Especially when it comes to Sushi 😉
My aunt Almas lives with her loving husband Abdul in Holland. I hadn’t seen her in person for 5 years, until we decided to visit her this summer. When I told her that I started to give Sushi classes, she told me how much she would like to prepare those “crunchy rolls with the rice and fried onions on outside” herself. From her explanation I recognized an inside out California roll, although I haven’t ever seen it with fried onions on top. In Japan and in Switzerland too, California rolls are mostly covered with flying fish caviar or sesame seeds. Basically, you can put anything inside and outside of a California roll, as long as it pleases your taste. Even cream cheese and dried tomatoes. From our conversation I found out that she had actually never tried a real classical nigiri sushi!
A piece of just raw fish on rice seemed a little bit scary to eat, but at the same time such an exciting thing to try for her. And she just kept saying “I’ll do it next time”, but it never happened.
As she had her birthday just a couple of days before our arrival, I decided to make some nigiri sushi for her to try and show her how she can prepare her adored “crunchy rolls” herself. We bought two types of fresh and beautiful fish from the fish market at the center of her town. Fried onions we found from the Asian market. Other stuff such as sushi rice, rice vinegar, rolling mats etc. I brought from home. I didn’t really need to do that, because in Holland they have everything for sushi everywhere!
As you can see from the pictures above, my aunt enjoyed the whole process of preparing and eating sushi a lot! She was still a bit hesitant to eat nigiri sushi, but she mustered enough courage to eat three pieces, which was quite an experience for her! And now she knows how to make her “crunchy rolls” herself!