A few years ago, my mom enrolled me in a sushi-making class and sent me as her proxy. She rightly presumed that I would highly enjoy it, for the chef taught us how to form creative shapes with the sushi. I even remember winning a bottle of dishwashing liquid for shaping the best Pikachu. When I got home, I taught my mother almost all the knowledge I picked up from the workshop including the basics of rolling up until the life hacks and tips that make preparing sushi a great deal easier.
I have been putting those sushi-making skills into good use in the past few years. I often use leftover seafood as my filling and top them off with Japanese mayonnaise and soy sauce, but this time, I was able to use the richest sashimi-grade salmon fillets that glisten under the lights. This is irrefutably a major upgrade from my plain shrimp or canned tuna rolls.
Besides the sushi rolls, I was able to toss up a spicy salmon salad for my family to enjoy as an appetizer to tingle our tastebuds and prime them for the main course. We have not been able to dine in a Japanese restaurant recently where we usually order either spicy tuna or salmon salad, so I decided to use this rare opportunity to make an extraordinary dinner for everyone complete with our favorite salad.
Recipe
Yields 4-6 servings
~ Ingredients ~
Spicy Salmon Salad
250 grams salmon sashimi, cut into smaller pieces
60 grams Japanese mayonnaise
1 tablespoon sriracha
1 teaspoon sesame oil
½ teaspoon fish sauce
½ teaspoon white sugar
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon black sesame seeds, toasted
½ cucumber, peeled, halved and sliced
¼ carrot, peeled and diced
½ mango, sliced
1 stalk green onion, chopped
Salmon Sushi Rolls
2-3 sheets nori sushi wrapper
350 grams salmon sashimi
500 grams cooked Japanese rice
¼ cup sushi vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cucumber, peeled and julienned
1 carrot, peeled and julienned
½ mango, sliced
4 tablespoons black sesame seeds, toasted
~ Procedure ~
Spicy Salmon Salad
In a bowl, mix the mayonnaise, sriracha, sesame oil, fish sauce, sugar, salt, pepper and sesame seeds.
Pour the spicy dressing on top of the salmon sashimi, cucumbers, carrots and sliced mangoes and toss them together.
Garnish with extra sesame seeds and green onion, serve with lemon wedges and enjoy!
Salmon Sushi Rolls
Prepare the sushi rice by adding the sushi vinegar and sugar to the rice.
Cover a bamboo mat with plastic wrap and place a sheet of nori on top of it.
Evenly spread the rice on top of the sushi until the entire sheet is covered.
Flip the nori over, so the rice side is facing down. Place the salmon, cucumber, carrots and mango at the bottom of the seaweed and roll it slowly using the bamboo mat.
* Constantly squeeze the ends of the mat to keep the rice and filling compact in the sushi.
Set aside the mat and remove the plastic wrap from the sushi. Cover the sushi with black sesame seeds.
Repeat these steps until there are no rice and salmon left.
Wet your knife and fingertips and slice the sushi into 6-8 pieces.
*Wet your knife between each slice to prevent the rice from sticking on it. Slice the sushi roll in half first, then from there, slice the half down the middle and keep doing so. This way, each slice is the same size.
Top the sushi with either another slice of sashimi and seaweed or a teaspoon of the spicy salmon salad.
Serve with Japanese mayonnaise, soy sauce, lemon wedges, wasabi and enjoy!
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