Make Your Own Sushi

Sushi was the special delicacy served at my grandparents' open house on New Year's Day. My mother learned how to make sushi from my grandmother, her mother-in-law. Mother wasn't Japanese, and Obasaan wasn't born in Japan. What follows is a fourth generation half-Japanese account of how to make homemade sushi. Even at the family reunions the elderly (American born) aunties felt I was a bit improper in my sushi rolling, but it still tastes fine.

Assemble Sushi Ingredients

Sushi Nori -- Be sure you get toasted nori. It's a bit greener than untoasted nori, which looks almost black. Usually the brands that say "sushi nori" are already toasted and even scored.
Seasoned Rice -- Use a short grain white rice. I love brown rice, but not for sushi. Season with vinegar and sugar.
Seasoned Shitake Mushrooms -- Rehydrate by boiling in water seasoned with soy sauce and sugar. Rinse and cut into strips.
Seasoned omelet strips -- 2 eggs, 2 teaspoons sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 2 teaspoons wheat flour. Make that into an omelet by swirling on the bottom of a thick bottomed frying pan, then cut into strips.
Steamed spinach -- Clean the spinach, trim off stems, steam the leaves for a few minutes.
Kampyo strips, if available -- Japanese dried gourd strips. Rehydrate by boiling in water seasoned with , you guessed it, soy sauce and sugar. Rinse.
Pickled ginger-- There is Beni Shoga which is not sweet, and I forget the name of the sweeter one. I like the Beni Shoga inside and the sweeter one as a condiment outside.

Set up your sushi rolling work space

Keep a dry rolling area so that the nori stays crisp. I know, I'm totally sacriligeous not using one of those bamboo sushi rolling mats. Guess what? We just never had one around the house, so I learned to roll without one and have never mastered the art of rolling sushi with a bamboo rolling mat! Therefore, I don't bother, but it's your sushi, so if you want to roll on a bamboo rolling mat, go ahead.

Keep a tall glass of water around to rinse off the cutting knife. Make sure you have a very sharp knife, or you will end up mutilating your sushi rolls into mangled masses.

Spread seasoned rice on the nori sheet. Not too heavily, or you will end up with big huge FAT rolls with a tiny center of flavorful goodies. The general practice is to put the rougher surface up, smoother surface on the bottom. That way you have the smoother, shinier surface on the outside when done rolling a miki roll.

Along the bottom edge of the nori sheet, place a row of your ingredients.

Begin to roll from the edge near you towards the far edge of the nori. Press with your hand so that the roll is compacted as you roll.

Using your sharp knife, cut the sushi into slices. My ends are never uniform, so I cut them off first and take the cook's tithe. Or give the cook's best buddies first tastes of the sushi feast.

Serve with a good soy sauce or tamari, and some wasabi (Japanese horseradish), and more pickled ginger.

You can make about 10 - 12 rolls from 5 cups of uncooked rice. It all ends up a lot cheaper, and tastes just as good as the expensive sushi bar down the road.

Recommended Products

I don't really recall how to manage without a rice cooker any longer. One of my Japanese Aunties bought me one for a wedding present. At first I couldn't get my brown rice to cook in it and thought that it would sit only being used for sushi making. I kept experimenting and got the brown rice to cook just as perfectly -- it just takes more water. In any case, I highly recommend a rice cooker for any kitchen. They come with five hour warming features, so you can set it up and leave it until you're ready for rice. Check out this article on how to choose a rice cooker for more information and links to buying online.

If you're feeling like you've got a huge task in front of you trying to assemble the ingredients for your maki sushi, maybe it would just be easier to buy a sushi ingredient set like this one:

at AsianFoodGrocer.com

It contains California Rose rice, 5 lbs., Sushi and Salad Vinegar, 12 oz., Sushi Ginger, 6.0 oz., Wasabi past in a tube, at thick bamboo sushi mat (sorry I didn't teach you how to use it), and a pack of Temaki Yaki Nori (roasted seawead sheets). This is a very good starter package, and priced at only $11.52 plus shipping, you already see the savings as compared to going out to a sushi bar.

I happen to prefer a natural wasabi myself. This is the powerful green Japanese horseradish that really accents the sweet sushi to perfection. You can buy a tin of the natural wasabi powder online for only $4.69 + shipping at EthnicGrocer.com:

Natural Wasabi

In fact, EthinicGrocer.com carries all of the ingredients for Maki sushi, so you could order them there instead of a kit. After your first time, this may be preferable, since you'll find that you may run out of things like nori and ginger a lot faster than wasabi.

Next, serve up your sushi in style:

Snow River Wood Sushi Board

And if you're a real sushi fan, perhaps some sushi candy. Yup, candy from Japan shaped and colored to look like sushi:

Sushi Candy
Perhaps serve it for dessert!

From the same WonderfulWhacky.com, you can add to your kitchen decor with wind up sushi toys. Yes, wind them up and watch them shimmy around the kitchen. Just don't let the cat try to eat them:

Wind up Sushi Toys