How to cook sushi: important rules and tricks

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Everything you need to know to make it as simple, tasty and healthy as possible. Rice will not stick to your hands, and sushi will not fall apart.

Selection of ingredients

The preparation of any dish begins with the selection of the ingredients. In sushi, in addition to rice and nori seaweed, the following are often used:

1. Fish: salmon, tuna, eel, mackerel, sea bass.
2. Seafood: shrimp, crab meat (crab sticks), mussels, scallop.
3. Meat: chicken, bacon.
4. Fresh vegetables: cucumber, avocado, bell peppers, green onions.
5. Cream cheese: Typically Philadelphia.
6. Sweet omelet.

You can endlessly experiment with the filling. For example, make a mono roll with one ingredient, use classic combinations (salmon + cheese; crab meat + avocado + cucumber) or come up with your own version - you don't have to limit yourself to the ingredients listed above.

The main thing is to make sure that the products are fresh. This is especially true for fish. Small island Japan can afford to eat raw fish, but in our latitudes it threatens with food poisoning.

If you do plan to use raw fish, follow these guidelines:

1. Buy fish that has been deep-frozen or shock-frozen. This treatment is believed to kill the parasites.
2. Choose fish that doesn't have too much ice. Icing is a sign that the product has been frozen several times.
3. Pay attention to the color of the fish. It should be moderately saturated. A too bright shade indicates that the fish has been tinted.
4. Also, make sure that the eyes of the fish are moist and protrude outward, and the carcass itself is firm and elastic.
5. And trust your nose. Fish with a smell, no matter how good it looks, is not worth taking.

Even if all requirements are met, raw fish must be subjected to minimal processing. Or, nevertheless, choose lightly salted in a vacuum package - it will be much more reliable this way.

Preparation of ingredients

We have already described how to cook rice for sushi here. Let's remind the main thing: either special or round grain rice will do, which must be flavored with a dressing of rice vinegar. The sushi rice package usually has cooking recommendations. Stick to them for optimal results with your particular type of rice.

Raw fish can be dipped in boiling water several times and then transferred to ice water. Or rub with salt (1 tablespoon for 350 g of fish), add lemon and leave to marinate for an hour. Both processing options do not guarantee complete product safety. Therefore, at home, it is better to use fish that has undergone a longer salting or heat treatment.

Eel is usually smoked or alternatively grilled.

Shrimps (fresh or frozen) are placed on wooden skewers and quickly boiled (4 minutes) in slightly salted water.

Meat can be fried in teriyaki sauce, simply fried or boiled.

Japanese omelet is easy to prepare. Add two teaspoons of brown sugar, a pinch of salt, pepper (optional) and a teaspoon of soy sauce to two beaten eggs. Thin pancakes are fried in a preheated pan with butter, rolled into rolls and cut.

Cooking secrets

1. Sushi fish should be cold, as should the hands of the cook. You can even dip them in ice water before cooking.
2. Ingredients for nigiri sushi are cut into thin slices, for maki sushi (rolls) - in cubes.
3. A sharp and long knife should be used for slicing. It, like your hands, can be soaked in a weak solution of rice vinegar (2-3 tablespoons per glass of water) to prevent the ingredients from sticking.
4. Some types of sushi require a bamboo mat to form. If not, you can use a regular kitchen towel covered with cling film.
5. Don't prepare sushi in advance or in reserve. It is a dish to be eaten right away as it has a shelf life of only a few hours.

Cooking methods

1. Nigiri Sushi

Take some rice in your hand and shape it into a small block. Roll it over your hand without pressing hard to make the rice stick together. Brush a piece of fish or other filling on one side with wasabi (Japanese horseradish), put rice on this side and press down. If after that the sushi loses its shape a little, just correct the flaws with your hands.

Some types of nigiri sushi, such as eel or omelet, need to be wrapped with a thin strip of nori. Otherwise, they do not keep their shape well. You can fix nori by dipping the tip in water or vinegar.

2. Hosomaki and Futomaki

Hosomaki and futomaki are cylindrical sushi (rolls) with nori outside and one or more types of fillings, respectively. To prepare them, you need to use a bamboo mat.

Place the nori sheet on the mat, glossy side down. Spread a layer of rice on top. Leave a gap of 1 cm from the edge closest to you and a few centimeters from the opposite edge.

Use your finger to make a small groove in the middle of the rice layer.

Place the filling in the groove.

Take the side of the mat closest to you and start rolling the roll. Do this slowly and with pressure so that all the components connect. Coat an empty strip of nori with rice vinegar or water and stick to the roll.

Cut the sushi into portions and enjoy.

3. Uramaki

Uramaki differs from previous rolls in that they have rice on the outside. The rest of the cooking principle is largely the same.

Line the bamboo mat with cling film. Place a sheet of nori on top with the glossy side down and cover with an even layer of rice (in this case, the rice can cover the entire surface of the seaweed).

Carefully turn the workpiece over with the rice down, holding the mat with one hand, and the other with the rice. Place the filling on top of the seaweed.

Roll up the roll with a mat, pressing the sides well together.

Make sure the sushi holds its shape and then cut it into pieces.

This is the easiest option, but not the only one. You can also put thin slices of fish on one side of an uncut roll, cover with cling film, press the fish to sushi, and only then cut. In addition, the formed uramaki can be sprinkled with sesame seeds for garnish.

4. Temaki sushi

Temaki sushi are cone-shaped rolls.

Divide the nori sheet in half and cut with a knife. For one temaki, you need half a sheet.

Lay out the rice in a triangle, as shown in the picture. Place the filling on top.

Roll up the roll, starting with the empty edge closest to the filling.

Secure the temaki with a few grains of rice.

You can find other interesting ways to make sushi in these video tutorials.