Pregnancy Sushi

When you are pregnant you definitely miss some very important things. #1: sushi, #2: bottles of wine, #3: dirt biking. With that said, you can’t eat raw fish. I really miss ono, tuna, and smoked salmon. To fulfill some of the craving I decided to start making my own sushi at home using shrimp tempura and imitation crabmeat. All fish is cooked, nothing raw. You can find all the ingredients necessary at your local grocery store. This is basically a California sushi roll with avocado, shrimp tempura, and a creamy spicy imitation crab filling.

Ingredients:

1.5 cups uncooked Calrose Rice 2 cups water 1/4 cup rice vinegar 1 tablespoon white sugar 1 tsp. salt 8 oz. pouch of imitation crabmeat (Crab Delight by Louis Kemp, flake style) Handmade Jumbo Shrimp Tempura by Tiger Thai

1 TBSP. mayonnaise 1 TBSP Sriracha chili sauce, to taste Nori (dry roasted seaweed) or Soy Paper Toasted Sesame seeds and black sesame seeds Optional: avocados (pitted, peeled, and sliced the long way), masago, smelt eggs, cucumbers, carrots, soy sauce, wasabi, ginger Directions:

Use a rice cooker for your rice or cook it on the stove. For rice cooker: use 1.5 cups of Calrose rice, add 2 cups of water, and a pinch of salt. Cook until it pops up that the rice is done

In a small bowl, mix together the rice vinegar, salt, and sugar until dissolved.

Add the rice to a large bowl and stir in the rice vinegar/sugar mixture. You can use a paper plate to fan the rice until it is cool

Preheat oven to 400. On a small baking sheet lay a few pieces of shrimp tempura and bake them at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes per side. Roughly 16-20 minutes total.

On a paper towel place your imitation crab and blot it to soak up any water

In a food processor add in the imitation crab and pulse until fine, add in the mayonnaise and the Sriracha sauce. A little at a time so you make sure it tastes spicy enough

Use a bamboo rolling sheet, found at most 99 Ranch Markets. I put mine in a large gallon freezer Ziploc bag so the bamboo roller doesn’t get things stuck in between it. Lay a sheet of nori, shiny side down on the rolling mat. Dip your fingers in water and firmly pat an even layer of the rice over the nori. Leave about ¼ inch uncovered at the bottom to seal the roll at the end. Sprinkle the rice with both kinds of sesame seeds about .5 – 1 tsp. and press them into the rice.

Carefully flip the nori over so the seaweed is now facing up

Now you can start loading up your roll with your favorite vegetables and fish. In the center of the rice place your avocado, imitation crab meat and shrimp tempura in a line across the nori sheet.

Fold the bottom edge of the sheet upwards, keeping the filling inside, and tightly rolling the sushi into a cyclinder. Once the sushi isrolled, wrap it in the mat and gently squeeze the roll to compact it tightly.

Using a very sharp knife, you can dip the knife in water and start cutting 1-inch pieces of sushi

Arrange in a row on a plate. You can add extra Sriracha on the side, wasabi, and ginger.

Serve with low sodium soy sauce and chopsticks