Cooking 03: Temakizushi 手巻き寿司

Temakizushi (手巻き寿司) is a hand rolled sushi, contains of rice and strips of ingredients wrapped in a half sheet of Nori. It is tasty and easy to make, and the most, it is purely fun to make it by yourself. I enjoyed Temakizushi for dinner, so I will teach you how to make it.

Sushi rice was prepared separately; mixed with sushi vinegar. Temperature of the rice must be cool down a bit, otherwise it does not match with sashimi’s warmness.

Hijiki

Hijiki is a healthy kind of seaweed. It looks strange if you have never seen it, but it is very healthy and good nutrition for your hair.

Osuimono

Osuimono is a Japanese soup, served with Shiitake, Fu and Mitsuba. Miso soup is also popular soup in Japanese food, but osuimono is match more with sushi.

Ingredients

Let’s take a look at ingredients. You can prepare all kinds of sashimi and veggie you like for Temakizushi, but this day, we ate Shrimp (Ebi: えび), crab meat (毛がに), salmon roe (いくら), and Yellowtail (ぶり). Don’t forget to add Shiso leaves (green perilla: シソ). Shrimp was simply boiled with water, no MSG or anything, but shrimp must be fresh.

Let’s make one with me.

Prepare a sheet of Nori, and add Shiso on the top of seaweed if you like.

Take a little bit of rice. Not too much.

Then, add ingredients you like. I sometimes dip into soy sauce first, but of course, you can wrap first then dip into soy sauce. If you go to sushi bar, you see more beautiful shaped hand roll sushi, but for us, simply wrap and eat it. Simple and easy, but the most importantly, all ingredients must be fresh. (^^)

Restaurant #49: Sushi Zen, Sapporo

Aww my poor writing cannot catch up with the actual visited date to the restaurant. This visiting to Sushi Zen was in November, 2010…

Sushi Zen is Sapporo based fresh sushi restaurant, and a few branches opened in Tokyo area. Originally opened in Maruyama area in Sapporo, later slowly opened other branches. I personally recommend Maruyama branch (本店) because of the atmosphere and the design of the restaurant, but please check the prices online before you go. Each branch targets the different customers, so cost range is also different. I usually go to Daimaru department store branch, especially lunch time, which is easy to access and price is reasonable among other branches.


Since this branch is located the top floor of the restaurant, don’t expect too much to the décor of the dining area. Cleanness and well-trained workers satisfied me enough. A worker led us to the table and brought us a cup of green tea.


Lunch set (offers between 11:00-14:00) is in reasonable price! I chose Suzuran(1575 yen), served with Siromi (白身: white meat fish), Akami (赤身: the leaner meat from the sides of Tuna), Ika (いか: squid), Hotate (ほたて: scallop), Botan Ebi (ぼたんエビ: jumbo sweet shrimp), Kanpachi (かんぱち: mature amberjack), Salmon, Zuwai Gani (stripped snow crab), Ikura (いくら: salmon roe ) and Atsuyaki Tamago (thick fried egg).


Here it comes!!! 10 pcs of Nigiri were beautifully lined up on a rectangle Japanese plate, with a bawl of Osuimono and a cup of green tea.


Unfortunately, Kanpachi was out, so two pieces of Akami were served. Ika was amazingly tender and juicy. It was the best “neta” of the day!

Zuwai Gani was also great! The meat was sweet and it really matched with Shari (sushi rice).


I was a little bit disappointed that their Atsuyaki Tamago was dry. Atsuyaki Tamago is not actually main sushi neta, but most people love it.


After I ate 10 pcs, my stomach wanted more. I ordered extra Natto & Yamaimo maki.

Yamaimo

Their Yamaimo maki was interesting, lightly colored with Ume shiso (梅しそ); take a look closely, yamaimo is pink, right?


Natto

Rice for makimono was a bit stiff, but I guess it depends on your taste. Natto maki is always my favorite.


After I finished eating all, a worker served me another cup of green tea.

Good service, good food. Now I am satisfied!

Total: 5355 yen (for 3 people)

Sushi Zen

http://www.sushizen.co.jp/

Restaurant #16: Toppii, Sapporo

It was so cold today at Sapporo. I saw the snow covering the top of the mountain. Several days ago, one of popular ski resorts was opened. Yes, skiing/snowboarding season came! I really wanted to eat sushi for lunch, so my family and I tried Kaiten-zushi called “Toppii”.

I used to eat fresh, expensive sushi only, because my grandfather was a fisherman. Our family can tell the difference, fresh or not, easily. But since I was away from Hokkaido for a while, now I start eating all kinds of sushi, cheap or expensive it does not matter. Kaiten-zushi (回転寿司), also called sushi-go-round, is like fast-food sushi. Usually, the price is reasonable and neta (raw fish for sushi: ネタ) is so-so. Recently, many Kaiten-zushi use fresh neta, otherwise customers don’t go back there.


Sushi plates are placed on a rotating conveyor belt that winds through the restaurant and moves past every table and counter seat. You may order directly to the sushi chef, or simply pick the moving sushi plates on the conveyor belt. The bill is based on the number and type of plates. For instance, this restaurant has three types of plates; pink (105 yen), red (130 yen), and red with white edge (240 yen). You often see Chicken Karaage (Japanese style Deep Fried Chicken: 若鶏のから揚げ) or Chawan Mushi (Savoury Egg Custard: 茶碗蒸し) or other extra dishes.


First round: clockwise from the top left, Samma (さんま), Salmon (サーモン), Toro Salmon (とろサーモン), and Chawan Mushi with urchin (新鮮うにの茶碗蒸し). I barely eat Chawan Mushi (Savoury Egg Custard) outside, because their Chawan Mushi is usually sweet. Yet, this one was not sweet… However, after I ate some bites, I saw urchin and the taste immediately changed from perfect to salty! Hhmmmm… I liked the taste of urchin, but they used it too much. Toro salmon was my favorite among those four.


Second round: Squid with grinded ginger (いか) and Chicken Karaage (若鶏のから揚げ). I know I know. This is a sushi place… I guess I was so excited to see all kinds of dishes passing through in front of me on the conveyor belt. It is just funny to see it. I accidentally picked chicken. Oh my… the taste was not good... What was I thinking? Well, now I learned… My mother and aunt enjoyed squid.


Third round: clockwise from the left, Saba (Mackerel: さば), Aburi Toro Salmon (Broiled Toro Salmon: 炙りとろサーモン) and Chu-Toro (中トロ). Chu-Toro came with 240 yen plate. I don’t know I usually have to pay for it in regular sushi restaurant. This Chu-Toro made me very satisfied; this price and this taste… It is reasonable.

Scallop

My family ate scallop (ほたて), so I missed it.


From the left: Hamachi (Young Yellowtail: はまち) and Aburi Anago (Broiled Conger Eel: 炙りあなご). I liked yellowtail. Taste was fine, but neta was very thin. Aburi Anago was my aunt’s choice, so I didn’t eat it… I should’ve try one…

Octopus

Octopus (たこ) was very fresh! It had appropriate firmness and tasty. How come they put a slice of lemon on the neta? It looks pretty with it, but it tastes better without it.

Natto Maki

Natto (納豆) is a traditional Japanese food, made from soybeans fermented with Bacillus subtilis. People from overseas often surprise (or is confused) its strong smell and sticky consistency, even people from some area in Japan. I, as from Hokkaido, like natto and natto maki (納豆巻き). This natto maki pleased me with shredded squid and green onion.

Toro Salmon

We ordered Toro Salmon again as our last dish. With or without onion, salmon was fresh enough with this price, and definitely it was today’s favorite.


Overall, we really enjoyed it. It costs only $14 per person and ate a lot! It is reasonable price, don’t you think? If you want more variety of sushi and small dishes, there is another good Kaiten-zushi in Otaru. I will write a report next time I go there.

Total: 4000 yen (240x12, 130x7, 105x2: for 3 people)

Toppii
http://www.toppii.jp/

Restaurant #05: Kiyohira @ ANA Hotels Sapporo, Sapporo

Friendly Sushi Chef

It has been a long time since I went there at first time. This sushi bar is one of the places that you can eat Nigiri set under 2000 yen. This price is for lunch only, but it is still reasonable. Their lunch menu is various, yet of course I ordered 10 pieces Nigiri set, which comes with some small dishes (1260 yen). There is one more nigiri set, which comes with 15 pieces of nigiri.

I went there at around 12pm, but the seats were almost gone. Friendly atmosphere, two sushi chefs were busy to prepare their popular menu. Three waitresses were running stressfully. I guess one would be just started working there… One of sushi chef was friendly; he allowed me to take some pictures of this restaurant.

Salad and Hiyayakko

A cup of green tea was served smoothly, followed by a small salad and Hiyayakko (fresh tofu). Salad was nothing special, but the dressing was my taste. Hiyayakko was pretty good! It is a simple dish; just a fresh tofu on the small plate, then we pour soy sauce on it. You can enjoy the pure taste of tofu.

Nigiri Zushi

Nigiri zushi was then served in front of us. You can see 10 pieces of nigiri, and some Maki zushi. I enjoyed California Roll or Dragon Roll in the U.S., but we don’t have those at sushi bar in Japan. Hmmm I kinda miss Philadelphia Roll… :(

Hot Noodle Soup

Surprisingly, shari (sushi rice) was colder and harder than I expected. The balance between shari and neta (raw fish) was not my preference, yet my family said it was reasonable. Ebi (shrimp) and Kani (crab) were fresh enough, and salmon was delicious, although Maguro (tuna) was sadly not that tasty. I guess they chose to keep the reasonable price and slightly change the class of neta, which is okay with me. It is still fresh and reasonable enough with this price. After I ate half of sushi, finally the waitress served us a noodle soup.

I enjoyed the lunch here, but I preferred smoother service. Next time I’d rather go there earlier.

Total: 1260 yen

Kiyohira, Sushi Restaurant
B1F, ANA Hotels Sapporo
Kita 3-jo Nishi 1-chome, Chuou-ku
Sapporo, JAPAN
011-221-5680
http://www.anahotel-sapporo.co.jp/english/restaurant/index.html

Restaurant #02: Fujizushi, Shakotan

Chirashi Zushi

Sushi is one of popular Japanese food, and nowadays many people eat it. Yet, I am wondering, how many people really enjoy sushi? I mean, row fish? California Roll, Hawaiian Roll and such are not Japanese sushi, although I love those. Fresh row fish and sushi chef's skills make great sushi. I am a type of person who can be happy if the food is delicious, but some people are professional gourmet, and they follows the rule to eat sushi (ex. don't dip the sushi too much to soy sauce, or put wasabi on the side of sauce plate and mix with soy sauce just a bit.) If some gourmets see me eating sushi randomly, they might preach me the rules.

My family and I drove to Shakotan to see the beautiful ocean view on that day. Our goal was to eat delicious "uni" (urchin). Shakotan's uni is always fresh and tasty, and of course the price is much reasonable. Unfortunately, this day was raining and we were kind of worry that we might not be able to eat uni. They can't catch enough uni if it's a rainy day... Our prediction was right. The first restaurant didn't have uni, after almost 2 hours of driving! Sad... So we chanted the direction and decided to go to this sushi place, called Fujizushi.

"Chirashi Zushi" is my choice. I am not a huge fun of uni, but I love to eat some. This chirashi was fresh enough, and uni was sweet and tender. You can see the freshness from its color. There is also a fresh yellow tail. Salmon is tasty, but it is different than the one I ate in California. The only disappointment was the quality of rice. Rice did not cook well on that day. Come on, rice is the second important thing for sushi....

Fresh Nigiri Zushi

This is "Shun no Nigiri" (Fresh Nigiri Sushi). You can enjoy two kinds of urchin, fresh Ama-Ebi (sweet row shrimp), scallop, eggs, and so on. This is gorgeous! I tried a little bit, and "neta" (fish of sushi) is so fresh!

Uni + Ikura don

This is the main dish for our family. Although many restaurants didn't have uni on that day, this popular Fujizushi had enough! We ordered "Uni + Ikura don". Look at fresh and shiny salmon roe (called ikura)! And of course, urchin is so sweet!!!

Yes, sushi is pretty expensive, but I think it is okay to enjoy it once or twice a year. I would like to try there again, as long as someone drives two hours for me...

Fujizushi
Hokkaido Shakotan-gun Shakotan-cho Ooji Bikuni
積丹郡積丹町大字美国字船潤120-6
0135-44-2016
http://www.fujizushi.co.jp/