Rolled sushi (makizushi)

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 3 cup(s) short grain rice
• 0.33 cup(s) rice vinegar
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt, level
• 8 shiitake mushrooms, dried, for the filling
• 0.33 cup(s) water (shiitake soaking water)
• 0.67 cup(s) Dashi (1 pinch of instant fish stock dissolved in 0.66 cups of water)
• 1 ½ tbsp sugar
• ½ tbsp sake (Japanese rice wine) or white wine
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp sake (Japanese rice wine) or white wine
• 1 pinch of salt
• Oil, for frying
• 100 g leaf spinach
• 4 nori sheets (seaweed sheets)
• Soy sauce for dipping

Instructions

Working time approx. 1 hour 30 minutes; Total time approx. 1 hour 30 minutes

The sushi of Japanese housewives

Cook the rice and place it in a bowl (preferably an untreated wooden bowl that can absorb excess water). While the rice is cooking, stir together the vinegar dressing (vinegar, sugar, and salt) until the sugar has dissolved. It’s best to heat it briefly. Pour the vinegar dressing over the rice and mix well with a wooden spoon. Then let it cool. Soak the shiitake mushrooms in a bowl of lukewarm water for about 20 minutes. Drain the soaking water and set aside. Cut the mushrooms into 7-8 mm wide strips. Bring the mushrooms to a boil in a small saucepan with the ingredients (water to soy sauce) and simmer over low heat until the excess liquid has evaporated. Crack the 3 eggs into a bowl with the ingredients (sugar to salt), and strain through a tea strainer. Heat a little oil in a pan and use the entire batter to make a thick pancake. Let it cool and cut into strips about 1 cm long. Blanch the spinach leaves, rinse in cold water, and wring out well (!). Place the nori, smooth side down, on a bamboo mat. Spread about a quarter of the sushi rice evenly with wet hands. Leave about 1 cm of the nori sheet free at the front. Arrange a quarter of the spinach, egg strips, and mushrooms crosswise in the center of the nori sheet. Using the bamboo mat, form a tight roll. Then press it firmly with your fingers to shape it. Repeat with the remaining ingredients. Cut each of the four sushi rolls into about eight slices. Dip in soy sauce before eating. Note: Chefkoch has several recipes for exactly how to cook sushi rice, so I’ve skipped the detailed instructions here. If you want to save yourself the work of making the vinegar dressing, you can buy “Suhi no ko” from a well-stocked Asian store, sprinkle it over the cooked rice, and mix it together. Since it is a powder, there is no risk of the rice becoming mushy.