How to Make California Maki Salad

California Maki without rice or bread? Challenge Accepted. -Kevin Olega to Ella

During the past break a lot of things had happened. I learned how to cook. My best friend is moving to Canada and I am now tasked to teach her how to cook through this blog. A few months ago I read “The Four Hour Chef by Tim Ferris” and learned how to make cookies. The girl I learned to make the cookies for didn’t seem to get hooked so I lost interest in cooking for a while. A few months later I enrolled in an unofficial cooking class. My friend Ella was willing to test all the meals and give me a score and points of improvement from after. I’m actually cheating. This is one of the later meals I made for her but here’s what a few months of cooking regularly will result in. I look forward to sharing more recipes in the future for now enjoy.

Serves 2-3

Ingredients: Cucumber (Half a small cucumber) Lettuce Carrots Crab Sticks Mango Japanese Mayonaise. Nori

Preparation: -Slice the cucumber into strips removing the seeded area. -Slice the carrots into strips. -Slice the lettuce into half inch strips. -Put the crab sticks on a slicing board. Slice in half. Roll with your palm and until it separates into strips. -Slice the mango cheek into cubes with a butter knife then scoop out with a spoon -Tear the nori into small strips

Pick Up: -Add the cucumber and the lettuce with one go. Mix together. -Add the carrot strips at the top. -Add the mango (2-3Tbsp per serving) -Add the japanese Mayonaise -Add the crab stick strips. -Top with nori strips -Send me thank you cards and chocolates.

I’m particularly proud of this one. Here’s why:

Top photo by Myrtle Turtle.

Additional note: I saw a few weeks after that Japanese Restaurants offer kani (Crab stick) salad. Looks like mine turned out to be a variation based on the California Maki’s ingredients. The only thing I lacked are the lobster eggs because they’re expensive.

Written on June 24th, 2013 by Kevin Olega