Some rice was left over and Andy had grilled some mock salmon. I put those on the top of rice, nigiri style, along with two pieces of tempura tofu.

All told there was an enormous pile of sushi! After both of us ate until quite full (and I sit here with two pieces next to me yet still), I had 12 pieces left for lunch/snack tomorrow at teacher training! What a delight to rediscover how much we enjoy making sushi at home.

So, how ’bout some details!

The shopping

• There are some really particular things needed for sushi and most can be picked up at a well-stocked, Asian market. Fubonn might be a better option for eastside PDX folks whereas Uwajimaya would likely be easier for westside folks.
• Strange things like mock crab bits and faux salmon (used to make some grilled “salmon” nigiri) are a speciality of Fubonn, there’s huge freezer section filled with mock meat.
• Sushi rice is a particular type, shorter grained. This is important because it helps the rice stick together. There are short-grained brown rice varieties out there, when we make another back this will be tried and posted about.
• Sushi vinegar, also known as Seasoned Rice Vinegar, is also something particular and you should use it.
• The sheets of sea vegetable (a.k.a. seaweed) used to wrap roll are called nori. There are several types at an Asian market, just pick one that sounds good. These can be cut up at home if you want smaller bits for hand-rolls (think a little cone of rice and fillings as opposed to a cut-up roll) or strips for affixing things to the top of the rice for nigiri style sushi.
• Tempura batter mix, wasabi paste, gari (pickled ginger eaten between different bites to clear the palate or sometimes with a bite), soy sauce (tamari or shoyu could also be used), and a bamboo rolling mat should also be at the same market you’re getting the rice, vinegar and nori at.
• Vegan roe, made by Cavi-Art, can be obtained at Food Fight. New Seasons might be carrying this now. Made from sea vegetables this is salty, slightly crunchy, strangely accurate.
• Vegan Cream Cheese — made by Tofutti and available at Food Fight, New Seasons, Whole Foods, and at Peoples Co-op in BULK!

Rice:

• The rice is vital to sushi. Sushi means “rice with vinegar” and goes back in tradition in Japan to salt-preserved fish being served with vinegared rice.
• All the other ingredients are just added to the rice, so you want it to be right. Too sticky and it is like eating paste rolls. Too dry or too wet and the sushi falls apart.
• I use about half a cup of this vinegar to 4 cups of cooked sushi rice. Some people call to add about a teaspoon of sugar for every two cups of rice, however, I do not do this as sushi vinegar already has sugar in it.
• The vinegar should be tossed with the rice, I prefer to use a tall wooden bowl to do this in (traditionally it is a bamboo bowl), until the rice is evenly coated. I then cover the bowl with a tea towel while I prep the various fillings and toppings.
• When ready the rice should be sticky, roughly room temperature, or slightly warmer.
• Use wet hands to work with it, keep a small dish of water nearby when you’re making things.

The Stuff:

• From here on out you can do whatever you want really! Slices of avocado, cucumber, daikon, carrot, bits of tofu (grilled, baked, fried, smoked, fresh, tempura battered, whatever), etc. All of these can be used inside of your rolls or topping nigiri-style, just go crazy with whatever you like.
• Cut everything up into either thin strips for making rolls or small rectangle shapes (roughly 2″ by 4″) for nigiri
• Make your tempura up ahead of time if you are including in rolls. You want everything prepped and ready to go so the fresh tempura can come from a brief drain & cool and go right into the sushi.
• Directions/recipes I’ve seen for tempura note to use ice water, not merely cold, ice water to make the batter. This is supposed to keep it from absorbing too much oil and becoming greasy.

Maki Style:

• These are the actual rolls, using the sheets of nori. The rice is spread onto the nori. If you flip it over, rice-side down (or spread rice and cover with nori) then you’ll be set to make an inside-out roll.
• After you spread out the rice in a thin layer (e.g., about a half inch thick or less) using wet fingers and hands put a little of the desired filling onto the rice, spreading across the surface in a thin line.
• Less is good when it comes to filling rolls, unless you’re trying to go for a huge roll by design.
• Start the roll by turning over the edge nearest you filling so those things are on the inside. You use the mat to help turn the roll, tightening down on it as you go until the whole thing has been rolled up and you can give it a good squeeze inside the mat.
• Cut in small rounds with a damp, sharp knife. We have a thin, cheap one with holes in the blade that came in a sushi making kit, it works well. Re-wet, clean the knife when it becomes sticky from the rice.

Nigiri style

• This is the hand-rolled ovals of rice topped with stuff. (sorry the link I gave talks about making shrimp sushi, but it has good images to get the idea so just fill in “grilled tofu” every time you see/read “shrimp”)
• You start by taking a small ball of rice into your wet hands and pressing/rolling it into an oval roughly 4 inches long, 2 inches wide, and a couple of inches deep (at least)
• It is traditional to put a spot of wasabi onto the bit of food you’re going to put on top of the rice, but this can be skipped if it isn’t going to work well (e.g., asparagus tempura)
• You press the rice into the back of your topping (if you used wasabi, that is the “back” side)
• Roll the whole thing over and give it a slight press, roll it over again and repeat
• If you’re going to wrap the whole thing in a bit of nori, do so now

That’s it! Sit back, enjoy the applause and the yummy food! (**note: rice is orange. These were taken Halloween 2008 and orange rice was made for an added festive touch)