BYOS Night

BYOS = Build Your Own Sushi

How often do you have a sushi craving? Well, for me it's about once a week. But with such a hectic schedule, sometimes it's hard to get some Japanese with the whole family, especially during the weeknights. Good sushi is not cheap too. So we usually save a few bills and have BYOS at home.

BYOS is super easy to prepare and you don't have to worry about taking forever to roll the sushi like a chef, because you don't roll them, your kids do.

Here is the BYOS from my kitchen:

Ingredients (serves 4 people)

10 big sushi seaweed sheets, get the unsalted ones from an Asian supermarket

1 cup of sushi rice (measured as uncooked)

20 imitation crab sticks, thaw, individual wrappers removed

1/2 cup Masago (see photo)

1 cucumber, seeded and thinly sliced

1 avocado, skinned, pitted and sliced

1 can of salmon or tuna

1 green onion, thinly sliced then chopped

Sesame seeds

Seasonings

Mayo, preferably the Japanese one

Sriracha hot sauce

Sushi rice vinegar

Some salt

How

1. Cook the rice, following directions on the package. Once it's cooked, transfer it to a big bowl and fluff it up. Add 1/2 cup of sushi rice vinegar and as much sesame seeds as you want. Mix well. Set aside to let it cool to room temperature.
2. You can leave the cucumber as it is or do this step to drain out the water. To do so, place the sliced cucumber in a strainer, mix in 2 tsp of salt and let it sit for 15 minutes.
3. Drain the water or oil from the canned fish. If it is oil, save the oil for another dish. Discard the water.
4. In a bowl, mash the fish and mix in green onion, 1 tbs mayo, and 1/2 tsp of Sriracha hot sauce. Mix well and adjust the seasoning to taste. Set aside.
5. Ever wonder how they make that delicious spicy mayo sauce for the "dynamite" roll? Mix 2 parts of mayo with 1 part of Sriracha hot sauce, or adjust the proportion to your taste. 
6. Cut the seaweed sheets into half. 
7. Set your table in buffet style and you are all set for the BYOS night.

To Assemble

Take a sheet of seaweed. Put a small amount of rice in the middle of the piece of seaweed (I usually pat it tight and add as little rice as possible - it's easier to roll up this way). Add any ingredients of your choice on top of the rice and roll it up tight. Eat with the spicy mayo dipping sauce.