California Maki

Wow. It's 2013 and still haven't made anything about me cooking up something good. In fact, everything I wrote last year was plain and boring for me. Hmm. 

Last January 20 was the day I invited my high school friends to come over. I invited them days before and ended up with only one who showed up. The weird part is that I never really got to prepare anything that time. The only thing I had in mind was to buy some barbecues and make maki rolls. I love making some maki rolls. 

I'm obsessed with them rolls. I used to love making Japanese food when I had my internship at Shangri-la Mactan Resort and Spa. That's when the time I fell in love with it. 

When I was in school, I made a recipe called Chicken Adobo Maki, it's sort of a Filipino/Japanese fusion style. It was a failure, for me. I never really liked it that much. There's always this thing where I imagine a really beautiful creation and then "BAM" reality hits me with an axe and presents me with an awful presentation of it.

So, I decided to buy some mangoes, cucumbers and crab sticks for my maki rolls. Just used those as the fillings. It's the same as the california maki, the only difference is that I didn't have any ebiko. Ebiko means shrimp eggs, the orange, caviar-like thing on california makis. I think it's common, though unsure of it. 

So what I did was, placed a piece of nori (dried seaweed) on the rolling mat shiny side down then took the cooked Japanese rice and spread it all over the nori sheet. First place rice near you then spread it away, leaving at least an inch, so it will be sealed easily. I kept thinking not to put too much rice, just enough so that all the ingredients will fit in there. 

Next, I added the sliced cucumbers, crab meat and mangoes. All sliced thinly of course. Then I added the Japanese mayonnaise, which I find a bit weird at times. . 

Once everything is in their place, the rolling can begin! LOL.

I'm not really an expert on giving exact details in writing. Still working on that. To know how to roll, I suggest that you just search on on youtube or try googling it. 

There it is, I made a batch of california maki or whatever it is called. 

Credits to my friend's phone for the picture. So the dinner went on, made maki rolls and just bought some barbecue, I didn't have enough time to prepare for my friend confirmed on that day. I hated cancelling plans sometimes. 

so there you go, that's my first post for this year, I know it may be crappy but in time I can improve. No harm in trying and also, I want to be positive for this year. . . wish you all the best! 

Ingredients:

Sushi rice

• 3 cups Japanese rice, cooked
• 60 ml Sushi vinegar
• 10 g sugar 
• 5 g salt

Note: For the sushi vinegar mixture, just add the sugar, vinegar and salt and make sure to mix it well and make sure that the sugar and salt granules are dissolved properly. Then mix with the cooked Japanese Rice

• Crab stick / meat
• Cucumbers, sliced into thin strips
• Nori, Roasted seaweeds 
• Mangoes, sliced into thin strips