cook

11 year old Hayato's creation

My 11 year old nephew wanted to eat sushi on the first night in LA.  Having just arrived from Tokyo, you would think he'd ask for something more American like a hamburger.  No, he wanted something with rice.  Sushi, if he can get his wish -  made with a combination of tuna, avocado, shiso and cucumbers, and he wanted to make the sushi by himself.  

He warned me that his sushi didn't look that great, but tasted very good.  And If tuna was not available, he was happy to settle with plain avocado because he compares the flavor and texture to the butteriness of Toro. I haven't been eating tuna for environmental reasons.  But tonight, I made an exception. We bought some tuna, but not the endangered Blue Fin.  

Avocado is a common fruit in California compared to Japan but we had trouble finding one that was ripe enough for sushi.  We ended up visiting 3 markets.  Hayato could spot a green one with one look.  "No, they are not going to work," he told me and we kept searching until we finally found the ripe avocados. Hayato is a pretty sofisticated eater. His parents are both chefs, so I am not surprised, but he taught himself to make sushi. And like me, he is willing to go the distance to find the best ingredient.  

To make the sushi rice, we used half brown and half white, per Hayato's suggestion. His mother has been using rice with whole grains for health reasons. At first, I wasn't sure about using brown rice for making sushi but  if Hayato's says it tastes pretty good, I trust him.

He washed the rice, measured the water and cooked it the rice cooker.  Then he  cut the nori sheets in half, and sliced up the fillings, including the tuna.  Hayato is very dexterous.   We didn't have a proper bamboo mat, as they are still in storage.  So I offered a mat for soba noodles.  The mat was round and small, but he made do.

He made enough sushi for two.  We served the sushi with Hiyayako - cold tofu with condiments on top.  It was the best California roll I ever tasted ate.  We ate it all and celebrated his first evening in the US.

  One happy boy!