Futomaki Sushi Food

FUTOMAKI (MAKI SUSHI / EHOMAKI)

Steps:

• Start cooking rice and follow my sushi rice recipe here. Cover the prepared sushi rice with a damp cloth at all times to prevent it from drying.
• In a bowl (or a measuring cup), add dried shiitake mushrooms and water and let them soak for 15 minutes. Place a smaller bowl on top so that mushrooms will stay submerged.
• In a small saucepan, bring water to a boil. Quickly rinse the kanpyo in running water and drain. Rub kanpyo with salt. Rinse and drain well.
• When the water is boiling cook kanpyo for 3 minutes. Transfer to iced water to stop the cooking process and squeeze water out.
• When the shiitake mushrooms are soft and tender, cut off and discard the stem. Strain the shiitake liquid through a fine sieve to get rid of small unwanted bits.
• If the reserved shiitake liquid is not 1 cup (240 ml), add water till you have 1 cup.
• In a medium saucepan, put the kanpyo and mushrooms, and the reserved shiitake liquid.
• Add sugar, mirin, and soy sauce to the saucepan.
• Bring it to boil and once boiling, lower the heat to medium and cook until most of liquid is gone, about 20-30 minutes.
• Cut the shiitake mushrooms to very thin slices and squeeze the water out.
• Squeeze the water out from kanpyo and cut it into 8 inches (20 cm) length, which is about the same size as the nori sheet.
• Now shiitake and kanpyo are ready to use. You can make this ahead of time and store them in the fridge for a couple of days.
• Make one tamagoyaki (I have two versions: tamagoyaki or sweeter atsuyaki tamago). You can make it ahead of time and keep it in the refrigerator to save time.
• Cut tamagoyaki into long strips. Keep them in the fridge until they are ready to use.
• Unagi is typically already cooked/broiled when you purchase it. All you need to do is reheat in the oven. Set your oven to broil (high - 550ºF/290ºC) and preheat for 3 minutes. Line the baking sheet with aluminum foil. Spray oil on the aluminum foil and place the unagi on top. Put the baking sheet in the middle rack of your oven and broil for 5-7 minutes (no need to flip). Cut into 4 long strips.
• Tie the stems with cooking twine to keep them from being untied while cooking. Bring a pot of water to boil. Add 1 tsp salt and blanch mitsuba or spinach just enough to tender. Do not overcook.
• Soak the blanched mitsuba in iced water and squeeze the water out. Set aside.
• Cut off the end and cut into quarter length-wise and remove the seeds. Set aside.
• Open the package and put it in a small bowl. Set aside.
• Gather all the ingredients. Prepare Tezu (finger dipping water) by combining ¼ cup water and 2 tsp rice vinegar.
• Place a bamboo sushi mat on the working surface or cutting board. Then place a sheet of nori on the bamboo mat, shiny side down. Divide sushi rice into quarters. Dip your fingers in Tezu, and put ¼ of sushi rice on nori and spread evenly with your fingers. Make sure to wet your fingers with Tezu when you do this. Spread the rice evenly; otherwise, your sushi roll won't look even when rolled.
• Leaving about a ½ inch (1.5 cm) strip along the top of nori farthest away from you. You don't put the rice till the end because after you roll, the white rice could come out from the seam and it won't look pretty.
• Place the cucumber toward the bottom of nori. Front ingredients will need to go over the other ingredients. Therefore I recommend putting easy-to-hold ingredients toward the front, and put Sakura Denbu and Shiitake toward the top so the pieces won't fall down when you roll.
• From the bottom end (of sushi rice), start rolling nori sheet over the filling tightly and firmly with bamboo mat until the bottom end reaches the end of sushi rice on top. Use your fingers to hold the ingredients when you roll.
• Hold the top of the bamboo mat with one hand and hold the rolled bamboo mat with the other hand and pull against each other to tighten the roll. Lift the bamboo mat and continue to roll. Place the bamboo mat over the roll and tightly squeeze. Continue to make the rest of the rolls.
• Using a very sharp knife, cut the Futomaki in half first. Every slice or every other slice, wipe the knife with a wet kitchen cloth so that you can cut nicely.
• Then cut each half into 3 pieces.

SPICY TUNA FUTOMAKI

Steps:

• Seed the cucumber and cut it into thin sticks about 1/8 inch wide and 4 inches long.
• Place the tuna in a medium bowl. Add the chili sauce, sesame oil and Japanese pepper if using and stir gently to combine.
• Lay a half nori sheet textured-side up (smooth/shiny-side down) on a cutting board with one of the longer sides closest to you. Dip your fingers in a small bowl of ice water and gently spread 1/2 cup of the prepared sushi rice evenly over most of the nori, leaving a 1-inch strip of nori without rice on one short edge. Rotate the nori so the short edge with rice is closest to you.
• Place 1 1/2 ounces of the tuna in a line across the rice. Lay 3 to 4 pieces of the cucumber next to the tuna. Slip your thumbs under the near edge of the nori and roll the sushi roll away from you with gentle pressure until the edge without sushi rice is on the bottom, creating a seam. (Don't squeeze the roll too firmly or the filling will squish out.)
• Let the sushi roll sit on the seam for a few seconds and the seam should seal itself. If it doesn't, dip a fingertip into the ice water and swipe a very small amount of water along the un-riced edge of the nori sheet. Let the roll sit on the seam for a few seconds. If you like, use a makisu (sushi rolling mat) to gently shape the roll.
• Dip the tip of a knife into the ice water and allow the water to run down the blade. Slice the sushi roll into 6 even pieces. Repeat with the remaining ingredients, making 4 rolls.
• Garnish each roll with 1/4 teaspoon sesame seeds. Serve with soy sauce, pickled ginger and wasabi if desired. If using fresh wasabi, peel and finely grate.

FUTOMAKI SUSHI RECIPE

Steps:

• Wash Kanpyo lightly, rub with salt, and wash again. Cook in boiling water for 5 minutes and drain water. Put Kanpyo back in the pot and add just enough water to cover. Cook with sugar and soy sauce until the liquid is almost gone. Set aside.
• Cut cucumber and Tamagoyaki into thin and long strips, about 8" long and 1/2" thick (8cm x 1cm).
• It's OK not to have 8" long pieces, just add pieces together to make the total length.
• Put a sushi mat flat on your work surface with the bamboo slats left to right, so you can roll the mat away from you. Place a piece of seaweed on the sushi mat with one of the seaweed's sides close to the front edge of the sushi mat (the edge near you). Spread about 1/3 of sushi rice on the seaweed leaving a 1" (2.5cm) space at the front and far edges of the seaweed. Place Tamagoyaki, a cucumber strip, boiled shrimp, and Kanpyo next to each other in the middle of the rice. Holding the filling down, roll from the front end of the mat with the sushi mat toward the other end. Tighten the roll like a roll cake, pulling the mat to tighten. Remove the roll from the mat.
• Cut the roll into 1/2" thick. Serve with soy sauce if you like.

FUTOMAKI - BIG SUSHI ROLL

Steps:

• Cut sea sticks in half lengthwise.
• Cut cucumber lengthwise into narrow strips.
• Halve avocado, remove pit and slice into strips. Remove center ribs and shred lettuce.
• Mix one cup of water with the rice vinegar in a small bowl and set aside to use as hand vinegar, to rinse your hands and keep the rice from sticking to them.
• Place a piece of plastic wrap on a bamboo rolling mat. Place a piece of nori, rough side up on the plastic wrap.
• Take a handful of rice and spread it over half of the nori, leaving 1" on the far side of the nori clear. Repeat to cover the other half of the seaweed sheet.
• Arrange 5-6 shrimp in a row about 2" from the close edge.
• Add a row of sea sticks, then a row of shredded lettuce.
• On top of the shrimp, place slices of avocado and shredded carrots so the ingredients are piled like logs of wood. One third of each of the filling ingredients should be used for each roll.
• Pick up the mat from the near side and roll it up, pressing gently. Remove from rolling mat. Repeat steps to make two more rolls.
• Cut each roll into 8 slices. Serve with soy sauce, wasabi and pickled ginger.