Something I will say right from the top. I’m not a sushi expert. Sure, I’ve gone to all-you-can-eat sushi hundreds of times and sure I’ve eaten the weight of a small whale in sushi, but I’m not an expert. What I am an expert in, is knowing what I like and dislike and I really really like sushi. On one of our early anniversaries, Brad drove us around downtown Hamilton looking for sushi mats, chopsticks and perfect sushi ingredients. WHO KNEW sushi was so easy to make at home?! We did not at the time, but we learned quickly and now we make sushi at home all the time. I’ll reiterate what I said earlier, I’m not an expert in how to make sushi, but I did a little research and this is how I prepare mine. TIME. FOR. SUSHI.
Ingredients
MUST HAVES
Sticky Rice or Sushi Rice (you cannot use any other type of rice for this)
Sugar
Rice Wine Vinegar
Nori Sheets (Seaweed)
Soy Sauce
Spicy Mayo (Sriracha mixed with Mayo can do the trick)
Wasabi
Sesame Seeds
*Note: per 2 cups of uncooked rice, I’ll do ¼ cup rice wine vinegar and 2 tbsp. Sugar. Adjust according to the amount of rice you cook*
TOPPINGS (These are my favourite ingredients, but you can add whatever you want)
Sushi Grade Salmon or Tuna
Smoked Salmon
Cucumber
Green Onion
Imitation Crab
Shrimp
Panko
Carrots
Cream Cheese
Spicy Mayo
Avocado
Directions
You have to start with the base of all sushi and it takes a little bit of preparation as your rice should be fully cool before rolling your sushi. What i’m going to take you through here is method alone. Cooking time and water amounts will be specific to the rice you bought. ALWAYS FOLLOW PACKAGE INSTRUCTIONS! This is the best method to cook rice though. I have never once in my life burned a pot of rice when I followed these steps.
Add your rice and water to a pot and bring them to a boil together. *Note: do not make up these ratios. Follow the package instructions* Once it’s boiled, turn the heat down to your lowest setting, put the lid on and let it simmer on low for however long the package instructions say. *Note: Same with the boiling time. Follow package instructions. I cannot stress this enough*. Once your timer goes off and your rice is done, turn off the heat and let it sit for 5 minutes. DO NOT REMOVE THE LID. THIS IS KEY.
During this last 5 minutes, in a pan, combine your rice wine vinegar and sugar and bring to a boil. This is what gives your rice flavour and helps with keeping it sticky. Once your 5 minutes of rice sitting time are up, add your rice wine vinegar/ sugar mixture to it and mix it all up. Set aside and let it cool completely.
While that’s cooling, get the rest of your ingredients ready. Cut everything into long thin strips so it’s easy to load them into your sushi roll. This shouldn’t really require too much instruction, just have a look at my presentation photo to see how I chopped everything!
For panko shrimp, remove all the shells and cut slits width-wise on the inside of the curl. This should help flatten them out. Dip the in egg, panko and then fry until the panko crust is a nice golden brown.
Now it’s the fun part. You’ll need a bamboo sushi rolling mat for this. They’re super cheap and you can get one on amazon. I always wrap mine in saran wrap so nothing sticks to it and I don’t have to wash it.
Place a piece of nori on your rolling mat. Grab a tennis ball sized amount of rice, and gently add it to your nori, spreading it out from edge to edge. I find having a water bowl to dip my fingers in is very helpful in getting the rice to not stick to your hands.
Once you have your rice in a nice thin layer, it’s time to add your toppings! At the end closest to you, along the bottom edge, add whatever toppings you would like to add. When you’re ready, begin to roll your mat upwards, making sure it forms a nice tube. You know what sushi looks like, you should get how to do this. But in the event you don’t have a look at the video below and it should help you out!
Once you roll it all the way up, cut the sushi into 8 equal pieces. I do this by cutting the large piece in half, then cut those halves in half, then those halves in half and the pieces end up the same size every time.
Fill a small dish with soy sauce and wasabi and enjoy! It may seem daunting to do so much prep, but homemade sushi is sooo rewarding and so good!
Something fun you can do if you're run out of nori sheets but have left over rice and toppings is make a poke bowl!
Add your extra rice to a bowl, dice up whatever leftover toppings you have and mix with a splash of soy sauce, rice wine vinegar and some spicy mayo!
For added fun, I like to thinly mandolin onions, coat them in a little flour and fry them until crisp!
Top your bowl with crispy onions, pickled jalapeno and sesame seeds! DELISH!
Comments