Japanese cuisine has long won the hearts and stomachs of many Russians. Sometimes, when looking at a dish, it seems that a child can easily cook it. It looks so simple and unpretentious. But this is a misleading impression. Even for the most common Japanese snack - rolls - you will need a set of certain products, a number of kitchen utensils and a lot of skill.
Ingredients First of all, you will need sushi rice. Such rice is sold in any more or less large supermarket. It looks quite ordinary and tastes not much different from the one from which you cook rice porridge. But true lovers of Japanese cuisine and true gourmets still catch the differences. Specialty sheets of seaweed are usually sold in flat small bags of 10-20 sheets each. In addition to the bucket elevator, you can use special rice paper or pita bread. But this will already apply, rather, not to Japanese, but to Asian or Caucasian cuisine. You can buy ready-made vinegar for sushi. On a small bottle with a clear yellowish liquid it says “Sushi vinegar”. Or you can cook it yourself. To do this, you need to mix grape or apple cider vinegar with sugar and salt. The taste should be sweet and sour. It is imperative to soak the rice cooked for rolls with vinegar. Wasabi is often called Japanese mustard. Although it is made from a seemingly such a native and one hundred percent Russian plant - horseradish. If you don't like spicy food at all, you can do without wasabi. But the rolls can seem a little bland. Soy sauce and pickled ginger are served in separate small cups with the ready-made rolls. Sometimes they are laid out on the same plate with a snack. Do not forget about them, this is a very important component when serving Japanese rolls. And the filling can be very diverse! You can turn to the classics and use smoked eel or salmon as the main ingredient in the filling. Or you can go all out and cook rolls with crab sticks. Any Japanese chef would have had a punch at the mere mention of these sticks. But you are in your own kitchen and are free to cook as you see fit. So, if there is no crab meat or avocado, you can safely replace them with crab sticks and pickles. Tools The most important tool for making rolls is the makisa. Don't be intimidated by the name. Makisa is a small bamboo rug used in Japanese cuisine. It is sold in those supermarkets where you buy rice and nori. With it, you can make neat rolls and give them the desired shape - round, triangular or rectangular. A knife for rolls does not need any, but a very sharp one! If the knife is not sharpened enough, then it will remember and crush the rolls, and all your work will go down the drain. It's good if you have a real Japanese roll knife. But you can also use the simple one. In Japanese restaurants, rolls are served in special dishes. If you do not have the desire or opportunity to purchase dishes for Japanese cuisine, then you can use ordinary flat white plates. The main thing is to arrange the rolls beautifully, decorate the plates with slices of vegetables and wasabi patterns. Food should be pleasing to the eye. And don't forget the sticks! Even in Russian cuisine, when no one sees you, eating rolls with a fork is blasphemy! Believe it or not, even the taste will be completely different! Well, now that you have absolutely everything for making rolls, find step-by-step instructions for making them on the Internet, be patient, stock up on your imagination and - go ahead, to conquer the heights of Japanese culinary arts.
