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Sushi is a very popular meal in eJapan, but it became worldwide famous nowadays. Making a sushi may sound difficult - but the truth of matter is that it is not harder that making ham'n'eggs. You should now some details to make a fine sushi, and have the right materials. So lets get started!

First of all, you should buy...

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Nori - のり



Nori (a.k.a. laver) is a paper like, edible, toasted seaweed used in most kinds of sushi. The nori is actually the part that holds the sushi together.

Shari - しゃり



Sushi rice is a bit different from regular rice - shari is round, not like the regular ones. But not only the appereance is different - shari is more sticky when cooked, and it has a different taste.

Vinegar - 酢



Basically, rice vinegar is used to make sushi, but apple vinegar will do the trick aswell.

Rolling mat - マット



The mat is needed to the rolling sequence.

Wasabi - わさび



Wasabi gives a racy taste for your sushi - but beware, real wasabi is very hot.

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These commodities are usually can be found in asian supermarkets, or bio-markets. They are not cheap - but making your sushi is cheaper than buying it from a restaurant. You should also buy something to fill your shushi - something like salmon, cucumber, avocado, crayfish, or whatever you want, you may use your fantasy.

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The next step, is to make your sushi rice. It requires pretty good timing, because if you cook the shari too much, it will taste terribly, and it will look like some kind of mush. There are 5 steps to make your sushi rice :

1. ) For 3 cups of rice, use half cup of rice vinegar, 2 tablespoons of sugar and 2 teaspoons of salt.

2. ) Mix together in small pot, on medium heat until all solids are mixed in.

3. ) Pour mixture on rice and stir well.

4. ) Wash the rice (1 cup = 3 rolls) with running water for 1-2 minutes until there is no more starch coming out of it. (If you buy clean rice, you can leave out washing the rice) After you are done washing, take the rice and place it gently in a pot, add a little bit more water than rice ( the ratio is about 1.15:1 in favor of the water). Don't put too much water, or you'll get dough instead of rice.

5.) The rice should be cooked on high heat at first, stir every minute or two, until the water boils. Then, lower the heat to minimum and cover the pot. Stop stirring, the rice will handle itself from now. Why? That is just the traditional way... After 6-8 min, check the water level - If there is no more water, only bigger grains of rice in the pot, that means the rice is ready. If not, check back every minute, making sure not to burn the rice at the bottom.

6. ) Use only a wooden spoon to handle the cooked rice. A metal spoon will damage the rice, and can also react with the vinegar we'll add later. Second, don't scrape the rice out from the bottom of the pot. If it comes out easily, good, if not - leave it be. The rice at the bottom is dry and burned so it won't taste so good. Use a wooden or plastic bowl to put the rice in to chill.



7. ) Let rice cool down for a few minutes until it is within the room temperature. Don't put the rice in the fridge to make it cool faster - that will damage the rice. You can however use a fan, A/C or put it by the window.

8. ) In order for the rice to taste like sushi rice (and not like an ordinary rice), you need to add rice vinegar to it right after you take it out of the pot.

So, your sushi rice is done!

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There are several type of sushi, so lets see how can we make the most basic sushi, the maki (まき).



The common way to make maki is the following 6 steps :

1 ) Placing the nori

Feel the nori sheet from both sides and you will find one side to be a bit smooth and the other a little rough. The nori should lay on the rolling mat with the rough side facing upwards.

2 ) Work with the shari

Get your hands wet, and make about a handful of rice to a ball of rice. It's important to keep your hands wet while working with sushi rice because it is sticky. When you work with the nori though, you should keep them as dry as you can. That is why you should have a bowl of water (with a bit of rice vinegar added to it) and a dry hand-towel nearby when making sushi. Gently put the rice ball in the middle of the nori sheet, and start spreading it equally on the nori, creating a layer of rice covering almost the entire sheet except the upper margin of about 2 cm that should be kept uncovered. Later on, the margins need to be empty of rice in order to close to sushi roll properly. Be careful not to compress the rice, but merely spread it over the nori.

3 ) Filling

Place a slice of fish (or the stuff you want to fill your sushi with, but preferably no more than one) on the edge of the nori, along with 1-3 pre-cut slices of vegetables, if you want to (carrot, cucumber, green onion, asparagus, and so on... allow yourself to get wild on this matter).

4 ) The rolling sequence

Using the closer edge of the rolling mat, close on the filling with the nori making a rectangular shaped hill and tighten it from above. Move forward, continue rolling in the rectangular hill steps, keeping it tight with every move until you reach the end of the nori. Put pressure on the roll from all three sides at all time, especially on stops to allow it to roll tightly.

5 ) Cut

Use a wet, sharp knife to cut the roll in to little sushi units. 6-8 units per roll usually.

Enjoy your maki sushi!

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Hope this article gave a helping hand to those, who wanted to make sushi, but did not dare to! Thank you for reading! :3

The next article will unfold further secrects and tips for making sushi.



Kitsune Usureki
Day 1,808 of the New World
くろにしび