Supplies
Tools
- Heavy bottomed saucepan with lid
- Hob
- Flat paddle spoon
- Flat tray
Materials
The following ingredients you will find in a Japanese/Asian food shop, or your local supermarket.
- Normal Japanese/Japanese sushi rice [4 cups (1 cup ~ 180ml) will make enough to satisfy 6 people]
- Sushi rice seasoning (ready-made in liquid or powder form) or heat a mixture of 1/3 cup of rice wine vinegar, 3 tbsp sugar and 1tsp salt in a saucepan until the sugar dissolves, and then cool it.
- Soy sauce
Directions
Prepare the sushi rice
You don't need a special rice cooker to make this delicious sushi, a heavy bottomed saucepan will do just fine. Often the rice packet will display instructions, but this is the foolproof method:
- Measure out the rice.
- In the saucepan, wash the rice 4 or 5 times in cold water, using your hands. Drain away the milky coloured water after each washing.
- Leave it to soak in fresh water for 30 minutes.
- Drain, then add one cup of water to the pan for every cup of rice you have used.
- Cover it with the lid, put on a medium heat and bring to the boil. As soon as the rice is boiling, lower the heat and let the rice simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.
- Once the water has disappeared, take it off the heat, and leave it to stand for 15 minutes still covered.
- Spoon out the rice with a flat paddle into a large flat dish for the rice to cool. Fan the rice to speed up the cooling process.
- Sprinkle the cooling rice with the sushi rice seasoning and mix in, fluffing up the rice. Once it's cooled to room temperature it's ready to be made into sushi.
Make the sushi
Learn how to make three of the most popular types of sushi in Japan:
- Nigiri sushi - small rice balls covered with a topping e.g. smoked salmon
- Hosomaki sushi - thin rolls of rice wrapped in seaweed, with one or two fillings e.g. cucmber
- Uramaki sushi - thick rolls of rice covered in sesame seeds, with seaweed on the inside surrounding various fillings e.g. crab, avocado and mayo
Present the sushi
- Arrange the sushi on nice plates, and have separate small plates for the soy sauce.
- The best (and also Japanese) way to eat is with your hands. With nigiri sushi, only the topping should be dipped into the soy sauce, with a thumb holding it down, and not the rice, which can fall apart.