Mexican Sushi: The Beginning

No, not sushi in Mexico, but a Mexican-themed sushi.

A couple weeks ago I pondered the concept.  Since sushi is very 'fresh' tasting, and many Mexican cuisine elements are aswell, I figured they might work well together.  With hot peppers, cilantro, onions, salsas and very other ingredients at my disposal, I figure there's alot of deliciousness to be had.

Gathering some nori and sushi rice, and the above mentioned Mexican elements, I experimented.  Following Ming Tsai's 'perfect sushi rice' directions, I had no trouble using my rice cooker to get the rice exactly how I had experienced it in many Japanese restaurants.  The nori was also quite similar to what I was used to, so I had no problem laying the foundation for the sushi.

Here you can see my working space:

 

Before rolling, I had chopped up a couple hot peppers, some green onion, vidalia onion, cilantro, garlic, cooked shrimp, smoked salmon, and zucchini.  I also prepared a little Tex-Mex sauce consisting of habanero salsa, dijon and bbq sauce.

1st Roll:  Cilantro, Shrimp, Both Onions, Tex-Mex Sauce, Hot Poppers



2rd Roll: Smoked Salmon, Both Onions, Zucchini



Initial results were quite good.  Both rolls had a wonderful freshness to them which I partly credit to the cilantro.  The peppers I used weren't as hot as I had hoped they'd be and the cooked shrimp was kind of bland, but otherwise, I'd consider both rolls to be a success.

I then decided to experiment with the shrimp, zucchini and various peppers. I heated up a pan and separately fried up the above mentioned ingredients in oil, garlic and hot sauce.

My goal was to add some more depth to the blandness experienced earlier. Just be careful when frying hot peppers (i.e. do it outside) as the smoke that comes off the pan is quite fierce.

3rd Roll: (Pepper roll): Fried Hot Peppers, Raw Hot Peppers, Onion, Cilantro
- see below with smoked salmon roll

4th Roll: Smoked Salmon, Fried Zucchini, Both Onions



5th Roll: Fried Zucchini, Raw Hot Peppers, Cilantro, Both Onions



6th Roll:  Fried Shrimp, Fried Zuchini, Both Onions, Cilantro



To be blunt, cooking the shrimp made all the difference.  Also, the cooked peppers were quite interesting (I was sure to leave all the seeds too).  

To conclude, a moderate success with lots of room to improve.  

Once summer is upon us, I plan on using the bbq and smoker.

Heh, all this excitement and I haven't even began working on my deep fried sushi yet!