Temaki-Sushi with Chicken Breast

For the sesame sauce:
1 tbsp. dashi (instant fish stock) or water
1/2 tbsp. sugar
1 tbsp. light soy sauce
1 tsp. mirin (Japanese cooking wine)
2 tbsp. sesame paste (in a jar)

In addition:
2 tbsp sesame seeds
4 oz (100 g) chicken breast filet
One small piece of ginger about the size of a coin
2-3 medium cabbage leaves
salt
2 oz. (50 g) whole spinach leaves
2 toasted nori sheets
1 1/3 cups (200 g) prepared sushi-rice

Cooking Time: 45 minutes
Calories: One piece 80 calories

1. To make the sesame sauce, stir the dashi or water with the sugar until completely dissolved. Add soy sauce, mirin and sesame paste. Stir until smooth and creamy.
2. Toast the sesame seeds in a small pan without grease until golden brown. Remove from the pan.
3. Put the chicken breast filet in a saucepan. Almost cover with water. Peel ginger, cut it in half and add to the chicken. Bring everything to a boil and let simmer covered on medium heat for 3 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, wash and clean the cabbage. Cut the leaves in small rectangles. Add the cabbage and some salt to the chicken. Let everything simmer again for 5-7 minutes until the cabbage is tender.
5. Bring salt water to a boil. Wash and clean the spinach, blanch it in the boiling salt water for about 30 seconds. Rinse in cold water and shake it carefully.
6. Drain the chicken and cabbage, rinse with ice cold water and let it drip dry. Remove the ginger. Cut the meat into small cubes, mix it well with cabbage and sesame sauce.
7. Cut the nori sheets into quarters. Form the sushi-rice into 8 small rice balls. Place the sushi-rice, the spinach and the chicken-cabbage mix on the nori sheet and roll it into a Temaki-Sushi cone (see below for instructions). Sprinkle sesame seeds on the filling.

A variation of this is to use 4 oz. of pork instead of chicken.

How to roll Temaki-Sushi:

Temaki-Sushi is made into cones from either 1/2 or 1/4 if a nori sheet depending on the desired size.

1. Dip your hands in vinegar water and make 4 or 8 balls from the sushi-rice depending on the recipe. Place the nori sheet in your left hand with the smooth side facing down.
2. Place a rice ball on the upper end of the nori. Spread some wassabi paste on the rice. Place 1/4 or 1/8 of the filling on the rice and press gently so that the filling and rice stick together.
3. Roll the nori sheet with the filling into a cone with a pinched bottom so that the filling will not slip out. Place a few rice grains on the outside of the cone to act as "glue" to hold the cone together.
   

Sushi- What IS sushi?

Decided to do a few sushi recipes. Can't wait till I am employed again and I can actually MAKE some of this food.

For now however, the definition of sushi:

Technically, the word `sushi' refers to the rice, but colloquially, the term is used to describe a finger-size piece of raw fish or shellfish on a bed of vinegared rice. Originally, this started as being a way to preserve fish. In its earliest form, dried fish was placed between two pieces of vinegared rice as a way of making it last. The nori, a seaweed, was added later as a way to keep one's fingers from getting sticky.

Information taken from SushiFAQ.com