Homemade sushi can be a reality

Like cotton candy or roasted whole pig, sushi is one of those foods that people rarely consider making at home. It appears to be very complicated, time consuming, and requiring special skills to pull off properly. In fact, the most difficult thing about making sushi is the rice. The rest just kind of follows.

Sushi is a 2 stage process: first the rice, then the roll. The rice should be made at least 2 hours in advance. It can be made the day before, if you like. Sushi rice is essentially just cooked rice with a vinegar, sugar, and salt mixture sprinkled over it. The following ratios come from Alton Brown. Thanks Alton! Other sushi recipes call for slightly different amounts of vinegar, sugar, and salt.  

Sushi Rice: 

1.5 cups of a short or meduim grained rice. We used Nishiki brand purchased from a nearby Asian grocery
An appropriate amount of water for your rice. We used 2 c. Alton says to use equal parts water and rice.
Cook rice however you're used to. We just did it in a saucepan on low heat. Lots of people swear by rice steamers. I'm sure they're great, but you certianly don't need one to make good rice.
Spread rice out on a cookie sheet or similar.

2 tbsp wine vinegar 2 tbsp sugar 1 tbsp salt combine ingredients and heat for ~30 seconds in microwave. Mix some more. If the sugar and salt don't completely dissolve, continue to heat and mix until they do.
While rice is hot, sprinkle mixture on top. Then fold rice together, trying to evenly distribute the vinegar et. al. while not mashing up the grains of rice.
Let sit until cool. No need to refrigerate, but it can be transferred to a bowl and have a damp towel put over top to prevent drying.

Now that the rice is done, the hard part is over. Well, the hard part for me, because I make Carolyn do the rolling of the sushi. There are plenty of guides for rolling up your own sushi, so I'm only going to touch on the
necessities briefly. Others have done it before me better than I could, so why reinvent the wheel, as they say.

Things you'll need: rice (see above), nori (that's seaweed sheets), bamboo mat, and ingredients of your choosing. This guy does a great job of showing you how to roll sushi. Things I like about this video: 1) He rolls the sushi "inside out". Fun fact: this was originally done for California rolls because the makers thought Americans wouldn't like the taste of seaweed. We do it this way because nori from the store is tasteless and chewy. 2) related to #1, he uses half sheets of nori. Since you're rolling it inside out, you don't need nearly as much nori. 3) he gave a neat tip about keeping rice from sticking to your hands. If you don't have gloves or Hellman's, do like we do and keep your hands wet. Keep a dish of water nearby to re-moisten frequently. 4) We also cover our mat with plastic wrap. It's not strictly necessary, but it helps. One thing he does not do that is very helpful: clean your knife with a wet towel between each cut. Unless your knife is sharp in an expensive sort of way, sushi is very difficult to cut cleanly.

So you have your rice and you know how to roll sushi. All you need now is ingredients. Contrary to popular belief, sushi does not mean "raw fish" nor does it need any. Anything will do, but it is common to stick with at least 1 ingredient that has a creamy, fatty texture. Fun Fact #2: Avocado is used in California rolls because it most closely resembled the texture of high end tuna, which isn't readily available in the U.S. I can hear you asking, "Ben and Carolyn, what sorts of stuff did you put in your sushi?" First, thank you for asking. The first time we made sushi, basically stuck to the California roll, with a few avocado-only rolls for good measure. This time, we got more creative.

Carolyn's pick of the night: blackened sweet potato roll. Before all this business, I peeled a sweet potato, popped it in the microwave for a few minutes, cut it into thick french-fry shapes, and fried it in butter. I blackened it a little to give it a bit of crispiness and a burnt edge to the flavor. Turns out, this is fantastic all by itself in a sushi roll.

My pick: hard-boiled egg, avocado, and sweet potato roll. When Carolyn suggested hard-boiled egg in the sushi, I must admit I was wary. But this beat out even the plain avocado roll we made, which I happen to love. It turns out the the egg has just the right consistency to work in sushi. Frankly, I'm surprised you can't get it at restaurants. In this picture, from left to right are sweet potato, probably sweet-potato-avocado-egg, and finally plain avocado:

I know this is starting to run long, but there is one more vital element to homemade sushi: soy sauce and wasabi. For those of you who don't know. Sushi is typically eaten by first dipping it into a soy sauce and wasabi mixture, then placing the whole thing directly in your mouth. The great joy of eating sushi is the flavors of the soy, rice, and wasabi hitting your tongue all at once. When you order sushi at a restaurant, you'll get a little bit of wasabi paste on your plate, and a little dish for your soy sauce. You pour some soy into the dish, then add a bit of wasabi and mix it in until it's dissolved. Wasabi gives the sauce a kick, so they let you do the mixing to your own tastes. At home, it's no different, except that you'll probably have to settle for bottled wasabi paste, and elitists will snub you for it. Here's a picture of me poised to enjoy delicious sushi dipped in soy sauce and wasabi:

Whew, another post finished. I hope this will inspire some of you to give home made sushi a shot.