Make Your Own Asian-Style Wrap — It's Easy and Delicious

Once we’re at the threshold of warm and sunny days, my family starts clamoring for the crisp and cool do-it-yourself sushi-type wraps I first rolled out to them in 2003—the year I started cooking school and left behind a career that supported numerous sushi binges at Kirala and Ebisu. If we were to continue to experience the luxury of sashimi-grade fish, I’d need to find ways to work it into recipes—hence the wraps.

A pan-Asian wrap buffet allows diners to construct not only temaki—hand rolls—but lettuce wraps and rice paper rolls using typical sushi meal components, like rice, sliced fish, spicy tuna, kani kama—imitation crab—and veggies. Lettuce leaves and rice paper offer textural diversity and alternatives to nori, or seaweed sheets.

Amateur wraps and rolls often come out looking like lumpy creatures, but that’s the fun part.

Half-sheets of nori are fairly easy to form into cone-shaped temaki by placing rice and fillings on one side, folding the corner of the filled side down and then rolling, but you can supply full sheets, which may protect your furniture.

Rice paper is the stuff used to wrap fresh Vietnamese spring rolls, and it’s easy to deal with. Set out a broad bowl of hot water to quickly submerge these brittle, parchment-like rounds, which are then lined with lettuce, filled and rolled up, burrito-style.

Lettuces leaves, preferably romaine, should be crisp and absolutely dry.

You’ll also need rice, fish, veggies, table condiments and a few things to make spicy tuna. El Cerrito is well positioned, so pulling everything together is low-impact.

For sashimi-grade fish, visit and , both reputable purveyors and fully-stocked Japanese groceries. Venerable Monterey Market is a great place to buy and an excellent fish resource in general, and Berkeley Bowl carries sashimi-grade fish too.

Asian mega-store Ranch 99 (3288 Pierce St.) has lots of what you’ll need and, if you're in a pinch, sells bags of washed lettuce leaves called Just Leaves of Romaine Lettuce.

To add sushi-inspired tableware, pop into Japanese specialty store —next to Yaoya-San.

Before I get to the shopping list, I want to give a bit of airtime to food safety.

Sashimi-grade fish has been frozen to rid it of certain parasites—per FDA guidelines—but there isn’t a whole lot more the government has to say about it, so buy it from a reputable outfit. Get it home quickly and handle it appropriately. Finally, note that certain individuals shouldn’t eat raw seafood. Check out the FDA’s recommendations here.

If you don’t like raw fish, stick to imitation crab, and include teriyaki salmon and grilled shrimp.

For concerns about products from Japan, there’s an FDA page to consult. Discussions with fishmongers and storekeepers can be helpful, and keep an eye out for articles like this one in The New York Times recently.

Here’s a list of what I usually include on my wrap buffets:

Wrappers
Dried seaweed sheets, Vietnamese rice paper rounds and Romaine lettuce leaves.

Fillings
Sashimi-grade fish in slices or small chunks. Salmon and tuna are good choices, but buy what looks good. I love shiro maguro—albacore—and tombo. Don’t buy blocked fish unless you want perfect slices.

Spicy tuna is a must. Mix sashimi-grade tuna trimmings or odd pieces that you’ve chopped up with Sriracha sauce and chopped green onion to taste. Add a little Japanese mayo, if you like.

Poke—Hawaiian-style raw tuna salad. Mix little cubes of sashimi-grade ahi (or albacore) with chopped green onion, a little toasted sesame oil and a generous splash of soy sauce. A few black sesame seeds on top are nice.

Kani kama—individually-wrapped red and white faux crab sticks. Restaurant-quality Osaki Brand Fish Cake is the way to go, but Shirakiku is good, too—both come frozen in 500-gram packages. The top-shelf stuff is pricey, so shop around. You can make salad by cutting them into shorter lengths, separating the strings, and mixing in a little mayo.

Avocado slices, an English cucumber cut into sticks—don’t peel or seed—and Shiso leaves, for a bright, peppery touch.

Room temperature, seasoned, short-grain Japanese rice. Buy rice for sushi, like Nishiki, and cook it according to package directions. You’ll need to fold in prepared or homemade seasoned rice vinegar when it’s done. This is a bit of an art, so a little research on the Web couldn’t hurt.

Condiments
Brewed soy sauce, like Kikkoman, pickled ginger and wasabi.

Happy wrapping!