Monday January 4th, 2010 - Sushi

Today was a good day. I got some good "beginning of the year" work done this morning and went to workout after lunch. I did an extra 5 miles on my favorite trail "Oh Mama" and I completed a full workout. I thought about shooting hoops, but I didn't have the time. Maybe tomorrow.

My diet was good today. I basically ate light during the day and drank several protein drinks and prepared a good Japanese dinner. I made some light mushroom soup and sushi. Some people think that sushi means raw fish, but sushi is really a style of preparing food with "sushi rice." It has more to do with sticky rice with rice vinegar wrapped in seaweed (I used Nori which is actually dried and pressed algae). The ingredients can be vegetable, cooked meat, cooked fish, or raw fish. It is typically served with wasabi and soy sauce as condiments. I like pickled ginger slices too, but I didn't have any tonight.

I made vegetable rolls, California Rolls, and California rolls without the crab or cream cheese. If you have the right tools, like "Makisu" (a Bamboo rolling mat), it is fairly easy to make once you get the hang of rolling the rice and ingredients.

To begin, I slided shiitake mushrooms and portabella mushrooms and sauteed them separately in olive oil. I also sliced long strands of cucumber and crab before I started. The sticky rice can be bought in the japanese section of the ethnic foods isle. Once you have everything ready you just lay out a piece of Nori and gently pat out a thin rice base leaving an inch or so empty on one end. Then you lay out your chosen ingredients and roll it like a thin burrito. You can use the rice vinegar to help pat down the rice and seal the end of the Nori sheet.

In the vegetable rolls I laid out the mushrooms and cucumber. In the California rolls I used cucumber, crab, avocados, and cream cheese. I made plenty so I mixed it up a bit, but I had plenty of vegan available. As usual, the family enjoyed the vegan versions as much as the other. Sushi is simple and light.

I also made some mushroom soup. It was so simple it's kind of silly to call it a recipe. I just took 6 cups of vegetable broth and added 1/2 of a cup of my left over Chardonnay from last night. I added just a little soy sauce and put the rest of the sauteed mushrooms in and then added some rice noodles just before it was served. It turned out great. We all used our chop sticks and had a great time eating a very healthy dinner.