I was an extremely picky eater until I was about 25. At some point in my twenties, I decided to try things with an open mind. A new sushi restaurant had opened in my city and I decided to try it with some friends. The sushi was delicious and I craved it for days. I still think that restaurant is some of the best sushi I have ever had. I describe eating sushi like having a party in my mouth. It’s filled with different flavors, textures, temperatures, and spices. I love it.
The restaurant was a little expensive and my wallet couldn’t afford to go there every time I craved it. So one day a friend and I picked up a sushi kit from Walmart and attempted to make our own. I failed over and over again but kept trying until now it comes easily for me. I wanted to write a post on how I make it and things I have learned along the way.
Step 1 - Rice
In America I bought sushi rice from Kroger. In my current city, there are no sushi rice options. I use plain white (Osmancık) rice. I inherited a rice cooker from an expatriate who had lived in my city previously and I was ever so grateful. I ruined my rice so frequently in the States that I switched to the rice cooker there. All I do is add the water and rice, turn the cooker on, and wait. It’s fail proof for me.
Typically, 1 cup of uncooked rice will make 4-5 rolls of sushi. For 1 cup of uncooked sushi rice, I added 1-1/4 cup water. Using 1 cup of plain rice here, I usually add 1-1/2 cups of water. It makes the rice moister and stickier.
After the rice is finished I add some rice vinegar (when I actually remember!) to the rice which gives the rice and thus the sushi an extra flavor. (I think some white vinegar and sugar can be combined to give a similar taste but I don’t have an exact measurement.) I just douse the rice but don’t have a measurement for how much to add. I would estimate I use about an 1/8 cup for a cup of uncooked rice. I then take it out of the cooker to cool. The rice needs to be as close to room temperature as possible. To get it to cool down faster, I divide it between 2-3 dinner plates so it can cool. Sometimes I will put 1 plate in the freezer, 1 in the fridge to let it cool. If the room is cool enough I may leave one out on the counter.
Step 2 - Choosing/Preparing Ingredients
While the rice is cooking/cooling, I begin to prepare ingredients.
Raw vegetables: (usually cut into long thin strips, carrots especially need to be thin) cucumbers, zucchini, carrots, spinach, avocado.
Cooked vegetables: (or fried) asparagus, zucchini
Cold/pre-cooked meats: shrimp, crab, smoked salmon
Baked, sautéed, or fried: shrimp, salmon, scallops
Weird/other ingredients: cream cheese, spam, fried egg, bananas. (The latter 3 sound disgusting but are actually pretty good.
Sauces: Soy sauce, teriyaki, sriracha, peanut sauce, yum yum sauce (I can only find the first 2 in my city. I brought the others from America) I typically only use soy sauce for dipping.
 |
| The Cream Cheese I use from here |
 |
| Sauces |
These are my most popular/favorite rolls currently:
*Fried shrimp, avocado, cream cheese, and teriyaki or yum yum sauce.
*Smoked salmon, avocado, and cream cheese. Sometimes I either add cucumbers or substitute the avocado with them when I can’t find avocado.
*Crab meat, banana, cream cheese, and peanut sauce.
*Fried spam, fried egg, cream cheese, and sriracha sauce. (I call it breakfast sushi.) It sounds disgusting but is actually so delicious, especially when served warm.
*Veggie sushi (not my favorite but non-fish loving folk love this version) - spinach leaves, carrots, avacado, cucumber with peanut or yum yum sauce.
Step 3 - Adding Rice to Seaweed
In America I found seaweed at Kroger (Red package) and each package had 10 sheets of seaweed. I found the blue pack at Macro Center in IST and it has 50 sheets in each pack.
You want to add the rice to to the non shiny side of the seaweed. In the picture below, the top sheet is the shiny sheet. It goes face down.
My rice cooker came with a rice paddle. I use it to spread the rice onto the sheets. You want a thin layer of rice. If you add too much rice, you end up with a giant pieces of mostly rice. You don’t want to mash down but rather gently spread the rice so as to not tear the fragile seaweed. You can also cover the sheet with rice using your fingers. I think this is traditionally how it is done but as I self-taught, using the spoon worked best for me. If you use fingers, you’ll want to have a small bowl of water nearby to dip your fingers. This helps the sushi not stick to your fingers.
I usually turn the seaweed so the shortest side is parallel to me. I make sure rice goes to the edges and all the way to the bottom half to seal the roll. It doesn’t have to be perfect but rather mostly filled. I don’t mind as much about the top quarter of the sheet because ingredients will go there.
Step 3 - Adding Ingredients To Roll
Once the rice is on the seaweed, I lay ingredients in strips about an inch from the top edge of the seaweed. I try to pile them on top of each other so they only take up about an inch or so of room. I usually add veggies first. The cream cheese I use here seems extra moist so I try to make sure it ends up sandwiched between 2 ingredients, otherwise it will moisten the seaweed and cause it to tear.
When I make the Spam and Egg roll, I place the spam first and top it with cream cheese. I transfer the fried egg to the rice covered seaweed and gently cut it in half down the center of the yolk. The runny yolk helps to give the roll some creaminess. I was out of spam and so in this instance, I used sucuk. I was not a fan.
Step 4 - Rolling the Sushi
Once the ingredients are in place, I take the top edge of the seaweed and flip it over the ingredients, tucking it like you would a sleeping bag. You want to kind of hug the ingredients with the seaweed edge so it will make a nice, tight roll. Once the seaweed is tucked and ingredients are hugged, I roll it as tightly as possible. The rice-filled edge should seal the roll well enough.
Step 5 - Slicing the Sushi
I found that a Pampered Chef tomato knife works great for slicing sushi. I think the serrated edges help to slide through the roll.
You want to slice the sushi the same way you slice bread, gliding the serrated edge down rather than mashing down to cut. If you mash down, the ingredients squish out the sides. I start on the right edge and use my left fingers to keep the end ingredients from squishing out the side.
The pieces end up being around 3/4 of an inch and I get 8-10 pieces per roll.
Often the seaweed will have tears. In that case, I try to slice as close to the tear as possible to preserve the sushi pieces.
Step 6 - Enjoy!
