(photograph © Kiwidutch)
I have surprised some of our friends and family by inviting them to dinner and presenting them with a table set only with chopsticks and sushi rolling mats.
Then appear the ingredients and after a small lesson we let them loose on making their own…. everyone so far has had an excellent time and found that they actually like sushi!
.. yes, a few of the ingredients can be expensive to buy at first when you are starting out making sushi, but even with things like smoked salmon, marinated root ginger and a very good quality soy sauce, a little goes a VERY long way when you are making sushi, and you will be surprised at how little filling you will need.
Add things like super finely diced Bell peppers, cucumber, tofu, carrot, lightly steamed Asparagus, omelet, spring onions (scallions) mushrooms, snow peas, cooked chicken , tinned tuna mixed with a little mayonnaise to make your more expensive fillings go further.
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
First assemble all your ingredients:
1 packet of Nori sheets
1 packet of sticky rice, cooked according to the instructions on the packet.
- wasabi paste
- good quality soy sauce
fillings of your choice, in this tutorial I have used:
- cucumber, chop it as thinly and finely as possible.
- avocado, paper thin slices if you can manage it… it needs to be flexible enough to wrap.
- root ginger – marinaded slivers.
- Surimi (fake crab sticks) finely diced.
- smoked salmon (yes I know that raw fish is traditional, but I would only personally use raw fish if I could see it coming out of the sea, dealt with, and sliced mega thinly before my eyes, so, since that’s not possible where I live (even though I live on the coast) and the health risks associated with raw fish after travel and extended lapse of time, I choose to substitute thin slices of smoked salmon in my sushi making) Apologies in advance to purists…
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
you will need a mat like this to help you roll your sushi up…
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
…put your nori onto the mat… it has a smooth side that should be facing downwards and and a crinkly side that should be facing upwards…
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
..spread on (gently) as not to tear the nori, or flatten your your sticky rice…
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
…add a THIN layer of your filling.. only into the center strip of the sticky rice, then add another filling in the centre of your first filling (nice colour contrasts make your sushi even more visually appealing)…
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
Using the mat to aid you, carefully roll up your sushi… … a tiny dab of water to seal the edges closed, and it should look like this…
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
…you are now ready to slice it with the sharpest knife you possess into sections about 2.5-4 cm ( 1 – 1.5 inch) thick.
Opps I forgot to take a photo of this bit…. .. sorry ’bout that.
This time Himself adds a layer of finely sliced cucumber… all is going well…
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
I tell him that I need to finely dice the Surimi ( fake crab) and prawns first, so that it’s not too fat to roll up… Himself says he is certain that it will roll up … what can I say… he was very hungry and I am making him take step-by-step photos of our dinner before he is allowed to eat … (being married to a foodie means suffering sometimes LOL)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
…needless to say , this roll up was more difficult to do … (I said nothing to Himself, just smiled as he took three tries to stubbornly get this one rolled up LOL) … I’ve included these photos so that you can learn from our difficulties…
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
… result ! …he succeeds in the end.. but it was hard going….. yep, got it closed, but the filling barely fits and bursts out in places, Himself with the rumbling tummy bagged first dibs on this one LOL…
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
Now my turn again… back to another roll with smoked salmon in the first layer…
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
.. adding finely chopped surimi and prawns…
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
this one rolled easily…
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
ahhh … your very own sushi .. and So easy ! …and you just got your guests to make their own dinner!
