It was one of my ordinary high school days when my brother, Edgar Joseph, who was then at that time, a first year Culinary Arts student of the University of San Carlos, brought home one of their dishes made in school, the California Maki. He gave each one of us in the house a slice of the said food. At first, I thought it was like Nigiri-zushi, a kind of sushi I tasted before which contains sushi rice and raw fish soaked in vinegar, and so I was having two thoughts whether I should taste it or not because I honestly didn’t like the taste of the said sushi. But then, my brother forced me to taste it and even promised me that I would love eating this kind of sushi and so I did as what he said. After being able to taste it, I found out that California Maki was indeed, way too different from Nigiri-zushi. California Maki was better or perhaps the best kind of sushi for me. Why? It is simply because it has this complementing taste of sweet mangoes, tasty crab sticks and cucumber rolled together by the slightly sour Japanese rice covered with seafood nori. Every ingredient seems to contribute to the perfect taste of a single slice of Maki. After that day, I’ve always craved for Maki. In fact, whenever there would be an occasion in the house, I would always suggest having Maki as one of our main dishes. California Maki is only one of the many kinds of sushi and sushi is only one of the many famous foods found in the land of the rising sun, Japan. Japanese dishes are categorized into seven dishes. One of these is the Seafood dishes which can be eaten in many different was like raw, dried, boiled, grilled, deep fried or steamed. Sashimi or raw seafood and Yakizakana or grilled fish fall under this category. Another is the Noodle dishes which includes Soba, native Japanese noodles made of buckwheat flour or a mixture of buckwheat and wheat flour, Udon, Japanese noodles made of wheat flour which are usually thicker than the latter, Ramen, Chinese style noodles prepared in a soup with various toppings, Somen, Japanese noodles made of wheat flour, but is thinner than that of Udon and Soba, and Yakisoba, fried or deep fried Chinese style noodles served with vegetables, meat and ginger. The third one is the Nabe dihes or hot pot dishes, which are prepared in a hot pot, usually at the table. Dishes under this category are the Oden, a dish dish prepared with various fish cakes, daikon, boiled eggs, konyaku and kombu seaweed, boiled over many hours in a soya sauce based soup, Sukiyaki, a dish prepared with thinly sliced meat, vegetables, mushrooms, tofuand shirataki, Shabu-shabu, a Japanese style meat fondue, and the Chanko Nabe,the traditional the staple diet of sumo wrestlers. Next on the line are the Meat dishes which includes the Yakitori, grilled chicken pieces on skewers, the Tonkatsu, deep fried pork cutlets, and the Nikujaga, a dish of home style cooking made of meat (niku) and potatoes (jagaimo). The fifth one is the Soya Bean dishes. Some example of this dish are the Yudofu, tofu pieces boiled in a clear, mild soup and dipped into a soya based sauce before being eaten, the Agedashi Tofu, deep fried tofu pieces that are dipped into a soya based sauce before being eaten, and the Miso Soup, made by dissolving miso paste in hot water and adding additional ingredients such as wakame seaweed and small pieces of tofu. Korokke, breaded and deep fried croquette, and come in many varieties depending on the filling, Omuraisu, cooked rice, wrapped in a thin omelet, and usually served with a gravy sauce or tomato ketchup, Hayashi Raisu, a Japanese style hashed beef stew, thinly sliced beef and onions in a demi-glace sauce served over or alongside cooked rice, and Hamubagu, a Japanese style hamburger steak, are examples of Yoshoku dishes. The last kind of Japanese dish is the Rice dishes, foods which mainly consist of rice. Under this category falls the Rice Bowl, a bowl of plain Japanese rice usually mixed with egg, the Fried Rice or Chahan, which was originally introduced by the Chinese, the Domburi, a bowl of cooked rice with some other food put on top of the rice, Onigiri, rice balls made of cooked rice and usually wrapped in nori seaweed, Kare Raisu, cooked rice with a curry sauce, the Chazuke, a bowl of cooked rice with green tea and other ingredients, Kayu, rice gruel, watery, soft cooked rice that resembles oatmeal, and the Sushi, which contains cooked rice paired with sushi vinegar and comes in different kinds. Other dishes of the Japanese cuisine includes the Tempura, a dish with seafood, vegetables, mushrooms and other pieces of food coated with tempura batter and deep fried, Okonomiyaki, a mix between pizza and pancake, Monjayaki, a Kanto region specialty that is similar to Okonomiyaki, however, the dough used is much more liquid than the okonomiyaki dough, Gyoz, dumplings with a filling usually made of minced vegetables and ground meat, Chawanmushi, a savory steamed egg custard that usually contains pieces of chicken, shrimp, fish cake and a ginko nut mixed inside, and lastly, the Tsukemon or Japanese pickles.
Among the many dishes of the Japanese cuisine, let us focus on the Sushi’s and Maki’s. A lot of people would confuse Maki and Sushi to be the same when in fact, as I mentioned earlier, Maki is just one of the many kinds of Sushi’s. Other kinds of Sushi includes the Nigiri-zushi, small rice balls with fish, shellfish, on top, Gunkan-zushi, small cups made of sushi rice and dried seaweed filled with seafood and others ingredients, Temakizushi, cones made of nori seaweed and filled with sushi rice, seafood and vegetables, Oshizushi, pressed sushi, in which the fish is pressed onto the sushi rice in a wooden box, Inari-zushi, a simple and inexpensive type of sushi, in which sushi rice is filled into aburaage or deep fried tofu bags, and Chirashi-zushi, a dish in which seafood, mushroom and vegetables are spread over sushi rice. Although I wasn’t able to taste all of these kinds of sushi’s, California Maki or also known as Norimaki-zushi would always be my favorite sushi.
“California Maki is very easy to make”, says Kuya Ej, my brother which I mentioned on the first part of this essay. “Making Maki’s can be done anytime, whether there is as occasion such as birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas or New Year, or even on an ordinary day where you want to eat it”. All we need are the Nori sheets, Japanese rice, mangoes, cucumber, crab sticks, Kikkoman soy sauce, mayonnaise and wasabi. Based on Kuya Ej’s instructions, first, to make a tasty nori sheet, we must brush some Kikkoman sauce on the nori sheets and oven toast for about five minutes. Second, cook the Japanese rice, if you don’t have one, you can use ordinary rice but make sure to it that you don’t overcook it. Make it to a point that the rice is still sticky and add red cane vinegar. While waiting for the rice to be cooked, slice the cucumber, mangoes and crab sticks into thin long slices. Next, after cooling the rice, place the nori sheets on top of the bamboo mat and spread the rice on top, be sure not to put too much rice so that your Maki wouldn’t be too fat. After that, place the sliced cucumber, mangoes and crab sticks on one side of the rice. Lastly, roll the nori sheets using the bamboo mat until it forms a log and cut the Maki with a wet knife to avoid the rice from sticking to the knife. For garnishing purposes, you can put a small amount of mayonnaise on top of every cut Maki. As for the dip, you can mix the wasabi with Kikkoman sauce to give your Maki a spicy kick or you can simply dip it in Kikkoman sauce. You can pair any dish with California Maki but I would prefer eating Maki and Maki alone since it has everything we need for a complete meal, rice, fruits and meat, but I usually eat my Maki with a cold watermelon shake. California Maki’s can easily be purchased since Japanese restaurants are found everywhere. Some of the Japanese restaurants I know are Teriyaki Joe, Red Kimono and Rai-rai Ken which are located in malls like Ayala and SM. There is also this Sushi bar located in IT Park but if you don’t want to go to places like this, you can easily do Maki’s at home using the simple steps Kuya Ej thought us. Ingredients of California Maki can be purchased in leading grocery stores.
In all, I can say that I love California Maki because it is delicious, unique in a way that it contains rice, meat, vegetable and fruit mixed together to create one great dish, and most of all, it’s very different from most of our Filipino dishes.
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