Make Your Own Sushi Tutorial

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Make your own sushi night is a thing at our house. It is the perfect date night in when we are craving sushi. This recipe is for California Rolls, but you can substitute/add ingredients for other types of sushi rolls.

As a busy family of 5, we rarely eat out. It is either too pricey or too overwhelming, so we eat at home whenever possible. But that doesn’t mean we still don’t enjoy our favorite delicacies. So one night my husband and I decided to have a “make your own sushi” date night after our kids went to bed.

We used the Bamboo Worx sushi making kit to make delicious homemade California Rolls. The kit comes with 2 sushi mats, a rice paddle and spreader, so it has every tool you need to make sushi!

We went to our local Asian market to search for some authentic ingredients. It is crucial that you use sushi rice and find some nori (seaweed). Asian markets often carry pre-made sushi rice if you do not want to make your own. We actually decided to make our own using rice vinegar. 

Thankfully, asian food ingredients are becoming more widely available. Check the ethnic food aisle at your local grocery store. We’ve even found ingredients at Walmart using their delivery service.

Make Your Own Sushi Night

What you need:

1. Sushi making kit
2. Plastic wrap
3. Sushi rice (recipe below if you want to make your own)
4. Nori
5. Crab meat
6. Mayo
7. Avocado (not too ripe)
8. Cucumber
9. For homemade sushi rice: rice vinegar, mirin and sugar

To make your own sushi rice: 

1. We used 2 cups of raw sushi rice and we had enough rice to make probably 5-10 sushi rolls, so adjust this recipe to your liking.
2. Rinse the rice with cold water until the water runs clear. Add the rice to a pot with 2 1/4 cups water.
3. Bring to a simmer uncovered. Once simmering, cover and turn heat to low for 10 minutes. Quickly lift the lid for 1 second (this step is very important for making the perfect sushi rice). Return the lid and turn off the stove and let rice sit for 10 minutes.
4. Make a liquid mixture of 1/4 cup rice vinegar, 2 tablespoons sugar and 1 tablespoon mirin. Heat just enough for the sugar to dissolve.
5. Next, add cooked sushi rice to mixture. If you are buying pre-made sushi rice, skip this step.

To make your own California Rolls:

1. To prepare the crab meat, shred it and squeeze out any excess water. We used 1/2 pound of crab and mixed in 1/4 cup of mayo. Again, adjust to your liking.
2. Cut the avocado and cucumber into long thin slices. I used 1 avocado and 1 cucumber.
3. Wrap your sushi mats in plastic wrap. This makes it easy to roll and not stick, plus easy clean up!
4. Place a 1/2 sheet or full sheet of nori on your sushi mat. I noticed 1/2 sheet isn’t quite wide enough, but a full sheet makes huge sushi rolls. It is whatever you prefer! Next time I will try 3/4 sheets. They are easy to cut to size with scissors.
5. Wet hands with water right before handling rice. I used my hands to press it down onto the nori, but you can also use the paddle or spreader. Try to make a smooth thin layer of rice over the nori.
6. If you want your sushi roll to have rice on the outside, flip it over so that the rice side is down. If you like your sushi wrapped with nori, leave as is. We made a few rolls of each and I preferred the ones with nori on the outside. They seemed to hold together nicely. Nori sticks well with water too, so if there is a rip or overlap, just wet the nori and seal it together.
7. Add a long slice of cucumber (or a few shorter pieces – enough to make one strip across the entire piece of nori.
8. Add a few slices of avocado parallel to the cucumber slice.
9. Add some crab mix on top of the avocado and cucumber.
10. Use the sushi mat to roll it up into a sushi roll.
11. Cut into pieces using a good knife to prevent it from losing its shape.

Check out our homemade ponzu sauce recipe!