Sushi

 

serves a party or about 3-4 for dinner

Ingredients:

For the rice:

• 2 cups sushi rice (or any shortgrain rice)
• 3 cups water
• 1/3 cup rice vinegar
• 3 Tablespoons sugar
• 1,5 teaspoon salt

For the sushi:

• Bamboo mat to roll the sushi
• A glass of water
• Nori (seaweed) sheets
• Whatever ingredients you like. We used:
  cucumber, avocado, creamcheese, smoked salmon, Japanese omelette and surimi

Preparation:

Wash the rice until the water is clear. This is to get the starch off and is very important for the preparations for sushi. Let it rinse until the rice is completely dry.
Put the rice in a pot, along with the water and bring to the boil. Immediately turn the heat low and place the lid on the pot. Boil until the water is dissolved, even though it is adviced against, sometimes I take a stir so the rice doesn't stick to the bottom.

When it is done, let the rice cool a bit.

Add the rest of the rice ingredients in a cup/mug and stir to blend.
Warm the vinegarmix in the microwave for about 30 - 45 seconds and stir to see if the sugar has dissolved. If it isn't repeat the progress until it is. If you don't own a microwave, you can also do this step with a pot and a stove.

Add the vinegar mix to the rice and immediately stir to cover everything. In my personal experience it works best with a rice paddle, but a spoon works too.

This guide is mainly for maki style sushi, but I've given a few tips below for other styles. 
Now get your bamboo mat and place a nori sheet on top. Cover with rice, leaving a bit space open to close the nori after rolling. On top of the rice, add your topping, in the middle.
Now fold the nori over the middle, and keep rolling towards the end. Now put the tip of your finger in the glass of water and wet the edge of the nori sheet, then roll over with the sushi to close the roll.
Now this takes a lot of practice to get it perfect. Personally I didn't care for perfection, as you can see in the photo, but there are many videos online that shows how to roll different types of sushi.

Now, use a sharp knife and dip it whole in the glass of water. Cut the sushi in parts, keep in mind the first and the last piece usually doesn't look nice.

Tips:

• Use a sheet of plastic kitchen wrap so the bamboo mat doesn't get dirty, or use a silicon mat.
   
• If you want to make a california (style) roll. simply turn around the seaweed/rice combination on your bamboo mat.
  
  
• If you want to make nigiri type of sushi, wet your hands, but not too much, and take some rice with your hands. Form this into a rounded rectangle. Now take your topping and add a bit of wasabi paste to the bottom so it sticks to the rice. I didn't have wasabi, so I used creamcheese, works as good, but doesn't have that distinguished taste wasabi has.
  
  
• Look online for more tips and inspiration!

Fill a plate with your sushi and serve.

Enjoy!

Mike & Leda