Making your own sushi can be a daunting prospect for anyone, but provided you ensure that you use the right ingredients and prepare your fish properly, there is no reason that you can’t make delicious sushi in your own home.
Sushi Making Basics
When making your sushi you will need:
- A bamboo mat (it is better to have one with one flat side and one rounded side)
- Nori (Japanese name for the sheets of edible Seaweed varieties commonly used in Sushi)
- Sushi rice
- Fillings (fillings are your choice, feel free to experiment or stick to traditional ingredients)
- Bowl of water with rice vinegar to keep your hands damp when molding rice
- Dry hand towel to dry your hands when rolling and handling your nori
Nigirizushi (hand formed sushi)
Nigirizushi is easier to make than rolled sushi but is just as tasty and effective; great for beginners.
- Wet your hands and shape around 20g of sushi rice into a long, oval form, ensuring that the bottom (which will act as a base) is flat and the top and sides are slightly rounded.
- Take a slice of pre-cut fish (usually salmon or tuna) of around 5cm in length, 1cm thick and 3cm wide and smear with a small amount of Wasabi sauce. This will help stick the topping to your rice.
- Place your fish wasabi side down on top of the mound of rice and press.
Nigirizushi is traditionally served in pairs to represent peace and harmony.
Makizushi (rolled sushi)
Makizushi is harder to make than Nigirizushi as rolling can be quite difficult to master, however, with practice you are sure to improve. Practice makes perfect!
- Lay out your rolling mat and place Nori on top, rough side up.
- Wet your hands and roll a handful of sushi rice into a ball.
- Place your ball of rice in the centre of your Nori and spread evenly. You should cover almost the entire sheet, leaving around 2cm uncovered at the top and be careful not to compress the rice too much.
- Place a slice of fish on the edge of your nori and 1-3 slices of vegetables.
- Using the edge of the rolling mat closer to you, fold over the mat to form a neat, compact, triangular mound
- Continue to roll in this way, moving the mound forward and ensuring that you keep everything compact. To do this you must ensure you keep pressure on all three sides at the same time. This can be difficult to get right first time, but it is achievable, and you will get there with practice.
- Cut into 6-8 slices using a sharp, wet knife.
Urimaki (Inside-out roll)
The method for making Urimaki is similar to the above roll, however, as the rice is on the outside, it is slightly more difficult to keep solid and compact.
- Cover your rolling mat with cling film, starting with the round end, and wrapping around several times.
- Roll mat to squeeze out any trapped air.
- Break nori sheet down the middle and place on your rolling mat around 5cm from the edge, rough side up.
- Wet your hands and roll a handful of rice into a ball.
- Place ball in the middle of your nori and spread, pressing gently.
- Flip the nori over so that the rice faces the mat.
- Place fish and vegetables (or cream cheese, mayonnaise etc) on the edge of the nori.
- Roll using guidelines above.
- Cut and serve!
As I have said, rolling sushi can be difficult to master, but once you have the technique, you are free to experiment with a world of ingredients and ideas.
