Sushi

I have cravings for sushi over the weekend and decided to make them. I know I could pop into supermarket  to get those ready made sushi box, but I prefer the taste of home made sushi. Sushi bar or restaurants are gaining popularity into UK food scene, as more people are well aware of healthy  Japanese diet. Making sushi is not that difficult, all you need is a sushi mat (makisu). Nowadays you can get them from big supermarkets that stock up Japanese ingredients. You can make fish sushi, vegetable sushi or even meat based sushi. I find it difficult to source sushi grade raw fish like salmon where I live, so I opt for smoked salmon instead. 

Rice is the most important ingredient in sushi. You can get uncooked sushi rice from supermarkets or oriental shops. They are short grain rice grown in Japan. The first key knowledge is how to cook sushi rice. Let me share with you:

Cooked sushi rice

Sushi Rice

Ingredients (makes about 20 sushi)

• 250g sushi rice- wash and rinse until water is not cloudy. Then let it soak in water for about 30minutes
• 325 ml dashi stock
• 1 tbsp of rice vinegar
• 1 tsp of sugar
• 1 tsp of salt

1. In a small pot, lightly warm the vinegar, add sugar and salt. Stir to dissolve. Do not bring to boil.
2. Rinse off the rice and place in pot or rice cooker. Pour in the dashi stock and bring to boil and let it cook until the liquid is almost evaporated, turn off the heat and cover for 15minutes. Do not open the lid.
3. After 15minutes, pour the rice into large shallow bowl and pour the vinegary liquid onto the rice. Use one hand with spatula to mix bu doing cutting stroke, while the other hand will be pre occupied with a fan to cool down the rice as quickly as possible. Cool to room temperature is ideal.
4. The sushi rice should look shiny and every single grain rice is visible, not a mushy pile....
5. Once you've master cooking the rice, next step is to roll the sushi.

I will share with you on my next post on how to roll sushi.... stay tuned. Below are just some sushi roll I made on Sunday.

Crab stick+asparagus roll

Chicken cutlet + avocado roll

Smoked Salmon Roll (if only I have really fresh salmon, this will be nigri roll)