Sushi-making reference

Got a crash-course in sushi making from a lovely guy over New Year’s. I’d always wanted to make it, but it’s one of those things that’s a lot easier to get the hang of when someone shows you what to do. I’d also always been nervous about the raw fish bit (love eating it, but not so sure where to find sushi-grade fish at home…). Never really thought to just make vegetarian rolls (d’oh!).

We’re lucky to have a great asian grocer nearby, so we picked up supplies and gave it a go last night. Found some great reference sources online and learned a few things for next time, see below.

• Sushi rice recipe from allaboutsushiguide.com. Didn’t have sake and totally forgot to buy kombu, but it was still great. The rice pack called for 1.5 parts water to 1 part rice so I was a bit nervous about the 1:1 ratio in the recipe, but it worked really well. Will use this recipe again, though I’ll probably halve the quantities if making for two people. We were pretty hungry and only finished about half of the sushi!
• Don’t have a hangiri, and TBH, they’re a bit out of my price range and available kitchen space right now. That said, a massive plastic bowl worked well as a substitute (with a wet tea towel underneath to minimise movement).
• Got confused by the huge selection of sushi rice available at the shop, next time be sure to go for short grain. Needs to be glutinous, rice packs labelled “First Crop” or “New Variety” are a safe bet. This rice was OK and looks like short grain, turns out it’s actually medium.
• Nori sheets should be nearly black and very opaque. Try a different brand next time, wasn’t thrilled with this one (was too green and a little too transparent). Hard to tell the quality when they’re piled up in a pack unfortunately…
• Don’t have a tamago pan so couldn’t make that properly, but made Usuyaki tamago instead and really liked that (would do it again).
• Try to squeeze the liquid out of wet ingredients before adding them to the roll. I didn’t do this enough and the liquid from the mushrooms bled in to the rice once rolled (not the end of the world, but not as pretty).