Adventures in Sushi

A sushi feast

Making sushi is a real art.  And you cannot rush it.  I end up taking hours just making a small batch of ill-defined but quite tasty nigiri (that is the rectangles of sushi rice with a topping) and some uneven but yummy sushi rolls. But then that is the whole joy of it... it is like that Samuel Beckett quote:

 "Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better."

After quite a few failing better sessions I thought I had better turn to some experts.... now the key to making the perfectly formed sushi rolls and nigiri is have the perfect sushi rice which involves buying the correct rice, cooking and then cooling correctly - there is a lot of fanning going on (that's fanning the rice to cool it).  For some great instructions go to http://justhungry.com/2003/11/japanese_basics_1.html. Now justhungry.com are my go to people for all things Japanese food related. I truly recommend it for giving budding cooks out there an insight into Japanese food.

Getting fancy there!

So once you have got your sushi rice ready you can work on getting a bunch of ingredients ready to put on or in the maki rolls and nigiri. It could be smoked salmon (not strictly sushi I know but it is useful when very fresh fish is not around), smoked trout or mackerel, peppers, cucumber, avocado, green beans, or any other veggie that could easily be eaten raw.Get a selection together; cut the vegetables and fish into strips for maki rolls, and larger rectangles for the nigiri.The other thing to prepare is the wasabi... an absolute essential for sushi.

  Now there are far better people out there who know just what to do to make the various forms of sushi.... a great site is http://makemysushi.com/.

My nigiri maker - a great piece of kit for your Japanese kitchen

The piece of kit that is almost essential is the nigiri maker.  I got mine from Arigato in Brewer Street in Soho along with my invaluable sushi mat.  Now the sushi mats seem ubiquitous and you even find them in high end supermarkets. The nigiri makers are a little more difficult to find but now with the rise of the internet there are plenty of on-line shops selling them... like the Japan Centre - http://www.japancentre.com/.

Some ill-formed but perfectly edible nigiri

I found that I did not have any photos of the rolling up of the sushi rolls. Probably because I was stuck with rice glued to hands whilst making these tricky rolls.  But here is fine picture of some nigiri being made.

I really recommend that you experiment and make your own....