I tend to categorize American sushi restaurants into two buckets: traditional places where you can get a wide selection of fresh nigiri sushi, and the non-traditional places that have pages upon pages of inventive makisushi. If I had to choose between the two, I'd take the one with the stoic Japanese dude forming little pillows of rice with a thin slice of aquatic bliss on top, but that's not to say I don't enjoy the raucous places with frat boys slinging sake bombs, phonebook sized menus, and of course the California Roll.As the name implies, California Rolls were invented in the late 1960's by a creative sushi chef in Los Angeles. Lamenting the lack of sushi grade fish in the US he decided to turn to ingredients that were readily available for his new creation. The avocado approximates the rich creaminess of toro (tuna belly), while the use of crab is a nod to the abundance of Dungeness Crab along the left coast. Rolling the rice on the outside and the nori on the inside, was an innovation designed to appease customers who balked at the notion of eating seaweed at a time when sushi was amongst the most exotic of foods.

You're probably not too surprised by the fact that California Rolls weren't created in Japan, but did you know that rolls in general aren't especially popular in Japan. Known as makisushi (rolled sushi), most sushi restaurants in Japan only serve a handful of simple rolls, such as kappa maki (cucumber), tekka maki (tuna), or takuan maki(yellow pickle). For many, they're considered an inexpensive filler reserved for the end of a meal when you start to worry about the escalating bill.I love the fact that we have a much broader selection of rolls in the US. Sadly, many places seem to think that California Rolls are made with mushy cloyingly sweet rice and cheap imitation crab smothered in mayonnaise. Having grown up in the Golden State, I've had more than my fair share of these abominations, but when they're done justice, with fresh crab and ripe creamy avocado rolled in a glistening layer of well seasoned rice, California Rolls can be a real testament to the deliciousness of inauthenticity.

To make this, you'll need to make a batch of sushi rice first.Recommended products Previous NextBased on your location, units have been adjusted to Metric measuring system. Change this?11 StepsPrepare a batch of sushi riceIf you're not going to eat the roll right away, wrap it in plastic wrap until you are ready to eat your California Roll. Putting the rolls in the refrigerator will make the rice hard and is not recommended, but if it's going to be more than an hour before you're going to eat the roll, you should put it in the fridge to keep the crab from spoiling.sushi delivery toronto beachesTo slice the rolls, use a long sharp knife, and place the back edge of the blade at the very center of the roll. sushi in singapore halalPull the knife towards you, letting the weight of the knife cut through the roll. sushi kan innes road menu

If put pressure on the knife, it will squish the roll and the filling will come out. Repeat cutting each half into thirds to make 6 pieces of sushi.Serve your California roll with soy sauce and wasabi.All images and text on this website are protected by copyright. Please do not post or republish this recipe or its images without permission. If you want to share this recipe just share the link rather than the whole recipe.More Tasty TidbitsCaterpillar RollGimbapNegitoro Sushi10 Asian Finger Foods for Super Bowl Sundaymade to order sushi shark tankChicago is a good place to find quality sushi bars and restaurants. sushi rice cooker instructionsI really enjoy going out for a fantastic sushi meal, but only on occasion since it can be quite pricey. dead sushi full movie youtube

Last week, I got really psyched to roll my own sushi, and went out on a quest to find all of the right ingredients. If you have the backbone of what you need to roll your own (sushi mat/roller, sushi rice, rice wine vinegar, wasabi powder, nori sheets, pickled ginger), then making it yourself is fairly inexpensive and a lot of fun. I started my quest of finding ingredients in Uptown, at the intersection of Argyle and Broadway. This is known as Little Vietnam (I know, a far cry from the sushi homeland of Japan, but I swear they have almost everything you need to make sushi). where to buy sushi magic kitI went to two stores, Hoa My Market on Argyle Street and Tai Nam on Broadway (they’re less than a five minute walk from one another). Both stores carry five to twenty pound bags of sushi rice (I think I paid less than $3 for a five pound bag), a ten pack of nori sheets for less than $2, large bottles of rice wine vinegar for less than $3 and wasabi powder for around $3.50.

The pickled ginger, however, I could only find at Hoa My Market, where they had both the pink pickled ginger and the yellow pickled ginger. The difference between the two is that the pink ginger is slightly younger than the yellow. Some brands use beet juice to dye the ginger, if it is too mature during the pickling process. Hoa My doesn’t carry sushi mats, but Tai Nam had them for super cheap (I had to ask for assistance to find these, as they were hidden somewhere near the back of the store). Between both stores, I spent around $20 for the basic sushi ingredients that I needed. As for the fish, I chose to go to the trusty Whole Foods Market in Lakeview. I’m a little unsure of purchasing fish at either of the markets previously mentioned, especially if I’m eating it raw (I’m pretty sure they don’t carry sushi grade fish at Hoa My or Tai Nam). Here’s the thing with Whole Foods and sushi grade fish - they don’t normally carry sushi grade, but they do take orders and can bring in whatever type you’re looking for, within reason.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t aware of this until the guy behind the counter told me. By this point though, I was on a mission and wasn’t going to wait a day or two for a fish order. The next step was to sweet talk the employee at the sushi counter in the prepared foods section of the store. At the counter they had pre-packaged sashimi (thin slices of raw fish, not prepared into a sushi roll) priced a little under $10. Instead of buying that, I kindly asked the lady behind the counter if she had any fish that wasn’t sliced into sashimi and that she’d be willing to weigh out for me and sell. This lady was my hero for the day, because she sold me a lovely quarter-pound piece of tuna for a couple dollars less than the sashimi package. Next time I go to buy fish, I probably won’t do this again (I don’t want the people at Whole Foods to catch on), but instead I’ll just order it ahead of time. There are also other local options such as Hooked on Fish and Wixter Market. As for the vegetables, I picked up a small cucumber, daikon radish and an avocado while I was at Whole Foods.

I would’ve liked to buy some asparagus, but it’s not the right season for that. After several hours of shopping, I was finally home with all of the ingredients I needed to roll sushi (including a couple bottles of sake, because you shouldn’t eat sushi without it). I made a spicy tuna roll (diced tuna fish mixed with a little sesame oil, Sriracha hot sauce, and sliced green onion), a tuna inside out roll (which I topped with a mixture of Sriracha and mayonnaise to add a little heat), and a couple of veggie rolls. Rolling sushi at home is a really fun activity and great practice if you want to look like a pro while entertaining in your home. Now that my kitchen is fully stocked with the backbone ingredients, it will be an affordable option to make more often. I would go through the process of making sushi, from the rice to the rolling, but The Chopping Block's Owner/Chef Shelley Young covers that in her How to Make Sushi at Home post. Plus, we offer sushi classes several times a month at both of our locations.