Off the beaten Path - Talking Sushi!

So I'm gonna get off the beaten path here a bit and talk about something that's not really all about Scotland. I mentioned on my Facebook page the other night that Jeff and I were making sushi. A few people send me messages in one form or another asking how to make sushi. So I thought I would write a little "How To" for those that are interested in making sushi at home. It's really a lot of fun if you enjoy time in the kitchen and once you get all the stuff prepped, it's fun to do as a family or a couple or even a date night type thing! Honest......it's fun! The best part about making sushi is that you can really make whatever you want in it. It doesn't have to be raw fish. For those that don't like raw fish............sushi can be made with all ingredients that are cooked or okay to eat raw.
Jeff and I are no sushi chefs, by no means. We both just really love sushi and a few years ago we got a book on how to make it and just thought it would be fun. Then we moved to Scotland and it's not easy to find here. For the longest time there was only one sushi restaurant here and now there is two in Aberdeen. But still, making it at home can be so much fun!

Okay so lets get started. I'll start with the things you will need to make it.
The most important part of making sushi is rice! It's key! And the rice must be sticky to really hold it all together. A lot of grocery stores carry sushi rice now. You can usually find it on either the Asian aisle or you can find it on the rice aisle.



But don't worry, if your local supermarket doesn't carry sushi rice, just look for either short grain or medium grain rice. Long grain rice will work in a pinch but not near as well as short or medium grain.

You'll also need Nori. This is the dark green seaweed paper. Don't freak out if you think seaweed is gross. It's very mild in flavor and honestly............it doesn't taste bad. You can find Nori on the Asian aisle as well. If you can't find it at your local supermarket then maybe look at a speciality store like World Market or some place like that. (Doug if you are reading this........I'm almost certain you guys can find it at Brookshire Bros on Rice Road. Plus they usually have a pretty good selection of fish to put in your sushi.)

Nori aka seaweed paper

You'll also need some rice wine vinegar and some saki. It's hard to say where you'll find the rice wine vinegar, but look on either the Asian aisle again or maybe with the other vinegars. You can get a small bottle of saki and it will last you a while since the recipe I am going to give you only calls for 1/4 cup. And you'll need some regular old sugar.

Rice wine vinegar, sugar and Saki

On a side note.....if making sticky rice isn't your thing........a lot of times if there is a sushi restaurant in the area, you can call them up and just get some sticky rice to go. But to me, it's fun to make the sticky rice at home and it's easy to work with when it's warm.

Okay........aside from those things you will need ingredients for the inside of your rolls. Pick the things you like and slice them thin and long. We used things like avocado, cucumber, cream cheese, smoked salmon, toasted sesame seeds (for the outside of a few of the rolls), tuna (if you can find it, yellow fin tuna is the best.......especially if it's fresh), jalapenos, crab meat and spicy mayo. Spicy mayo is really simple to make if you can't find it and it's key to spicy tuna rolls. All you need is some real mayo (Hellman's) and some of the red rooster red chili sauce you find in the Asian section of your store and a little lemon juice. Put a couple good tablespoons of mayo in a bowl, then squeeze a little lemon in it (about 1/4 of a lemon) and add chili sauce to taste. Remember the red chili sauce is pretty spicy and a little goes a long ways. So add a little, mix it and then taste, then add a little more if you like it hotter.

We had a lot of extras, but here is all our fillers for the rolls
(remember to keep thin long slices of what you put inside)

Also you'll need a sushi rolling mat. And you'll want to cover this mat with cling wrap to keep from getting the rice in between the parts of the mat. We didn't have any cling wrap and I didn't realize it, so we used wax paper, and it worked okay, but cling wrap works better.

Sushi rolling mat

Okay..........so we have all of our ingredients and now we want to make the rice. I've heard that sushi rice is really best when cooked in a rice cooker. I have no idea if that is really true or not but we use a rice cooker because...........well Jeff really wanted one a few years ago and bought one. lol But if you don't have one, I don't think it's a problem to cook it on the stovetop. With sushi rice though, cook it in 1 to 1 portions. I cook 4 cups of rice to 4 cups of water. Sounds like a lot but depending on how much sushi you want will depend on how much to make. It takes roughly half a cup, or a little more to make one sushi roll. Rinse your rice really well before cooking it. Rinse it several times and try and get the water running off of it as clear as you can. People thing you are cleaning off the starch that makes it sticky but you aren't, trust me, it will be plenty sticky! Especially if you use actual sushi rice.
Get your rice cooking. Rice cookers usually tell you when the rice is done and on the stovetop you'll just have to monitor it. I think once you bring it to a boil and simmer it, probably only take about 20 to 30 minutes to absorb all the water.


In the mean time, while your rice is cooking, add to a pot 1 cup of rice wine vinegar, 1/4 cup of saki and 1/2 cup of sugar. Stir and dissolve sugar over a low heat. You don't want it to boil but you just want it to dissolve. Keep in mind this recipe is for the 4 cups of rice you are cooking. So if you make more or less rice you'll need to adjust this recipe. Once your sugar is dissolved, remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature.
While it's cooling I usually use this time to start slicing my ingredients that I am going to use inside the sushi roll. And remember, a little goes a long ways. So if you cut up to much you'll have lots left over.

Okay, so once your rice is done you want to turn it into a large mixing bowl. It'll be very sticky already and it sticks to everything! Try and use either a wooden or glass mixing bowl, not a metal one. I've read that the rice vinegar can sometimes have a reaction to the metal bowl. And you'll want to use a wooden spoon as well. Pour the rice vinegar mixture over the rice and fold it in. Try not to be to rough with the rice and try not to mash it. Just fold it in gently and then let it set for about 10 minutes while you finish prepping. After ten minutes all the liquid should be absorbed and your rice should be super sticky. Give it one more good fold and you are ready.

Work with your rice while it's hot and use it while it's warm
(Pouring the vinegar mixture over the rice)

Okay so here we go with the fun. Lay your mat out on a nice flat surface with room to work. Lay down a piece of Nori on the mat. You'll want to leave the smooth side facing down and the more rough part facing up. Then spread some rice over the nori with the wooden spoon. Leave a nice edge at the top with no rice, about 1/2 and inch or so.

This was my first roll and I forgot to leave my top edge with no rice......so as a result I had rice squeezing out of the top on this roll.
(this picture is from the side because I couldn't get good lighting)

Then closest to you put your ingredients in one nice long strip, and beside each other and on top, trying to kind of keep it compact. Don't put to much because if you do then your rolls will be really big and fat, and harder to use with chop sticks, plus harder to eat in one easy bite.

Again, I had to take the picture from the side. The top of the roll is actually to the left and the bottom of which you roll is from the right.

This is just another roll, that Jeff was making with spicy mayo
(he made the same mistake I did on the first roll, not leaving an edge with no rice)

Once you have your ingredients in there then pick up the edge of the mat closest to you, then nice and tight (but not to firm) start rolling it away from you. Make one nice roll over and then pull the edge of it up a bit so that you can continue rolling without the mat getting in the way. Kind of like this.

You want to kind of keep it firm and roll it tight, but not to tight that the ingredients pop out the sides.

If you pull your mat back, this is what your roll should look like at this point.

But keep rolling it over!

Once you have it nice and rolled up, you can roll the mat back out and seal the seam of your roll with a little water on your finger tips. The water on the fingertips and running it along the seam is the key to keeping the roll intact so it doesn't fall open on you will you are cutting it.

This is what it should look like all rolled up and sealed

So when you are ready to slice it you take a nice sharp knife and you dip it in a cup of water.

Use a tall cup to get your knife in there good and get the blade wet!

Then slice the ends off. You'll want to dip your knife before each cut. Don't worry about the water, just kind of shake the blade off a little but you need the moisture to keep a clean cut. Now we rarely keep the end pieces because they aren't pretty and usually lack ingredients. The next slices you make are the ones you want to keep.

See the end pieces aren't full of ingredients so they want to just sort of smash down

Make thin cuts so its easy to eat in one bite (this one could have stand to be a little thinner) but not to thin that they want to fall apart. Your ingredients will fall out if you make them to thin.

Okay, so lets talk about the rolls that have the rice on the outside. Same principal, lay the nori down and put a layer of rice on it. This time you'll want to cover all the nori, leaving very little free edges. Very carefully pick up the nori with the rice on it and flip it over. Putting the rice on the bottom and the nori on top. Okay, now back to the basics of placing your ingredients on the roll (just on top of the nori this time) and then roll. I toasted sesame seeds in a pan and sprinkled them on the roll when I was done. And on one of them I put slices of smoked salmon on top. Be creative and have some fun with it. That's the best thing about making sushi at home is that you can make it your own, experiment.

Here's the roll with the rice on the outside. Sorry I forgot to take a picture with the nori flipped over, but I think you get the idea.

This is the roll I put smoked salmon on the top of it, just kind of draped over the slices.

So there you have it! I know it sounds like a lot to do but trust me, once you get the hang of it you'll love it and it's really something Jeff and I have fun doing. Of course there's fun in going out and having someone else prepare it for you, but this is fun for families and date nights or having friends over, get the family or friends in the kitchen and everyone make some sushi.

This was 4 cups of rice and it made about 7 rolls. Plenty to feed about 4 people for a meal. Or appetizers for a party.

I hope I did a good job of trying to give a "How To" but if something isn't clear, or if you aren't sure about something, maybe I missed something, or it just doesn't sound right, send me a message or leave me a comment and I'll do my best to clarify.
I hope some of you will feel inspired and give it a try. It's pretty healthy and like I said before, you don't have to eat the raw fish to have sushi. Use some crab meat or shrimp (anything like this should be cooked.....just fyi) and add a little cucumber and cream cheese. One of my favorites is to add a little piece of sliced jalapenos (deseeded of course for those that like it mild). Next time we make it I want to try to add a little piece of slightly cooked and blanched asparagus to one as well.

Next post I promise will be about Scotland again. :)