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Food

Sushi for dummies

By Dalia Wheatt
Published September 13, 2006

Sushi for Beginners is like three classes in one. You get a hands-on lesson in sushi basics, plus some Japanese vocabulary and history for good measure. All that, plus good eats, for $65. Scotsman K. MacInnes is the chef behind K Productions, a Tampa-based culinary services company whose offerings include private instruction and group classes like the one I recently took at Nature's Harvest Market on N MacDill Avenue in Tampa. MacInnes studied sushi making in Tokyo and Hong Kong and has a sushi cookbook in the works, but in the meantime here's a primer on making traditional makimono rolls, which are like inside-out California rolls.

- DALIA WHEATT, Times staff writer

Step 1: Cut veggies and fish

Chef MacInnes starts by slicing an avocado, making julienned carrots and using a bamboo skewer to skin a cucumber. "Is there anybody here who doesn't have bamboo skewers at home for any reason?" he asks, as if inquiring about owning a television. My apartment is sadly skewerless, but I keep this to myself. Next, Chef demonstrates how to cut raw salmon into short, easily digestible pieces. Tip: "When you get salmon, make sure you get it from a decent, reputable fishmonger," he says.

Step 2: Cook rice

Choose a short-grain Japanese-style rice. Find a recipe for su, which is seasoned rice wine vinegar. (Or look for a bottle at an Asian market or your own well-stocked grocery.) Mix su with cooked rice and heat through. Tip: "Make sure you have the oven vent on. If not, you're going to start crying just about now, because the smell of cooking vinegar will knock you clean over," Chef says.

Step 3: Press rice into nori

Wrap your sushi mat in plastic wrap to keep the food from sticking. Place the nori - dried seaweed - onto the mat, and press rice on top. Tip: To prevent rice from sticking to you, dip your hands in a bowl of lemon water before scooping it.

Step 4: Start rolling

At the edge of nori closest to you, place a few pieces of fish, two pieces of each vegetable and, if you like, one crab stick. Curl the mat around the seaweed and roll "just like the wave from Hawaii Five-O," Chef says. Tip: If your ingredients are bulging out of the nori, next time use less rice.

Step 5: Slice

Cut into the roll until you feel the nori break, then slice all the way through. Working with one half at a time, place the knife on the roll and straddle two fingers over each side of the knife for control. Use the same process to slice the sushi into bite-sized pieces. Tip: How do you know if you've properly rolled and cut your makimono? "You should be able to throw it, hit the wall with it, and it shouldn't come apart."

Step 6: Enjoy

Serve with mayonnaise, wasabi and soy sauce. Tip: Enroll in Japanese language classes. At the end of our session, Aris MacInnes, Chef's wife/assistant, announces that all the students are getting a free sudare. "Sa-weet!" I say. "Just one question: What's a sudare?" (It's the bamboo rolling mat.)

Interested?

For details on Sushi for Beginners and other K Productions events, visit www.kowjuice.com or call (813) 567-1444.

[Last modified September 12, 2006, 11:13:51]