Picnic Food Ideas : Surprising Twists To Prepare Delicious Sushi Rolls

Finger foods are great for summer picnics. Sushi rolls are often served cold and they can be arranged in plastic trays that have transparent covers. Served simply with soy sauce and wasabi as dips, sushi rolls can be eaten without chopsticks. You can just pick it up with your fingers and eat it straight. If you prefer it salty, dip it in soy sauce. If you want to singe your tongue a bit, put a dot (just a teeny-weeny dot) of wasabi to your roll.

?Sushi? literally means ?it?s sour?. Sushi is commonly made of cooked vinegared rice and topped with vegetable strips, chunks of fish and other seafoods, then rolled inside seaweed sheets called nori. It is originally concocted as a lean dish because no cooking fat is used during preparation. But with the addition of some ingredients like mayonnaise and cream cheese, modern sushi rolls may have higher fat content than the traditional sushi.

Modern sushi rolls come in a variety of flavor and ingredients. Some sushi recipes do not need nori sheets. Substitutes like paper-thin omelette, avocado or cucumber slices, soy paper, parsley, and fish fillets are used to wrap sushi rolls.

One popular sushi dish that suits the foreign palate is the California sushi roll. Other sushi rolls are given different names to give distinction due to the various ingredients used. Here are some names for modern sushis: Philadelphia roll, Seattle roll, Louisiana roll, Caterpillar roll, Spider roll, Dynamite roll, Rainbow roll, and many more.

Here are recipes on some of the most popular sushi rolls in the world.

These California sushi rolls are made differently. The nori sheets are rolled around the fillings and then wrapped with sushi rice.

2 cups sushi rice, cooked

2 sheets nori

1 piece ripe avocado, soft but firm and cut into strips

½ cup crab meat, imitation or real

1 Tbsp mayonnaise

¼ tsp salt, fine

Cover the bamboo mat with clean plastic wrap. Spread nori sheet on top of the mat. Divide all ingredients into two parts. Arrange the avocado along with the crab meat. Season with mayonnaise and salt. Roll and press firmly but carefully. Remove nori roll and set aside. Spread sushi rice on the plastic-covered bamboo mat. Arrange the nori roll on the center and roll carefully while pressing to make sure rice will stick to the nori. Remove the sushi rice roll and cut into bite-sized pieces. For decorative sushi rolls, wrap each roll with thin slices of avocado and shrimp. Arrange on sushi plate and garnish with toasted sesame seeds. Serve with the traditional soy sauce and wasabi, or teriyake sauce.

Sushi rolls can be presented with elaborate toppings to make them look more mouth-watering than the ordinary pica foods.

1/4 cup octopus, cooked and sliced thinly

1/4 cup prawns, cooked and sliced thinly

1/4 cup smoked salmon, flaked

6 pieces imitation crab meat, sliced thinly

6 pieces asparagus, par-boiled

3 cups of sushi rice

2 sheets nori

1/4 cup caviar

1 Tbsp wasabi

Cover bamboo mat with plastic wrap. Arrange nori sheet on the mat. Divide all fillings into two parts. Press sushi rice on nori sheet. Spread octopus, prawns, salmon, crab meat and asparagus all over rice. Roll carefully and press firmly. Remove sushi roll and cut into slices. Arrange on sushi tray. Scoop caviar on top of each sushi roll. Put a dot of wasabi on one side. Serve with soy sauce.

For 1 cup uncooked rice, boil 1 and 1/2 cup water. Add rice and stir until water is almost absorbed. Lower heat and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes or until cooked. Prepare vinegar mixture: combine 3 Tbsp each of rice vinegar and white sugar to 1 and ½ tsp salt. Blend vinegar mixture into cooked rice thoroughly. Set aside to let cool.

Keep hands cold and wet (not dripping wet). Wave your hands vigorously to remove excess moisture. Lightly press your hands across rice to transfer enough moisture that will help rice to stick on the nori sheet.

When cutting sushi rolls, always remove sticky residue on the knife. Keep it clean and slightly wet. Use very sharp knife.

This article is courtesy of Chen . You can read more Picnic Ideas in his picnic food blog.