How to Make Sushi
Sushi is extremely trendy, delicious, healthy and sometimes very expensive. For those that love sushi and love to cook at home, making sushi at home is actually quite easy. Here are a few tips that can have you and your friends enjoying home prepared sushi anytime you like.
What is Sushi?
Sushi is usually defined as a Japanese food that consists of vinegared rice with a filling or topping added to it. While sushi to many people is known for its raw fish, many types of sushi do not contain fish at all. In fact, if you are a vegetarian, you can create many varieties of sushi with just vegetables.
Types of Sushi
Nigri-sushi – Nigri-sushi is perhaps the most common sushi around. It is usually formed with the hand and comes in rectangular or oval shapes. This type of sushi includes rice and a neta. Neta means topping. Nigri-sushi may also contain wasabi. Wasabi is made from Japanese horseradish and can be very strong. It can taste very hot, but to some, it adds excitement to the sushi. Wasabi is usually placed between the rice and the topping. In addition another ingredient may be present – nori. Nori is green seaweed that holds the topping to the rice. While seaweed might not sound appetizing, it is quite good.
Maki-sushi- This is another popular form of sushi. Maki-sushi is cylindrical in shape and is generally wrapped in nori. In order to roll the Maki-sushi into cylindrical shapes, a bamboo mat is used. There are two types of maki-sushi – thin rolled and fat rolled. Thin rolled (hosomaki) includes one to two fillings. Fat rolled (futomaki) contains three or more.
Temaki-sushi- This type of sushi is very similar to Maki-sushi, however the ingredients are usually more intense. Temaki-sushi is usually shaped in cylindrical forms and is sometimes referred to as a Japanese taco.
Tools to Prepare Sushi
Making sushi requires only a few tools, all of them extremely affordable. Besides dishes to hold contents, you will need:
A sharp knife for cutting vegetables and fish
A cutting board
A wooden spatula to work with rice
A sushi rolling mat, to form sushi into shapes
Basic Ingredients for Sushi
While each sushi can include its own ingredients, the basic ingredients for sushi include:
Sushi Rice – This type of rice is sticky rice and usually medium to small grain white rice.
Rice Vinegar – Used in cooking the rice.
Wasabi – Wasabi is a very strong condiment that is made from horseradish and is green in color.
Gari – Gari is pickled ginger. Gari is used to clean the palette between different types of sushi. Ginger is also great at calming the stomach.
Nori – These are thin sheets of dried seaweed.
Soy Sauce – Used as a condiment.
Vegetables – Almost any vegetable will do for sushi. You can choose carrots, asparagus, lettuce, sprouts or just about anything.
Fish – Fish is one of the more common ingredients in sushi. However, as stated above, your sushi does not have to include fish. Be very careful when buying raw fish for sushi. At many markets, you can buy “Sushi or Sashimi Grade Fish”. This means that the quality of fish is good and can be used raw for sushi. If you are wary about buying raw fish, canned tuna can be used.
Create Standard Sushi Rolls
Creating a standard sushi roll is perhaps the easiest sushi to make. However, with a little practice, you can create all types of sushi from scratch. For our standard sushi roll, we will make thin rolled sushi (hosomaki). It will contain vinegared rice, nori, tuna and wasabi.
Step One
First take your nori and cut the sheet in half.
Step Two
Take the half of sheet of nori and place it on top in the center of your sushi rolling mat.
Step Three
Add vinegared rice (white rice boiled with rice vinegar) onto the top of the nori. The vinegared rice should be cool.
Step Four
Add a little wasabi on top of the vinegared rice if so desired.
Step Five
Add tuna on top or any other ingredient that you would like in this standard sushi roll. Please note, do not overfill your roll, it will be hard to close with the nori inside.
Step Six
Once all the ingredients are included, you will want to roll your sushi up using your sushi mat. With both hands holding the mat, roll the bottom end of the mat over the filling of the sushi roll. While doing this, make sure you squeeze and compress the roll evenly. This will ensure that you create a well shaped sushi roll. After this step, check to see if your sushi is well formed. If not, remove some ingredients and try again. Once you shape your roll evenly, continue to roll the nori around the rice so that the roll is totally enclosed. If ingredients are coming out of the side, pinch the ends a little.
Step Seven
Once your sushi roll is nicely shaped and completely closed, cut the sushi roll in half and then cut each piece into smaller pieces. Usually about 6 pieces should be made from half a sheet of nori. If you are having difficulty cutting the roll, refrigerate the roll for a few minutes before cutting.
Step Eight
Enjoy your sushi roll!