“Sushi” is a popular dish from Japanese Cuisine. It is made by wrapping the vinegared rice in Nori sheet with a filling made from either vegetable, tofu, fish, seafood or chicken and made into a roll. The roll is then cut into pieces along with soya sauce, wasabi or pickled ginger. Mostly sushi is made with seafood filling. It is a healthy dish with a balance of proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals. It is finger food and hence a great option to be packed for the healthy lunch boxes. Sushi is consumed cold and hence can be packed for the picnic or potluck. It is vegan and gluten free.
The main ingredient of Sushi is rice. It is a medium grain white rice known as Sushi rice. The sushi rice is cooked and is flavored with rice vinegar, sugar and salt in a proportion. Now a days we get ready made sushi seasoning in the departmental stores. The rice is then cooled at room temperature and is then used for making sushi. The other ingredient is Nori sheet which is made from edible seaweed (a species of red algae). It is good source of vitamins and minerals. Nori sheets are available in the departmental stores in packets. The cooled vinegared rice is placed on the nori sheet. A filling of seafood, chicken, tofu, or vegetable is placed on the rice lengthwise. Mostly seafood such as tuna, salmon, squid etc is used as a filling to make sushi. But now days chicken and vegan filling (tofu, cucumber, carrot, avocado) are used widely. A bamboo mat is used to make the sushi roll. The nori sheet, with rice and filling is placed on the bamboo mat. The mat is then lifted and tight roll is made.
Making sushi at home seems to be difficult particularly when you are new to all the ingredients used. But believe me once you start making sushi at home you will find it quiet simple and easy to make. Also making sushi at home is economical. Initially you might not be able to make a perfect tight roll but after making for couple of times you will start getting the perfection.
Now a days we get all the ingredients for making sushi in the departmental stores in the international aisle. Or you can also order online.
We at our home have started enjoying eating sushi. We have them at the Sushi inn. They also have a good vegetarian options. So now making sushi at home was on my list.
Few days ago when I went for my regular grocery shopping, I found the ingredients needed form making sushi were on discounted price. I thought this will be good time to invest in them and try making sushi at home. So I purchased the sushi mat, sushi rice, sushi seasoning and Nori sheets. Sushi seasoning has rice vinegar, salt and sugar. Hence it is quiet easy to use. Each packet had a detailed instruction of making sushi which were easy to follow. I also watched and learnt the technique of making sushi from couple of videos on internet. I have made them couple of times following all the instructions. They came out well.
Sushi rice
Sushi mat and nori sheet
So I am sharing with you all the step by step method of making sushi at home. I am vegetarian and have made vegetarian sushi using avocado. You can replace avocado with the preferred filling of your choice and make it.
Here are the steps of making sushi:
- Making vinegared rice :
- Use a good quality of sushi rice.
- There is no need to wash the rice. For one cup of rice use 1.5 cups of water.
- Add water and rice together in the pot and bring it to boil. Once water starts to boil, lower the heat, and cover and cook the rice for 20 minutes. Do not open the lid in between. The rice will be cooked in 20 minutes.
- Fluff the rice with a fork and remove it in a shallow broad dish. Add 3 tbsp of sushi seasoning or 2 tbsp of rice vinegar, 1 tbsp of sugar and salt as per taste to the rice and mix well.
- Let the rice cool completely at room temperature. (There is no loss of flavor or taste with the leftover rice).
- Chop the filling:
- Chop the filling lengthwise into strips.
- You can use tofu, cucumber, carrot or avocado to make vegetarian sushi. You can also use combination of filling such as tofu-cucumber, tofu-carrot, carrot-cucumber, etc.
- Assembling and rolling sushi:
- Place the bamboo mat on the kitchen counter.
- Cut the nori sheet into halves if you want to make mini bite size sushi. (Use the entire sheet if you want to make big bites).
- Place the shiny side of the nori sheet facing the mat.
- Make a solution by adding 1 tbsp of sushi seasoning or rice vinegar to 1 cup of water. Dip your fingers in the solution to prevent the rice from sticking your hands while making sushi rolls.
- Take a fistful of rice and spread it evenly on the nori sheets with your fingers keeping about 2 cm at the far end of the sheet free from rice.
- You can dab a small amount of wasabi along the rice in a straight line. Then place the fillings for your roll on the top of wasabi. I have not used wasabi and placed avocado strips directly on the rice.
- Lift the front of the bamboo mat closest to you and begin to roll the sheet tightly. You have to lift the bamboo mat and reach the end of the sheet covered with the rice. The 2 cm gap remains exposed. You can wet exposed sheet the water. Apply a little pressure to tight the roll.
- Remove the bamboo mat and join the exposed end of the nori by rolling the roll gently. Cover with the bamboo mat and apply gentle pressure to tighten the roll.
- The sushi roll is ready. It can be eaten whole or sliced with a sharp knife dipped in the prepared water vinegar solution.
You can make 6 small rolls with this amount of rice and using 3 nori sheets.
To make sushi for your lunch boxes in morning, prepare the vinegared rice on the previous nice. You can also chop the fillings in the night. Avocado blackens as soon as it is cut and hence I cut it fresh while using it. Now in the morning, just assemble ingredients and roll the sushi. Cut into pieces and pack them for the healthy lunch boxes.
So friends I hope like the recipe of making sushi and please do try and share your feed back with me.
Avocado Sushi
Equipment
- Pan with lid
- sushi mat
- spoon
- a shallow dish
- a bowl
Ingredients
- 1 cup sushi rice
- 1.5 cup water
- 3 tbsp sushi seasoning (Rice wine vinegar, sugar and salt)
- 1 avocado skin removed, and cut into strips
- 3 Nori sheet Cut into halves
Instructions
- Take sushi rice. It is a short grained rice.
- Put rice and water in a pot on high heat.
- Let the water boil.
- Once the water starts to boil, lower the heat, stir the rice, cover the pot with lid and cook the rice for 20 minutes on low heat. Do not open the lid in between.
- After 20 minutes, the water will be absorbed and rice is cooked. Fluff the rice with a fork.
- Remove the rice in a wide dish. Add 3 tbsp of sushi seasoning to it and mix well. (I have used store brought obento brand Sushi seasoning. It is a mix of rice vinegar, salt and sugar).
- The vinegared rice is ready. Keep aside the rice to cool. (The rice should be cooled before making sushi).
- Now take the nori sheet and cut into half.
- This is the shiny glazed side of nori sheet.
- Place the nori sheet with the glaze side facing down on one edge of the bamboo mat as shown. (this mat is specially made to roll sushi).
- Take one cup of water and put 1 tbsp of sushi seasoning in it. Dip your palms in it. This will help to prevent rice from sticking in the hands.
- Now put a fistful of rice on the cut nori sheet. Spread it evenly on the sheet. Leave around 2 cm space on the top of the nori sheet as shown. Place the choice of your topping on it as shown. I have used Avocado strips. (You can use lenghtwise cut cucumber, tofu, carrot).
- Now lift the end of the mat closest to you and begin to roll the sheet tightly. It should come at the end of the other end of the nori sheet leaving the 2 cm gap as shown. Press the roll the tightly so that the edge of the nori sheet is tight.
- Open the mat roll the remaining roll. And roll and join the other end of the nori sheet. (You can also brush the other end of the nori sheet with water to help it sticking better to the roll).Now again with the help of the mat press the roll tightly so that it is nicely stuck and becomes a tight roll.
- Now cut the uneven end of the roll and cut into half with a sharp knife dipped in the water sushi seasoning solution. This helps to prevent knife sticking to the the sushi while cutting into pieces.
- Cut each halves into 3-4 small pieces.
- Arrange the cut sushi pieces into a plate.
- Serve the avocado sushi with the sushi dipping sauce.
Superb and nicely explained!!