“This was awesome! This has to be your next BLOG,” the post-it note on my desk declared when I returned back to my office. I had the crazy idea the other day to make sushi, only sans the fish.  Sure, I could make our usual avocado and cucumber rolls, yet I had another idea.

I knocked on my co-worker’s door.  “Knock, Knock. You got a second?”

I asked him what he thought about the idea of making a chicken teriyaki or beef teriyaki sushi roll. “Is that a crazy idea?”

“Not crazy at all, it sounds awesome,” he said. Little did I know that he doesn’t like to eat sushi on account of a bad raw fish experience ages ago. The two of us sat down and swapped sushi stories of the good and the bad. Together we determined that a chicken and beef sushi is exactly what is missing in the sushi bars and that teriyaki would make perfect sense since it is already in the Asian cuisine genre.  We have all enjoyed a teriyaki rice bowl before, right?  Think of this sushi as a rice bowl in a perfectly compact bite.

Think about it. Brilliant, huh?

In my experience there is always that one family member or guest that isn’t a sushi fan.  They turn their noses up whenever sushi is mentioned.  These chicken and beef teriyaki sushi rolls will open up the meal to everyone in your party.

I also mixed up the sushi rice ingredients this time.  Instead of using rice vinegar, which is a sweet-based vinegar, I swapped it with the De Nigris Seasoned Italian white wine vinegar, which gave it the same lightly sweetened appeal.  I used their “original” version that I purchased at Walmart for this recipe.

The next time I am going to use the De Nigris Seasoned Italian white wine “roasted garlic” vinegar.  It still has that sweetened vinegar taste that is crucial for sushi rice, only with a hint of dried roasted garlic.  Wouldn’t a hint of garlic be delicious with teriyaki chicken and teriyaki beef?

I think so too.

Chicken and Beef Teriyaki Sushi Rolls

Makes 12 pieces of chicken Teriyaki Sushi Rolls

Makes 12 pieces of Beef Teriyaki Sushi Rolls

Ingredients

½ pound of filet mignon

1 boneless chicken breast

6 tablespoons of teriyaki sauce + extra for dipping

1 cup of uncooked short grain sushi rice

2 tablespoons De Nigris Seasoned Italian White Wine Vinegar Original (or try the Roasted Garlic)

2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

1 small cucumber

2 sheets of Sushi Nori toasted seaweed

Wasabi for dipping

Soy sauce for dipping

Scallions for garnish

Instructions

1.

Thinly slice the filet against the grain and put in bowl with 3 tablespoons of teriyaki sauce. (I use local #NWArk blogger Jonathan Stiers’ teriyaki sauce recipe and keep it on hand in the refrigerator. It’s fantastic.)  Marinade for 1 hour.

2.

Thinly slide the chicken breast and put in bowl with 3 tablespoons of teriyaki sauce.  Marinade for 1 hour.

3.

Place sushi rice in a colander and run lukewarm water over rice for 1 minute.  Add to rice cooker and add water to the sushi fill line in cooker.  Let rice rest in the water in cooker for 30 minutes.

4.

Once rice has rested in water for 30 minutes, turn on rice cooker and let cook.  Rice will take about 35-45 minutes, depending on the cooker.  Let rest for 10 minutes.

5.

Stir in De Nigris Seasoned white wine vinegar with rice in a non-metallic bowl.  Mix thoroughly and set aside.

6.

Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in skillet on stove over medium high heat.

7.

Cook steak approximately five minutes on each side and remove to a plate.  Wipe skillet with paper towel and return to heat.

8.

Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in skillet and cook chicken thoroughly, from 5-10 minutes depending on the thickness of slices.  Remove to a plate and turn off stove.

9.

Peel cucumber, slice lengthwise, and scoop out and remove the seeds.  Thinly slice cucumber into matchstick size.

10.

Arrange cucumbers, chicken, beef, and rice around a large cutting board.  Lay down your sushi-rolling mat. Mine is a silicone sushi mat that I purchased at Sur La Table and it is easy to store, keep clean, and is very affordable.  I love it.

11.

Place the sheet of Nori shiny-side down on the sushi-rolling mat. Keep a bowl or mug of water close to you and continue to dip your hands in the water as you spread the sushi rice on the matt.  You will have enough rice for two sheets, one for the beef and one for the chicken.  Sprinkle the rice so that you are covering the seaweed sheet yet can see through to the green of the seaweed.

12.

Take strips of beef and lay them down on the long end of the seaweed. It is up to you if you want a thick roll or a thin roll.  I prefer somewhere in between.

13.

Add strips of cucumbers against the beef.

14.

Take the sushi matt and begin folding over to roll the sushi.  Start as tight as possible as the sushi will hold up best that way.  Roll to the end and dip your finger in the water and run along the edge of the seaweed and finish rolling.  The water will “glue” the seaweed to itself and helps keep a tight roll.

15.

Take a sharp knife and slice into 12 slices.  You may want to dip your knife in the water to keep a clean cut.  Set sushi aside.

16.

Repeat the same process with chicken.

17.

Plate the sushi and add a small bowl of heated teriyaki sauce for dipping.  Wasabi and soy sauce are also excellent condiments to sushi but the teriyaki is the best for this recipe.

Making your own sushi sounds intimidating if you have never done it before.  Once you have a mat and keep Nori sheets in your pantry, you’ll find that after the first time you make it that you will be hooked.  There’s also no need to store rice vinegar that you will only use for sushi, keep the De Nigris seasoned white wine vinegars on hand for all your other cooking, dressing, and marinade needs and you’ll be good to go.

Happy sushi-ing.

Eat well, my friends.

Lyndi