Japanese Cooking 101

Issues:
1. I missed my mom's birthday last Wednesday. I missed the surprise my siblings had prepared for my mom.
2. I got tired of eating Indian cuisine. My stomach already had enough of paneers, naans, and chapatis.

Resolution:
To kill two birds with one stone, I decided to make homemade california maki for my mom's birthday party last Saturday. This way, I can make up for missing my mom's birthday and allow my taste buds to experience something oriental.

Ingredients:
Japanese rice, Japanese vinegar (substitute: rice wine + vinegar & sugar), seaweed wrapper or nori, kani (crab sticks), cucumber, ripe mango, wooden mat

Instructions:
Wake up early and buy all the ingredients from the grocery store (i.e. Shopwise).
But if you already have all the above ingredients from your pantry/ref, then you're probably living in Japan so you can skip reading this blog entry, domo arigato gozaimasu!
You can probably make it with your eyes closed... =)
Wash your hands and make sure they are very clean.
Cook the Japanese rice as you would cook the normal rice (for me -- via the rice cooker)...hehe..
Slice vertically the cucumber, ripe mango, and kani (if it's too thick) while waiting for the rice to be cooked.
Pour some Japanese vinegar over the cooked rice and mix well.
Lay the nori on the wooden mat.
Spread some rice on top of the nori.
Layer the cucumber, kani, and mango strips.
Roll one end of the nori to close and cover the cucumber, kani, and mango.
Roll until you reach the end of the wrapper.
Slice horizontally into bite-size pieces.
Serve with Kikkoman soy sauce and wasabi paste.

I had fun making them, enjoyed eating them, and got superb compliments. Hai, oishi desu.Hmmm...that sushi chef really inspired me. Japanese pepper, anyone?!

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Thanks to my sister for teaching me how to make maki.