Yaz’s daughters, Emily and Natalie grew up with my kids and his wife, Julia Fuller is my good friend.  Because I have always been closer to his wife and kids, I never knew until recently that Yaz has his pilot’s license and is an accomplished musician.  He and Julia met in business school at the University of Virginia and like many of us, chose to move to Pelham for his children. He loves that there are so many recreational options for kids and his certainly take advantage-Emily is a figure skater and musician and Natalie is a ballerina. I asked him if he misses Japan and although he does at times, they tend to go there for a month or so each summer.  When he talks about Japan, I am most intrigued by the food and I can’t imagine what we know as Japanese food in the US is nearly as delicious or authentic as it is in Japan, but we can find many ingredients in the specialty stores thankfully.

Over the years, Yaz has shown up at our parties with these trays of sushi that were the most delicious I ever had and I kept thinking he had the magic touch.  None of my attempts at home were nearly as concise and neat, so I asked him to show me how he does it.  I ran home afterwards armed with the rice and seaweed and tried it myself.  Let’s just say it took a few tries, but I can now can prepare a presentable cucumber roll and so can you.

Ingredients

·       2 ¼ cups sushi rice

·       2 ¾ cups water

·       ¾ cup sushi vinegar

·       20 sheets of nori seaweed sheets (Yaz suggests 7.5 “ x 4.25 “)

·       2 kyuris (Japanese cucumbers) or Kirby cucumbers, ends removed and sliced lengthwise into 8 thin pieces

·       ½ pound sushi grade salmon, sliced thin

·       ½ pound sushi grade tuna, sliced thin

·       Roe (fish eggs)

·       Wasabi and soy sauce for serving

Note: Yaz gets his ingredients at Fuji Market in Eastchester or Daido in White Plains.  It is especially important that the fish comes from one of these markets so you can be sure the quality is high enough to eat uncooked.

Directions

To make sushi rolls

You will need a bamboo sushi mat.

Prepare rice according to the package directions.  Yaz uses a rice cooker and the rice and water measurements above.  You can also prepare the rice the conventional way.  Once cooked, stir in the vinegar, which is flavored, so it is important to use sushi vinegar.

Place the seaweed paper shiny side down on the end of the mat.  Take some of the prepared rice and spread it flat on the paper, closer to one end and all the way across.  Lay down the sliced cucumber and begin the roll by tightly tucking one end of the mat over to form the roll. Then pull the mat out a little bit and continue to roll (so the mat doesn’t get caught up into the roll itself). Once the roll is complete, set it aside to rest and begin working on the next one.

Follow the same routine as the cucumber roll with the salmon and the tuna separately.  Once you get the hang of it, you can get creative and try different variations with ingredients like smoked salmon, crabmeat sticks, avocado and other fresh fish.

To make the pieces

For the roe, cut a 1 ½ inch strip of seaweed.  Form an oval ball of rice in your palm and wrap the seaweed strip around it.  Add some of the roe to the top

To make other pieces, form the oval rice ball in your palm and top with pieces of the fresh fish.

Recipe courtesy of Yaz Nakayama

Download the recipe