Marsha's Homemade Sushi

A few notes that might make you feel better about sushi, should you be nervous... along with a video tutorial link: First, for anyone not aware, just because it's called sushi, doesn't automatically mean that it has RAW fish in it. There are several kinds of sushi that don't even contain any fish at all (such as vegetarian options). That is something that I learned. 

While probably not 100% technically accurate, in my mind at least, if it has raw fish in it, it's called sashimi and usually located on a different part of the menu from your other traditional sushi rolls. 

My favorite rolls are the "crunchy" rolls where the outer layer of rice has been fried.

Since trying more sushi in recent years, I now think of sushi as basically a rice log/roll that has veggies, sometimes cream cheese, and often some kind of prepared fish inside. That being said, when you make it at home, you can put anything in it that you like. If you wanted to roll up pepperoni and mozzarella cheese in your rice log, dip it in pizza sauce and call it pizza sushi, you totally can.

A few years ago, a good friend of mine introduced me to sushi when we went out for her birthday and she selected some "safe" rolls for me to try with her. Yes, I was nervous, especially because I am not much of a fish person and sea weed sounds sketchy, but everything I tried was actually really, really good and you don't even notice the sea weed. Think of it, not as a weed, but as the "lettuce of the sea" because it's just a plant. It's super thin, barely noticeable, and does not have any kind of strong flavor that I can detect when eaten with all the other ingredients and sauces. I really feel like it's just there to help hold the entire thing together and not for flavor or texture.

After having a good experience, I was soon taking Scott out for sushi, then my Aunt, then my kids, etc. etc. etc. until I had the crazy thought, "I think I can make this at home." And I did! 

There is a little bit of a learning curve to making the perfectly proportioned and shaped rolls, but with the right ingredients, it's really not that hard. You just need good rice, a rolling mat, and a little patience.

Here is a video link to get you going...

https://www.tiktok.com/@nutrientmatters/video/7099170349438258438?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7343662037220722218

Here is another video for inspiration: 

https://www.tiktok.com/@chefchrischo/video/7102151797099334958?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7343662037220722218

Marsha's Homemade Sushi

Makes 5 rolls

You will need a sushi rolling mat (bamboo or plastic) for assembling and shaping your rolls.

Ingredients:

Seasoned Rice:

• 2 cups sushi rice
• 2 to 2 1/2 cups water
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup rice vinegar
• 2 Tbl sugar

Sushi Filling: top/fill with your choice of anything, but I used...

• 2 1/2 sea weed sheets (to make five rolls total)
• black sesame seeds, optional
• cucumber, avocado, cream cheese, thinly sliced
• carrot peelings/ribbons
• prepared fish of your choice, cold (we used prepared imitation crab)
• drizzle rolls with yum-yum sauce and unagi/eel sauce
• serve with a side of soy sauce/teriyaki sauce

Directions:

For the rice:

1. It is important to use sushi rice (we found ours at Ocean Mart, but you can probably also order some online if you can't find it at your local markets). Measure out your rice into a mesh strainer and rinse with water until the water runs clean. I will catch the water in a bowl under the strainer, continually dumping as it gets full, until I can see that it is running through the rice clear. This can take a couple of minutes.
2. Once your rice is clean, add your washed rice, water and pinch of salt into a pot with a lid. Bring everything to a boil. Once boiling, turn the heat down to a gentle simmer, cover the pot, and let the rice sit cooking and simmering in the pot UNTOUCHED for 20 minutes, or until all the water is absorbed and the rice is tender (stirring the rice will make it mushy and gooey).
3. Once cooked, remove the pot from the heat and let sit for at least 10 minutes, or store until completely cooled and ready to handle.
4. When ready to make your sushi, gently toss the rice with your rice vinegar and sugar.

To prepare the sushi rolls:

1. On your sushi mat, cover with a pieces of plastic wrap. (I find that it is easiest to lay out five pieces of plastic wrap and start preparing all five rolls at the same time so I can distribute my rice more evenly between the rolls.)
2. Take half of a sheet of sea weed and place it on the plastic wrap rough-side up. You can cut your sea weed sheets with kitchen sheers/scissors.
3. Place 1/5th of your rice on top of the sea weed and spread out evenly. If your sushi rice is REALLY sticky, you made need to oil your hands with some cooking oil. You can also wear a food-prep disposable glove, which you can also oil if  needed.
4. Sprinkle the rice evenly with black sesame seeds, if desired. Purely decorative.
5. Flip over your rice/sea weed and use the opposite side to layer your filling, being careful not to overstuff your rolls. Most of my filling was cut into long, skinny sticks, and when the finished roll was sliced, you would see one little piece of each ingredient. I used cucumber, avocado, cream cheese, carrot ribbons and finished it off by breaking up little pieces of imitation crab. You can also put a little of any desired sauces in the middle of your roll (such as yum-yum sauce, or bang-bang sauce if you like things spicy).
6. Using your sushi mat, begin rolling up the rice around the filling, tucking your filling in tightly so the rice can wrap all the way around your roll. If your roll is overstuffed, you won't be able to get the rice to make a complete circle around the outside. Be careful to not roll up your plastic wrap inside your sushi roll.
7. You can use the sushi mat to perfect the shape of your roll. Then, using a large sharp WET knife, slice your roll through the plastic wrap into 8 equal pieces. Remove the plastic wrap from each slice.
8. Plate your slices and then drizzle the entire thing with your desired sauces. Serve with dipping sauces such as soy sauce or teriyaki, if desired.

Marsha's Notes:

I started cutting my rolls into 8 equal pieces, but sometimes that makes for really wide/big bites, so in the future I might cut my rolls into thinner pieces to make it easier to eat. Usually, it is better/easier to eat sushi if you can just put the entire bite into your mouth all at once.

I made my carrot ribbons by taking a full-sized carrot, using a vegetable peeler to remove the undesired outer layer of the carrot, and then I kept using the peeler to remove thin ribbons of carrot to use for the sushi. You could also just cut your carrot into really small, thin sticks for the sushi, if you don't mind it's hard, crispy texture in your rolls. I prefer the softer, easier to bite ribbons.

We have used both cooked shrimp and cooked imitation crab, and I find the crab is much easier to work with and everyone didn't notice much difference in flavor, so I might just use crab in the future. You can also just make veggie rolls.

We bought Sukina sushi rice. You can find it on Amazon, but is probably cheaper if you can find it in the store. Here is an Amazon link: Click here

We also drizzled our rolls with yum-yum and unagi sauce (otherwise known as eel sauce, because it is typically served along side eel, not because it has eel in it). Our local grocery store carries yum-yum sauce all the time, but I had to get the unagi from Amazon. Click here

Here is my prep process:

These are the sea weed wraps I use. It is also called nori.

I have five pieces of plastic wrap spread out on the counter with my sea weed wraps placed on top so I can prep all five rolls at once.

Next, I portion out all of my rice into five portions and place it on top of the sea weed and then spread it out until it covers it evenly and nicely (I wear disposable food prep gloves for this).

Here is how I make my carrot ribbons.

Turn the rice-covered sea weed over so it's sea weed-side up... to do this, I take a second (new) piece of plastic wrap and place it on top of the rice, press everything down to make sure the rice is sticking to the wrap, and then flip everything over. The picture shows everything once flipped. I remove the plastic wrap that WAS on the bottom side of the sea weed and use it to help flip the next rice/sea weed wrap over until all five are flipped.

With the sea weed side now facing up, I start to add my toppings. Here I have added carrots and cucumber.

Now I have added cream cheese and avocado.

This time I used precooked shrimp. This is the shrimp I used. I sliced it very thinly to add it to our sushi rolls.

Shrimp added and rolls are complete.

Take two edges of the plastic wrap and bring them up together.

Start pushing your toppings down and into the inside of the roll, squeezing and trying to get the outer rice to start touching and surrounding the entire roll. (This is where you will discover if you overstuffed your rolls because the rice won't be able to surround the filling easily enough.) It's okay if you overfill... it just won't be a perfect presentation in the end and your rolls might fall apart a little bit easier when cut and plated... but it will still be delicious.

Once you get the roll basically closed up (make sure your plastic wrap is only on the outside of the roll and the edge didn't accidently get incorporated into the inside of the roll), use your sushi/bamboo mat to more firmly press and shape the roll.

As you can see, I like to twist the ends of my plastic wrap until it makes a tight seal on the ends of the roll to help me shape and form the ends uniformly.

Then take a clean, wet knife and slice your rolls into the desired amount/size of pieces. I like to clean off my knife with a damp rag every two or three cuts.

Look how nicely the rice encircles some of these pieces! I was super proud of this roll. But even the ones that were less "pretty" were still tasty!

Done!