Making Homemade Sushi

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I absolutely love healthy food, and sushi is definitely my number one favorite. Dating back to the second century, sushi was originally used as a way to preserve the food.The fish was placed in rice, to ferment, which allowed people to keep the fish edible for a longer period of time. Later, the rice would be thrown away and the fish eaten. Clever or what?

Since then, sushi went through a lot of changes, and evolved from a very simple to a very elaborate meal, going from being served at food stalls to being served at some of the best restaurants around the world.

I believe every dish tastes even better when you make it at home, with a lot of love, so last year, I’ve decided to give it a first try. And it worked beautifully, so I want to share my first experience of making homemade sushi.

I know it might seem hard to make, for a beginner, but practice makes perfect, so you can try as many times as you want, until you’re happy with the results. Actually, I was surprised to see my rolls look pretty decent on the first try (beginner’s luck I guess).

What I love most about sushi is probably the preparation process. It teaches you patience in order to turn your food into a piece of art. Maybe this is why I like it this much 🙂 Besides, the longer you wait, the better it taste, so in the end, it’s worth it!

Maki rolls

Ingredients (for 4 rolls):

  • sushi mat
  • 1 cup sushi rice (short-grain rice)
  • rice vinegar
  • 4 nori sheets
  • cream cheese
  • 1 pack smoked salmon
  • 1 avocado, halved, stoned, peeled, sliced intro long strips
  • one carrot sliced into thin long strips
  • one egg for an omelette
  • soy sauce
  • wasabi paste
  • pickled ginger
  • sesame seeds


Preparation:

sushi_instructions1. Cook the rice with vinegar – after boiling it should have a sticky texture – then divide it into 4 equal portions.

2. Cut the salmon and omelette into 1 cm wide strips. Peel the avocado, half it, then cut it into long strips.

3. Put the sushi mat on a cutting board with the slats running horizontally. Place the first nori sheet, shiny-side down, on the mat.

4. Spread the first rice portion evenly, on the nori sheet, leaving a 2 cm wide border along the edge furthest away from you.

5. Place the salmon, egg and / or avocado strips on the rice, 1 cm away from the border closest to you. You can add wasabi, in case you want to make your rolls spicy, cream cheese, ginger.

image_16. Holding the filling in place, roll the mat over to enclose the rice and filling.

7. Repeat with the remaining ingredients for the other 3 nori rolls.

8. Use a sharp knife to slice the sushi rolls into 1.5 cm thick slices.

Excited to see the first rolls look edible, in spite of being told it’s not nice to do this at the table, I’ve decided to play with the food, and see what else I can achieve. Let’s just say the results were delicious 🙂

Inside Out Rolls

Next, I made an inside out roll, for which I turned the nori rice side down, facing the mat, and added the filling directly on the nori, closing it using the mat, and coating the rice roll with sesame seeds. You can see how they turned out like, after slicing the rolls, in the last picture of the post.

Sesame Seeds Maki Rolls 

I absolutely love the sesame seeds sushi, so I had to try making some of these, as well.

I usually leave these for last, as the mat gets dirty and sticky, so you can’t use it anymore for the nori rolls.

sseedssushiHere’s how you make them:

1. Place the sesame seeds on the mat, for the entire length of a roll, twice the size of a sushi roll, in width.

2. With your fingers, place the rice carefully on the sesame seeds, until you cover them completely.

3. Place the filling ingredients, in the middle of the roll.

4. Use the rolling mat and bring the two ends together.

5. Use a sharp knife to slice the sushi rolls into 1.5 cm thick slices.

Nigiri

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These are tricky, because you have to get your hands dirty 🙂 No other way to do them, but they are definitely worth it!

Here’s how I make them:

1. Take one spoon of rice, and shape it in your hand, until it looks like in this picture.

2. Use the egg, salmon strips and add them on top of the nigiri.

3. You can cut 1 cm long strips of nori, and wrap the middle nigiri with them, so it holds the filling into place. Remember to add water to the nori first, become cutting the strips, so it becomes soft, otherwise it will break.

4. Voila! 🙂

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I hope you enjoyed the tutorial and you will find the tips and tricks useful, for when you decide to make it at home. Bon appetit!

16 thoughts on “Making Homemade Sushi”

    • Thank you for reading, Sue! The history of sushi is quite fascinating. Going from a poor man’s food, to a very expensive dish, I’d say it did pretty good 🙂 I hope you’ll try it one day. it’s definitely fun, yummy and healthy. x

      Liked by 1 person

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  3. These are AMAZING! I am so impressed! I am ashamed to say that I have never tried Sushi as I have never liked the idea of raw fish. But I love smoked salmon and all the other ingredients. What you created looked so strikingly attractive and very professional. And you are so right when you say that you made it with love. When food is made in that way it looks and tastes better and is a feast for the soul as well.
    Lovely post!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓

    • Thank you so much dear Karen! Indeed, food always looks and taste better when you make it with love. I love to cook for my loved ones, but still, I was surprised they came out so good 🙂 I’m also not a fan of raw fish, and that’s why I used the smoked salmon. It’s better to be safe, than sorry. You should definitely try to make it one day. It’s so yummy 🙂 Have a beautiful Saturday! ❤ x

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  4. I love sushi as well, it’s such an healthy food. But I’m concerned about two aspects of commercial sushi : the over exploitation of the tuna and the fact that we don’t know the traceability of the fish they used. In New york, they made molecular analysis on different sushi from famous brands and restaurants, and in so many of them, they used protected and endangered species. So, doing them yourself like you is a good idea !!! At least you can chose what you want to eat 🙂

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    • Thank you so much for the information provided! I saw a documentary a while back about this happening in China. They were selling dolphin meat, saying it’s a specific type of fish. I remember people in the area being shocked when they realized what they have been eating … I also love the idea of cooking at home, pretty much everything, not only sushi, because of this reason. I know what I add and I know it’s fresh. Besides, I look to cook for the people I love, which makes it even better 🙂 Have a lovely weekend!! x

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      • In the supermarket, I was shocked to read not so long ago on a label “ingredients : meat”. Oh wow, that’s pretty specific ! 😀

        I cook a lot as well, but I’m not buying pre-made dishes. Sometimes, I enjoy going to restaurants, but I can’t really know what’s I’m eating 😦 On holiday… it’s my guilty pleasure. Thank you ! The weather is fantastic today, I’m going outside soon !! 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

      • Here is the same thing. Even worse, now they went so far as saying: ‘Made in EU’ or “Made for Romania”. The latter one scares me the most … I also enjoy going to restaurants, but only for special occasions, just as you said 🙂 Here we had another snowfall 😦 so…not such nice weather. I wish you a lovely time outside! Enjoy the fantastic weather! 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

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