Sushi

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Ever since I learned to eat sushi (yes, I actually had to learn to love it), I have been dreaming of making it myself. I had even bought sushi rice and a bamboo rolling mat as preparations for when I would finally try it. A couple of weeks ago I had both the time and courage to put my sushi making skills to the test. And I was positively surprised. Therefore, if anyone has similar feelings concerning homemade sushi, I totally suggest trying it out. It is worth it.


I had a ton of expectations beforehand since I had heard all sorts of stories of sushi struggles from my friends. Here I've listed them and comparing them to the reality. Based on my findings I've also come up with a few tips.
Expectations:
  • Really time consuming
  • Extremely hard to roll/cut
  • Difficult to achieve a good-looking result
  • Hard to know how much filling to put

Reality:
  • Didn't take up too much (active) time
  • The hardest part was cooking the rice (it was somehow very sticky and got stuck in the pot)
  • Rolling the sushi required almost no effort at all
  • Wasn't hard to know how much filling to put in the least, just add thin, even layors

So really everything was the opposite of what I had expected. The overall experience was a positive one and I felt like a total sushi guru with my abundance of maki rolls and few special omelette nigiri.


Tips:
  • Cook the rice on a low enough temperature
  • Have a small bowl with warm water and a few drops of rice vinegar to help keep your fingers from sticking to the rice and for sealing the roll
  • Use a sharp enough knife when cutting the roll into smaller pieces to avoid ripping the seaweed
  • Do not buy the cheapest wasabi (once you read my funny story below you'll understand)
  • Cut the cucumber into evenly thin slices (I accidentally cut them into cubes)
  • Use a bamboo rolling mat, they can be found in almost any grocery store and are super cheap and helpful
  • Try to make the maki roll as tight as possible




I used cucumber, tuna, salmon and avocado for the maki rolls and an omelette made from eggs, rice vinegar, white whine and salt for the nigiri.






Okay, to get back to the wasabi tip. Not all was smooth sailing as there was a certain wasabi related incident. It is quite a funny story too. 

 First of all, I emphasize that I know what wasabi tastes like, that it has a very strong flavour. Yes, I assure you, I know this. 

However, something was way off with the wasabi that I had bought. It was NOT normal how overpowering it was. I didn't use much, but it was still too much. Trying to scrape it off and eating the clean part did hardly any good as even the tiniest quantity of this particular wasabi was enough to ruin the sushi. It was like eating an acid that burned everything. I have never come across such a terrible wasabi -and hope to never again have to.  It was so strong that it was inedible, and what is more, it sort of had a toothpaste aroma. Yuck. After tasting it I could barely taste anything else, and thanks to this exceptionally potent wasabi, some of my fellow sushi eaters are forever traumatized and will avoid green pastes for good. 

 So what did I learn from this? Do not buy the cheapest wasabi, and always taste it before adding it to your food.

...4nna...

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