Naked Sushi
This episode of Cooking with Jemima won’t be nearly as exciting as Cooking with Seema, but it may be useful to anyone who wants to make sushi when short of essential sushi ingredients.
I’ve been making sushi a lot lately. I haven’t actually braved the raw fish markets yet, but I do have my rice down to a science. (Well, it’s actually Eden Foods’ sushi rice, but I have the rolling bit down to a science.) I also have my own personal supply of plum paste, compliments of Eden Foods, my One-Stop Sushi Resource.
Unfortunately, I ran out of nori (seaweed) in the middle of making tonight’s sushi. I had one sheet left in the cool Eden Foods resealable toasted nori package, but two sheets’ worth of rice. What’s a sushi fiend to do? Experiment, of course.
You’ve heard of inside-out rolls… Well, I decided to make nori-free all-inside rolls. I took out some wax paper and cut it down to nori-sheet size, then put it down on my sushi mat where the nori usually goes. I spread out the rice and lined up the filling, rolled ‘em up, squeezed extra hard, and presto! Naked maki roll in wax paper.
Next, I carefully peeled off the wax paper and sliced the roll into 6 very sticky pieces. But they held together well. Nevertheless, this was an emergency measure. I recommend getting a nigiri mold instead of futzing with wax paper. You can get all sorts of molds and mats from Spice Merchant.
