homemade sushi

homemade sushi by kattebelletje.

Some foods you don't seem to get to making, this is one of them: sushi. Now, I really like sushi. It has such an own flavour, brought by the distinctive Japanese ingredients. Somehow sushi has the name to be difficult to make. At least, that's what put me off into making it before now. I found this not to be so. I mean, you don't have to finish anything in time, do you? There is no real cooking involved, apart from cooking some rice, and there is nothing that can go wrong: it is not a soufflé! Of course this goes for the roll-sushi, or maki-sushi as they are called in Japanese. All ingredients are cold, you just have to assemble everything, and then you are ready to eat! All the work goes into the preparation.

To start, cook 2 cups of sushi rice (buy it at the Oriental store) with 3 cups of water and a pinch of salt. I always use my rice cooker for this, it is brilliant. Just turn it on and it will cook all by itself. When cooked, let the rice cool slightly. Add sushi mixture, made of vinegar and sugar. You can buy this ready-made in Oriental stores - which I did- but I don't think it is rocket science to make it from scratch. When cooled off, the mixture will be sticky, shiny rice (traditionally, you should fan the rice to make it more shiny). Now take your bamboo rolling mat and put on one sheet of nori seaweed, the glossy side on the outside. One packet of nori has 10 sheets, this is plenty for many sushi! Spread the rice evenly and thinly over the nori sheet, a sticky affair which can be improved slightly by using wet hands. Cover the sheet with rice, but leave 1 cm uncoverd at the top of the sheet (this is going to be where you seal your sushi roll later).

Get your other preferred ingredients. I used avocado strips, cucumber strips, fried egg strips, surimi sticks, tuna salad (tinned tuna with mayo and lime), and smoked salmon flakes. You don't need much to fill many rolls (I made 5) : 1 or 2 avocados, 100 grams of salmon, 1 tin of tuna, one packet of surimi, a quarter of a cucumber and no more than 2 eggs. On one roll use the tuna salad, avocado, egg and surimi. On the other use the cucumber, smoked salmon and egg for color. You can add a small amount of wasabi paste inside the sushi, too, if you like it hot. The filling should go all the way from left to right, but be careful, don't use too much or your roll will not close properly. Add mayo (Kewpie is very nice) and wasabi paste for flavour.


Then take your rolling mat and try to make it into a roll with the rice all around the filling - don't worry, your technique will improve over time! This amount will make about 4 to 5 rolls. Leave them in their rolled up shape until you are ready to eat: then cut them into sushi with a sharp knife. Arrange on plate in an Oriental looking way (that's where, in restaurants or so, they get out their square plates and everything) and serve with (kikkoman) soy sauce, wasabi paste and preserved ginger slices. It is soo much better than the prefab sushi you find sometimes at the supermarket - why not give it a try!