Sushi: Delight or Disaster?

I love sushi, and there is no shortage of great sushi restaurants here in Christchurch.  It’s healthy, satisfying, and fun to eat.  To clear up a common misconception, “sushi” is a specific type of rice; it does not mean “raw fish”, although many types of sushi do contain raw yellowfin or ahi tuna, salmon, eel, etc.  I would eat sushi on a more regular basis (right now, I eat it about twice per month), but it is expensive to eat often at about $10.00 per roll.  I have never made my own before, so this Tasty Tuesday, I am going to try!

For starters, I had to buy some supplies from the local Asian Food Warehouse.  There, I purchased a bamboo sushi rolling mat and rice paddle, nori (seaweed rolling sheets), wasabi, and sushi rice.  Rice vinegar and soy sauce are also necessary; I already had these at home.  In addition, I bought a fillet of smoked salmon (I do not trust the fish at the local supermarket to be “sushi grade”, or fresh enough to eat raw) and a bottle of Chardonnay to complement it.

At this point, I had all of my ingredients, including an avocado and a cucumber from the refrigerator.  I found a video on how to make great sushi rice (such an important step!) and watched.   Then, I followed the instructions by doing the following:

1. Rinse 2 cups of sushi rice in cold water.  Strain, let dry for 30 minutes (the video advises drying for an hour, but I was impatient).

2. In a saucepan, bring the rice and 2 and 1/4 cups of water to a boil; cover and simmer for 10 minutes on low heat.  Then, turn off heat and let sit for another 10 minutes.  *My rice was slightly too moist; I could have let it sit for 15 minutes.

2. While the rice is cooking, mix 1/4 cup rice vinegar with 1 and 1/2 tbsp. sugar and 1 tsp. of salt until dissolved. *My rice was a bit too sweet and too vinegary for my liking.  Next time, I will use less of both of these.

3. Transfer the rice to a glass or wooden dish or bowl (it is important to refrain from using metal because the vinegar could react with it).  Fluff the rice with a fork. Drizzle the vinegar mixture over the rice, fluffing and fanning the rice (any newspaper or magazine will do) continuously until it cools.  The rice should have a sticky texture to it.  *I did not need all of the rice vinegar mixture on my rice.

4. Unfold the bamboo rolling mat and place a sheet of nori on it, shiny side up.  Cover the sheet with a generous layer of rice about 1/2 inch thick, leaving an inch at the far end of the nori uncovered.

5. On the side of nori closest to you, place your favorite sushi toppings.  For me, this was a layer of avocado, the smoked salmon, cucumber slivers, and a few chunks of cream cheese.

6. Then, it’s time to roll!  Use the rolling mat to carefully roll the sushi.  Apply water with wet fingers to the end of the nori to keep the roll closed.

7. When cutting the sushi into pieces (typically there are 6-8 pieces in a roll), wet the knife before each cut.  This keeps the knife from sticking to the rice.

8. Grab your chop sticks, apply some wasabi, dip in soy sauce, and enjoy with a glass of Chardonnay or warm or cold sake.

Results:

My first sushi-making experience was excellent!  The sushi was delicious, and we determined that it cost about $5.00 per roll using an expensive smoked salmon.  Without the salmon, the price per roll would be less than $2.00 per roll!  The total prep time was about an hour, including the rice.  Assembly took mere minutes once the rice was cooked.  The bottom line is that my homemade sushi is as good as any that I have eaten in a restaurant - and the flatmates also loved it!  I prefer raw salmon or tuna, so my next goal is to find some sushi-grade fish; I am looking forward to experimenting with different sushi combinations.  Now that I know how to make it myself, my sushi possibilities are endless!  I will definitely be enjoying this tasty and healthy meal more often, too.

This Tasty Tuesday was definitely a DELIGHT!

Did you try this recipe?  How did it turn out?  Leave a comment in the “Comments” section!