Making sushi – an ideal way to change up your packed lunch.

Home made sushi!

I am a lover of any kitchenalia. You know, those bits and bobs that fall into your basket when pottering around the kitchen section of shops like IKEA, Tiger or Williams-Sonoma. The USA has some amazing things you never knew you needed, the bacon bowl maker being top of the list of items I’ve bought in Walmart and never used! Which is how I came to make sushi.

Sushi bits and bobs!

I had the equipment.

I had all the gear.

I also had no idea.

So I set about rectifying the situation ASAP.

The gear you need by the way is fairly minimal, and can now be purchased in most reasonably large supermarkets. If you do have a specialist supermarket close by I’d go there as the variety of products will be greater and you may well get helpful advice from the shop staff.

To make maki or rolls you need a bamboo sushi mat that you have wrapped in cling film, a sharp knife, a chopping board, some nori (seaweed sheets), cooked sushi rice, wasabi and sushi su (seasoning for the rice).

You will need ….

Cook the rice according to the pack or box. I use a rice cooker but a pan and a stove top does just as well. Allow to cool a little and then season with the sushi su whilst still warm

The three main types of sushi I make are:

• Hosomaki (a thin roll using half sheets of nori)
• Futomaki (a fat roll using a whole sheet of nori)
• Uramaki (an inside out roll, where the rice is on the outside and often sprinkled with sesame seeds)

Sushi rolls

The technique is basically the same. I’ll explain it here but you could also look at a wide variety of clips from YouTube or this exhaustive site Eat Japan.

Get a bowl of warm water so you can wet your hands as you go along.

Lay out your cling film covered mat.

Place a sheet of nori rough side towards you. Wet your fingers. Taking a ball of rice in your hand, press it onto the nori in a thin even layer. Leave a margin of a centimeter or so uncovered at one long edge. Add more rice to cover the nori if needed. You can wet your fingers again if needed to, to push out the rice.

Smear a little wasabi onto the rice from one end to the other. Place your favourite fillings on top; Cucumber, salmon, tuna, crab, pepper, omelette and the list goes on.

Using the bamboo mat, and starting away from the margin, roll up your sushi, tightly. The margin you left will seal the edge of the sushi roll. You may like to wet it a little just before rolling as this will allow the nori to stick better making a seal.

Taking a sharp knife, cut the roll into equal slices.

Serve with pickled ginger, additional wasabi and some Japanese soy sauce.

Sushi is addictive. Making sushi is also addictive. You don’t need the gubbins I have to make sushi, just the mat, rice, nori and a sharp knife. However making rice balls in the shape of a panda or using a mould to get hard-boiled eggs into the shape of a star has a certain draw does it not…..

 

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