Philadelphia roll (Smoked Salmon Sushi)

[Dave]

If you have never had smoked salmon sushi aka “Philadelphia roll” you are missing out on a very tasty treat. On my “cheat day” I often make a few rolls and enjoy. It’s low in calories (319 per roll) and good for you with exception to the carbs that come from the rice which for most isn’t an issue. Before buying the few items needed to make homemade sushi, go to your local Japanese restaurant or teriyaki shop that offers sushi, and order a Philadelphia Roll. Phili Rolls are traditionally made with smoked salmon, cream cheese, and avocado. I substitute the avocado for green onion and man oh man it is soooo good. So here is the recipe. Rolling sushi isn’t rocket science but may take a little practice.

The Ingredients:

2 cups sushi rice
3 cups water
1 package of cream cheese
Small package of smoked salmon
Green onion (or avocado if you like)
Apple cider vinegar
White sugar
Nori (sea weed paper)


•Bring 3 cups of water to a boil
•Add rice and reduce heat to low.
•Cook 20 minutes covered, stirring occasionally
•After rice is done, put it in a bowl and allow it to cool. Move it around a little with a baking utensil.
•In a sauce pan add ¼ cup vinegar & ¼ cup sugar and warm to dissolve the sugar.
•When rice has cooled (15 minutes) add the vinegar sauce to it and stir it in.

•Cut your cream cheese into strips maybe ¼ inches wide (2 strips per roll)
•Cut the salmon into similar slices.
•Trim the green onion to it is one stalk in length.

Time to roll:

•Place your bamboo sushi rolling mat on your counter top
•Place 1 nori sheet shiny side face down.
•Spread a thin layer, 3/4 to 1 cup, of rice over 3/4 of the nori leaving approximately one inch of uncovered nori at each end.
•Place your strips of cream cheese, salmon, and onion side by side in the middle.
•Placing your fingers on the ingredients, carefully bring the bottom end of the rolling mat up and over the ingredients (tucking the end of the nori to start a roll). Pull back the rolling mat, as necessary, so it does not get rolled into the sushi.
•Once you have your roll, using a sharp and wet knife, cut the roll into small individual pieces and plate.

I like to dip the pieces into soy sauce and eat. You are supposed to eat each piece in one bite. I find this “eating method” the easiest way to enjoy the piece. I also add a dot of wasabi to the pieces if I want to spice it up. There are many ways to enjoy sushi and some of you who already make sushi at home feel free to add your methods and other ideas to the post.

This is much easier than it looks and is fun to do with others. NOTE: The pics were taken from a web page. Also, the pic showing the rill being cut; cut the pieces small, like 1 inch wide. This will allow you to eat the pieces easier.

[Toni]

That looks very good. I like Sushi. Should be fun trying to roll it.

Just to let every one who might not know, Sushi is a rice product not raw fish product. There are Sushi's that have raw fish in it but not all. Some have no fish (or seafood).

[Dave]

Good point Toni. I often make it with fresh or imitation crab meat and have also made it with ham. Great stuff! Sometimes I make standard California rolls which are Imitation crab, English cucumber, and avocado. It's a fun thing to make with a few friends or family and is a very tasty treat.

[crappiemaster]

Isn't the raw fish called sushimi? Not sure but I think that it is. Thanks for the tip Dave. Sounds delicious. Have you ever tried that sushi bar in Seattle by the Space Needle? I had one that I think was called the spider roll or something like that. It had spider crab in it. Man, that was tasty.

[Rollin with Rolland]

great post Dave, and sounds like a great recipe. I just remembered it's been to long since I had sushi.....and yes

man oh man it is soooo good.

What a great healthy food. And like Toni said, sushi is not always raw fish. For anybody who has not tried it.....you should...you WILL NO BE DISAPPOINTED!!

I am going to try this at home for sure.

[Anonymous]

Isn't the raw fish called sushimi? Not sure but I think that it is. Thanks for the tip Dave. Sounds delicious. Have you ever tried that sushi bar in Seattle by the Space Needle? I had one that I think was called the spider roll or something like that. It had spider crab in it. Man, that was tasty.

I had never heard that so I looked it up and found this site which is really cool and it even tells how to make different stuff. My favorite is Inari Sushi.


Sushi information

Sushi Sashimi Sushimi The Common Misconception

Both the terms sushi and sashimi are commonly mistaken as related words. It is only a coincidence that these words sound familiar, and they have no relations in definition. The most common mistake is sashimi being referred as “sushimi”, and there is no such word.
The word sushi originally means fermented fish. Over a period of 2000 years this dish (and the character symbols that are used to represent the word "sushi") has evolved into the Edo style sushi, or the sushi commonly known today. Sashimi on the other hand directly translates to cut or sliced meat. The term is usually used for raw meat in general, and is not limited to sushi, but sliced raw fish is the common understanding.
Modern sushi is a combination of vinegar seasoned rice, and a main ingredient (commonly a raw fish). On the otherhand, sashimi is a presentation of sliced raw meat by itself and has many varieties in size, shape and thickness depending on the ingredients. Tougher ingredients are sliced thinner and wider with special long and thin models of sashimi knifes, and softer ingredients are cut thicker and bulkier. The sashimi emphasizes on using the best area of the ingredient more than sushi does, since it is the only ingredient of the dish. Many different methods are performed on the sashimi such as arai (shocking in ice water), yuarai or yubiki (quick poach and shocking with ice water) and varieties of curing methods (shime).

[christopherbeebe]

i like almost all sushi/sashimi's but my favorites are...

maguro=tuna
tako=octopus
bintoro=albacore
mirugai=geoduck
hirame=halibut

all my favorites yum :chef:

[crappiemaster]

Interesting Toni. I wasn't sure, but it is clear now!! I love the stuff. Couldn't get myself to try the salmon roe one though!!! The geoduck sounds good. When I was in San Diego in August, there was this place in the Gaslight district, I cannot remember the name of the restaurant, but they had like 150 different brews and microbrews on tap. Anyway, they had sushi as an appetizer and the waitress told me it was different than the rolls. It came in one gigantic roll, about the size of a small plate and was stuffed with crab, cream cheese, avocado etc. Wow..it was unbelievable. I would highly recommend it to anyone that is going to San Diego! (the beer was good too)

[Dave]

Good info Toni. Maybe a few will read this and give it a try.

Hey Crappiemaster, I have not been to that bar in Seattle. I don’t get to Seattle much anymore but I am sure they have great sushi there. I love making sushi with fresh Dungeness crab which I do often when the season is open.

Chris, I’ve had the Nigri sushi (raw tuna on top of a log of rice). It was very good. I have also had the octopus. I have not had it with Halibut or Geoduck and I bet they are both very good. Thanks for the idea.

It’s nice to see a few of you respond to this topic. Unfortunately most think of sushi as raw fish so they don’t think to try it. I love it and it is amazing when you make it fresh from home. Thanks for the responses all.

[Bodofish]

Hey Dave,
I know it's not sushi rice but just substitute brown rice for about 2/3 to 3/4 of the rice when cooking and it seems to hold together ok. If you're rolling it doesn't really matter but the brown has a much slower conversion of carbs to sugar and there for much better for us guy's on the slim.
I like to make nigiri sushi with a small fist of rice a nice dab of wasabi all dwarfed by a slab of king salmon or steelhead.
After all we must get our Omega3's in.....

[Dave]

Hey Bodofish,

Thanks for the suggestion. I know the rice makes the sushi (at least for me) so because its so high in carbs, I only enjoy sushi on my cheat day. So far so good. In 10 months I have lost 95 pounds. I've never been much of a brown rice fan, mainly because of the flavor. I know that some love it though so it's a personal preference for sure. Does it change the flavor of the sushi to add brown rice to the sushi rice? Just curious. Thanks again for the info.

Dave

[Bodofish]

It gives it that nutty flavor. It does get sweetened a bit with rice vinegar. I kind of go back and forth, I usually mix it and use more fish than rice. Yummmmmmmm fatty king salmon......
I'm down almost 30 in almost 3 months. Got another 10 or so to go, hope the gluccose panel comes back good. o:)

[Dave]

I have been making sushi for several years now but up until recently, I never added sugar to the vinegar. I also never used apple cider vinegar, and had always used rice wine vinegar. I can definately say that the apple cider vinegar and sugar combination make all the difference in the world in the flavor of the rice. It must be a restaurant secret because the sushi I make tastes like the best you've ever had and exactly like an authentic sushi restaurant. I will try adding the brown rice to my rice mixture before rolling my next batch. Thanks again Bodo.

[Bodofish]

I've only used "sushi vinegar" or sweet rice (wine) vinegar. It has plenty of sugar in it just the way it comes. Apple cider vinegar is kind of an interesting thought. I'll have to try. There seems to many health virtues associated with it. I learned from 4 Japanese guy's I shared an appartment with for two summer while working in Alaska. What a trip! I ate so much weird stuff, you just can't even imagine. We made our own ikura and I can say with out a doubt I don't ever need to eat another salmon egg..... It's just bait now!

[Dave]

I also used the sushi vinegar and rice wine vinegar until my buddy from Alaska (how weird is that we both have an association with AK) made it for us with the apple cider vinegar and sugar. It is bar none the best in my opinion. I also love to try things that are different. I would love to go to Japan or China and try their foods. I am sure some wouldn't agree with me but I love to try new foods, at least once. I'll leave the thousand year old eggs to Andrew Zimmern.

[Bodofish]

I'm with you! I'll try just about anything once. 1000 year eggs aren't really that bad. I draw the line at pulling worms out of pilings and slurping them down.