I love Sushi, so much so that I taught myself to make it. Basically I make vegetarian sushi---either California with avocado or Philly with cream cheese or sushi with cooked seafood which has its own special name ---it escapes me at the moment. The seafood is cooked shrimp; and tuna or salmon which has been mixed with a little wasabi paste and light mayo.While it’s not hard rolling the sushi, I prefer to make scattered sushi when it’s just me---that way I’m not put off by the extra step of rolling.
For the “one plate, two sides” I begin with a large square white plate. On one half I place a handful of nice salad greens. On the other half of the plate I place some cooked and seasoned sushi rice….about a half cup. Then I scatter both sides with diced cucumber, followed by cooked seafood, or diced avocado for California and cream cheese pieces for the Philly. The rice side also gets some crumbled roasted seaweed.
Each side has its own dressing. The sushi sides gets a simple mixture of soy sauce and a dab of wasabi paste. The salad side gets a creamy dressing as follows:
For one serving mix a tablespoon of light mayo, a dab of wasabi paste, a splash of seasoned rice wine vinegar (1-2 tsp), 1-2 tsp of sweetener (sugar or Splenda is good), and a splash of toasted sesame` seed oil--be careful a tiny bit goes a long way. I mix this together and then add a teaspoon or so of water to thin it. You can add some salt or soy sauce also.
This makes a pretty presentation and tastes as good as it looks. It is quick and simple. The specialty ingredients are minimal, inexpensive and can be found at Walmart with the international foods. They are the roasted seaweed, also called nori, seasoned rice wine vinegar, and wasabi paste. These specialty ingredients last for months.
I purchase the frozen tail on cooked shrimp at Walmart and thaw them per the package instructions. In lieu of the shrimp I would use the tuna or canned salmon, drained, with the aforementioned ingredients.
This is nice with a cup of hot green tea, a couple of rice crackers for some crunch and a bowl of instant miso soup…also available at Walmart or most any larger grocery store.
Enjoy.
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To make the seasoned sushi rice cook medium or short grained rice, or sushi rice---I use my rice cooker. Remove, spread it onto a plate to cool and douse liberally with the seasoned rice vinegar. I package leftovers and freeze it---thaw and warm to room temperature in the microwave. While it is important to use short or medium grained rice or sushi rice when making sushi rolls, you can just use regular rice for scattered sushi---the flavor is the same.