Nakagawa's California Sushi

Name: Nakagawa's California Sushi
Total time: 15 min
Yield: 1 serving
Cuisine: japanese
Ingredients: 1 rectangle of packaged roasted seaweed; 3/4 cup cooked rice for sushi (see recipe); 1 teaspoon sesame seeds; 2 1/2-inch-thick strips of peeled, pitted avocado; 2 crab-flavored fish cakes (see note); 2 tablespoons red lumpfish roe or smelt roe; Japanese horseradish (see recipe) for garnish; Pickled ginger for garnish

By Craig Claiborne

Total Time: 15 minutes
Rating: 4(49)
Comments: Read comments

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Ingredients

Yield:1 serving

1rectangle of packaged roasted seaweed
¾cup cooked rice for sushi (see recipe)
1teaspoon sesame seeds
2½-inch-thick strips of peeled, pitted avocado
2crab-flavored fish cakes (see note)
2tablespoons red lumpfish roe or smelt roe
Japanese horseradish (see recipe) for garnish
Pickled ginger for garnish

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Preparation

Step 1
Cut seaweed into smaller rectangle measuring 6 by 7 inches. Place rectangle on bamboo rolling mat.
Step 2
Dampen fingers in cold water to prevent their becoming sticky. Place about ⅔ of rice on top of seaweed and flatten with fingers to cover seaweed edge to edge and corner to corner. Use only enough rice to make thin, even layer. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.
Step 3
Turn rice and seaweed over onto mat. With dampened fingers, spoon more rice onto upper third of seaweed rectangle. Do not use excessive amount. Arrange avocado strips end to end to border bottom of rice. Arrange strips of fish end to end to parallel and border avocado. Spoon roe in a thin layer to parallel fish cakes. Roll seaweed inside rolling mat to make a neat, round, compact package with rice as outside coating.
Step 4
Transfer package to smooth, flat surface. Cut in half crosswise. Place two halves side by side. Cut pair crosswise into thirds to make 6 neat rounds. Serve on platter with small mounds of wasabi and pickled ginger.

Tip

The fish cakes resemble Alaska king crab legs. Made with fish flavored with crab, they are available in many stores that specialize in imported Japanese foods. One source is Katagiri, 224 East 59th Street.