Sushi At Home

  in Blog

With the doldrums of winter and pandemic isolation closing in, cheer yourself up by making your own sushi! It is easy to make and you can fill it with a variety of delicious things. Make it a date or family night and let everyone assemble and roll their own sushi. Here’s how to do it.

Basic list of what you’ll need:

sushi rolling mat
sushi rice
nori seaweed sheets
rice vinegar
soy sauce for dipping
vegetables for filling: cucumber, avocado, carrots, asparagus, red pepper, shiitake mushrooms, green beans, sweet potatoes, green onion, etc.
sushi-grade raw seafood*or cooked seafood or tofu
pickled ginger
wasabi powder


2 cups sushi rice
3 cups water
1/4 cup rice vinegar (not seasoned)
2 teaspoons cane sugar
1 teaspoon salt

  1. Place rice into a fine mesh strainer. Rinse rice under running water for about a minute or until the water runs clear. Drain well and place in a medium saucepan. Add the water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and cook for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let steam, still covered, for another 15 minutes.
  2. While the rice cooks, combine the rice vinegar, sugar, and salt in a small saucepan. Heat over low and stir to dissolve the sugar. Set aside. (Or place in a small glass bowl and heat in the microwave about 20 seconds and stir to dissolve sugar and salt.)
  3. Prepare your veggies. Cut vegetables like carrots, cucumber, and red pepper into long thin strips. (A mandoline slicer would be perfect here.) Cut avocado into half inch thick fingers. Steam other veggies like asparagus and green beans until tender crisp. If you’re using sweet potatoes you can roast them after you cut them.
  4. When the rice is cooked, transfer it to a large bowl or 9 x 13 baking pan and sprinkle with the seasoning mixture. Fold and mix the rice to distribute the seasoning and then let the rice cool completely.
  5. Mix up some wasabi powder with a little hot water in a small bowl, however much you think you’ll want for serving. You probably won’t need more than a tablespoon.
  6. When the rice is cool you can start rolling. Get a small bowl of water ready to dampen your fingers. Place a bamboo sushi mat on the countertop with the slats running from side to side. Place a sheet of nori with a long side lined up with the bottom edge of the mat, shiny side down. Dip your hands in the water and place about 1 cup of the rice on the nori and press into an even layer all the way to the bottom and side edges. Leave about 1 inch space at the top. Place a line of 3 or 4 different vegetables (or some pieces of seafood and 1 or 2 veggies) in a pile horizontally along the lower third of the rice. Take a small dab of wasabi and smear it across the rice underneath the vegetables.
  7. Start to roll the sushi away from you using the bamboo mat, lifting up the mat as you go. Tuck in the vegetables as you go and roll the sushi into a tight log. Dab the top of the nori sheet with a little water to seal it. Place the sushi roll on a cutting board seam side down and lay the mat over the top of the roll. Use your hands to tighten, even out, and reinforce the roll. Cut the roll in half with a sharp knife. Cut the halves in half and cut the quarters in half to get 8 pieces. Repeat with remaining rice and veggies/seafood. Serve with pickled ginger, wasabi, and soy sauce.

Here is a nice little youtube video that shows how to roll sushi. Note: this video says to cut the sushi roll into 6 pieces but we find the pieces too big, so we prefer cutting it into 8 pieces.

*Sushi grade means the highest quality fresh fish. There is a slight risk in consuming raw seafood of contracting parasites, but if you buy fish labeled sushi grade and keep it well chilled, your chances of picking up a parasite are low. The safest raw fish to use is tuna and farmed salmon. If you want to play it perfectly safe, cook your seafood, or don’t use it all.
Source: Serious Eats