Sushi lovers would jump at the chance to indulge in this beautiful and mouthwatering Japanese delicacy at least once a week (we had the best sushi of our lives in Tokyo and would eat that every week if we could). But what about when you’re not currently traveling to Japan? So, how to have your sushi and eat it too? Well, to have a taste of Japan, we suggest making sushi at home! This post will dive into the essential tips for making sushi at home so that you can enjoy sushi without a restaurant or a trip to Japan.
For the beginner, making homemade sushi might look like a big task but once you get a hang of it, making Japan-reminiscent, restaurant-quality sushi at home is not as tough as it seems. We took a sushi-making class in Japan and learned that even a beginner can make pretty tasty sushi!
While we may not be able to compare with a master chef’s sushi skills, learning a few basic homemade sushi steps and investing in a few easy tools can help us through the sushi-making process.
Contents
- What You Need to Make Sushi
- 1. Assemble all things you need in one place
- 2. Always get sushi-grade fish and seafood
- 3. Use short-grain rice for best results
- 4. Seasoning is a crucial step
- 5. Resist the urge to overstuff your roll
- 6. Garnish to make your homemade sushi look restaurant-like
- 7. Try easy ingredients like kanikama
- 8. Don’t forget the measurements
- 9. Always keep a bowl of water on the kitchen table
- 10. Presentation plays an important role
- 11. Roll when you are ready to eat
- 12. Don’t forget the wasabi and pickled ginger
- 13. Invest in a sushi kit or sushi mold
- Like this post?
- You Might Also Appreciate…
- What kind of sushi do you want to learn to make?
What You Need to Make Sushi
While there are different forms of sushi available, the popular types of homemade sushi that people love to try at home are: maki rolls, nigiri sushi, temaki sushi, and chirashizushi.
The ease of making homemade sushi varies depending on what kind of sushi you want to make. Maki rolls will require a few basic rolling and cutting skills. Nigiri needs shaping technique. Temaki is one of the easier forms and chirashizushi is the easiest of all.
So, what do you need to make sushi?
Some of the important ingredients in sushi you will need to get started are Japanese short-grain rice, seaweed (nori sheets), sushi-grade fish, veggies, pickled ginger, soy sauce, and wasabi. Let’s take a look at some of the essential tips for making sushi at home.
This is a guest post by James of Easy Homemade Sushi.
1. Assemble all things you need in one place
When you are a beginner at sushi making, you are bound to be nervous and excited at the same time. If you want to know how to make homemade sushi, the first step is organization. Thus, first on our list of tips for making sushi at home is to make sure you’ve gotten together your kit for making sushi.
Assembling all tools and equipment at one place will keep the things within easy reach and keep the stress out of cooking. Here is some of what you need to make sushi:
- Rice cooker to prepare sushi rice
- Sushi grade knife
- Large wooden bowl for seasoning rice
- Rice paddle and wooden spoon
- Cutting board
- Dish cloths
- Colander and a bowl of water
- Small bowls and plates to keep the cut veggies and fish
- Bamboo mat and cling film (plastic wrap)
READ MORE| Taking a Sushi-Making Class in Tokyo, Japan
2. Always get sushi-grade fish and seafood
Sushi does not necessarily have to include seafood as there are many delicious veggie options available.
However, if you choose to make a tuna sushi roll or salmon nigiri at home, make sure you always get the best fish for sushi at home: sushi-grade raw fish from a trusted fishmonger in your area. This is one of the most important tips for making sushi at home!
You should avoid using fish that doesn’t look fresh to stay away from food poisoning.
Why is sushi-grade raw fish the best fish for sushi at home? Sushi-grade fish is safest because the fish is flash-frozen after they are caught. When you get home, transfer it to your home freezer and thaw it overnight by keeping inside the fridge before using it.
3. Use short-grain rice for best results
While rice often gets neglected in the dish, it forms the important base without which you cannot imagine sushi. One of the best tips for making sushi at home is to always use the short-grain (shinmai or newest crop) variety because it gives that perfect sticky texture needed to glue to the nori sheet and mold into shape.
Never commit the mistake of using long-grain variety because they are non-absorbent in nature, plus their fluffiness/ dryness is not suitable for sushi making. Some medium grain varieties may be used instead of short-grain, but the results may not be perfect.
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4. Seasoning is a crucial step
Sushi rice has a different taste and flavor due to the seasoning prepared with a mix of vinegar, sugar, and salt. For three cups of sushi rice, you will need to use a half cup of rice vinegar, 2 tablespoons of sugar and 2 tablespoons of salt.
Remember to blend cooked rice with the vinegar mix while the rice is still warm. If you wait for the sushi rice to completely cool down, the rice grains will not be properly coated with the seasoning. When done properly, your seasoned rice should be sticky and shiny.
5. Resist the urge to overstuff your roll
Beginners are often tempted to fill their roll as much as possible. If you want to know how to make sushi for beginners, then avoid overstuffing!
We know you may want to make the best of the ingredients you have but don’t get tempted to add a lot of fillings inside your sushi. Too many fillings will make it hard to roll the sushi, and the result may be unsatisfactory.
As a beginner, we suggest that you add only one or two fillings at the max. When using raw fish, always use one type of fish to be able to appreciate its subtle flavors to the fullest.
6. Garnish to make your homemade sushi look restaurant-like
You can different types of garnishes to enhance the appearance, taste of your homemade sushi and make it look like it came from a sushi restaurant. However, another of our tips for making sushi at home is to not go overboard with garnishes or else you may end up overshadowing the delicate flavor of other ingredients.
Some of the popular garnishes are toasted sesame seeds, finely chopped shiso leaves, fish eggs and so on. Most of the inside out style of sushi rolls use fish eggs such as tobiko (flying fish roe) and masago (Capelin roe).
7. Try easy ingredients like kanikama
When you are a beginner trying to learn how to make homemade sushi, attempting to get sushi-grade raw fish or making shrimp tempura may be a challenging experience for you. We suggest that you keep it simple, sweet and easy to be able to enjoy the fruits of your labor to the fullest.
One of the easiest and readily available ingredients in sushi you can use is kanikama or imitation crab sticks. Although these are not real crab meat, these flavored crab sticks give you the taste of seafood. They are not only affordable but easy to use in sushi and kanikama don’t need to be cooked further.
8. Don’t forget the measurements
When making homemade sushi for the first time, be careful to have your quantities right. You would not want to have too much leftover rice and chopped veggies. Cook only as much as you think you can eat for dinner because it’s a shame to throw away all that good food. You may use leftovers to enjoy a sushi bowl or chirashizushi.
If you are eating raw fish for dinner, take the thawed fish out of the fridge just before you start eating and make sure you put it back soon after. Don’t leave raw fish stay outside in room temperature for too long. In case it stays out for more than 2 hours, better toss it out than risk your health.
9. Always keep a bowl of water on the kitchen table
Sushi rice has a sticky texture and it tends to keep sticking on your fingers, knife, and other things. Hence, we suggest that you keep a bowl of water handy to dip your fingers when handling cooked rice. This is one of the essential tips for making sushi at home!
As you can see in the YouTube video above, you should also moisten the knife blade before cutting sushi rolls to get a neat cut.
10. Presentation plays an important role
Sushi is not just a mouthwatering dish for the tastebuds but is also a visual treat for your eyes. A good presentation is half the battle won! So, if you would like to infuse that restaurant like feeling when making sushi at home then pay attention to how you present your dish.
We would suggest that you invest in a good quality porcelain sushi dinner set that comprises of a plate, fork set, and separate soy sauce bowls. When entertaining friends for dinner, serve in a sushi boat to get more compliments.
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11. Roll when you are ready to eat
Don’t make sushi ahead of time! Sushi is best enjoyed fresh, so another one of our important tips for making sushi at home is to wait to roll the sushi until you are ready to eat.
Whether you have friends at home or you are simply cooking for your family, make sure you roll the homemade sushi only when you are ready to eat. Keeping sushi rolls outside can spoil the dish because nori sheet loses its crispiness, and turns soft and mushy after some time.
12. Don’t forget the wasabi and pickled ginger
When you are making sushi at home, don’t forget the pickled ginger and wasabi paste, along with soy sauce. These three items may not be the main ingredients of sushi but they play an important role in determining the authentic taste and flavor.
When preparing sushi rolls and nigiri, make sure you smear a little bit of wasabi to get that perfect dose of heat. Pickled ginger helps in cleansing the palate so that you can enjoy the subtle and delicate flavors of each type of raw fish. They can be found in any Asian grocery store.
13. Invest in a sushi kit or sushi mold
If you lack sushi-making skills, there’s nothing to feel ashamed of. Sometimes we just can’t be good with the cutting and rolling part. However, that does not mean that you cannot enjoy making sushi at home. How about getting a making sushi at home kit or a sushi mold that helps you churn out perfect sushi rolls or nigiri sushi in a matter of minutes (without any skills needed!)?!
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What kind of sushi do you want to learn to make?
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