Sushi can be sexy. While you don’t have to greet your partner wearing only seaweed à la Sex and the City’s Samantha, don’t be afraid to try something new by rolling your own sushi. It’s Sex Week after all!
To make sushi rice, prepare two cups of short grain rice as normal, then combine it with a warm mixture of two tablespoons each of rice vinegar and sugar, plus one tablespoon of salt.
Find nori – or seaweed – in the Asian food section of the grocery store and use the nori to wrap your sushi. Lay the nori on a sushi-rolling mat, which you can buy for five dollars from Crate & Barrel, although corrugated cardboard or a few layers of foil will work in a pinch.
Press your cooled rice flat on the seaweed, leaving a small border without rice to seal the roll. Layer thinly sliced ingredients in a ribbon across the rice. Experiment with different fillings, but to start, try a roll of salMonday, steamed asparagus and mint leaves, or crabmeat, avocado, mango and red bell pepper.
Using your mat as a guide, roll the sushi away from you into a cylinder, and press the nori edges together gently to seal. Then, slice your roll with a sharp knife and serve with soy sauce, ginger or wasabi.
To finish off the meal, make fortune cookies by whisking two egg whites until they’re frothy. Add one-half cup each of flour and sugar, one teaspoon of almond extract, two tablespoons of water and a pinch of salt. Spread the batter into thin four-inch circles on greased parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for eight minutes, until there is about a half-inch of golden brown around the edges.
Take the cookies out of the oven, and quickly remove each cookie with a spatula. Place a folded fortune in the middle of each disc, quickly fold the disc into a fortune cookie shape and let them cool.
If you’re feeling feisty, make some predictions (or requests) about your evening and slip them inside the fortune cookies. Maybe this time, your fortune will come true…
