I Love Sushi - Take Two!

Making sushi can be pretty easy if you throw together seaweed, some rice that is semi-sticky, add some fish, some veggies, and viola – sushi. Eat it in the first 5 minutes and no one will even see it fall apart. If you want to make good sushi, it will take time and attention.

The most important piece to making good rolls = the R-I-C-E. It has to be juuuuust warm enough from the steamer but not toooooo hot, and soaked eeeeeextra long and the rice vinegar should be in an exact proportion to create a pH level of 4.6 or lower (v. simple – 4 parts rice, 1 part vinegar should roughly = 4.6 or lower). Not only does this pH level stop any bacteria from forming, but it completes the taste of the roll. We learned that many of the bits and pieces of sushi eating all play minor roles in killing bacteria! This should be something we can all accept without gagging or thoughts of disgust because this is raw fish and there should be implicit steps to assist people in eating this in a healthy manner. The wasabi added for that extra spicy kick, yup, that too.

Back to the rice. Before steaming the rice, let it soak in water for 30 minutes. Then use a rice cooker to steam the rice. Me, being all anti-kitchen-gadgetry and frugal, asked our chef if I could make it without a rice cooker. He said yes, but strongly encouraged a rice cooker. Only because if you burn it, there goes an hour of your time and all that wasted rice. He also mentioned cooking on a stove top usually cooks the rice unevenly (the middle being the best part, the rest not as good). Taking this into consideration, a rice cooker will soon be a part of our happy home.

The last tip I can remember is in prepping vegetables. Dry them off and wring out excess water before adding them to your roll set up. Too much water will make the rice lose its stickiness and also make the fish + veggies + rice a little too mushy. When you’ve finally wrung out your veggies, cooked and vinegar-d your rice, and picked out the freshest, sushi grade fish – it’s time to roll.

This was news to me – do not use a WHOLE sheet of Nori (seaweed), use half. On learning this, I remembered all those times my rolls fell apart and realized I’d been making them JUMBO! Using half means getting the interior ingredient ratio just right in order to roll it well. I am still working on perfecting this ratio after trying many times, so don’t feel discouraged if the first time doesn’t work out. A tip in the set-up process is to make a little indentation in the middle of the rice where the ingredients will go. This adds a little more room and holds them in the center better. Once you’ve got your roll all…rolled up use a clean, sharp knife to cut the roll into six pieces. The sharper and cleaner the knife, the easier cut and prettier roll you will get.

My beau and I have a favorite new sushi we took away from our course – the hand roll. Our sushi chef said this is what family would eat together, but not usually one served for parties - it is not pretty, or complicated, so no one would be impressed! But boy is it tasty! A hand roll is simply this – holding the nori on your palm, you put a dab of rice in the lower left corner of the seaweed, sort of spread in a triangular shape. On the opposite right upper corner, you put a little dot of rice, which will later seal your hand roll. Next, you pick about two ingredients, and add them to the top of the rice. This is the tricky part, but since this is a family roll, perfect appearance doesn’t matter – to roll it up, with your free hand take the upper left hand corner and fold it down to the bottom edge, creating another triangular section. Then roll this like your rolling a poster up, to create an ice cream cone shape. This is the simple, but tasty hand roll. We like it for the extra crunch!