How to Make Sushi at Home

Sushi is not only delicious, but easy to make if you know what your doing. With simple directions, you could be making this fabulous food at home.

As somebody who has eaten at almost every sushi restaurant in the Tampa Bay Area, as well as the Pittsburgh region of this great country of ours, Japanese steak houses and sushi bars are not only everywhere, but in high demand. Offering three kids of eating experiences, Hibachi tables, where you eat with friends, family and strangers around a masterful chef, as he prepares your meal with entertainment before your eyes, a sushi bar where you sit at a bar and watch your sushi chef prepare your meal and traditional seating for a more intimate dining experience. However, at home, you can invite whom ever you want and dress in your pajama’s if it makes you happy.

Take a trip to your local grocery store and might find all the ingredients you need, but if they do not have a well stocked ethnic food section, you may have to seek a small Asian cuisine grocery store instead.

Grocery list: Nori sheets, sushi rice (not long grain or any other), rice vinegar, Asian chili oil, wasabi, pickled ginger, then a variety of vegetables (cucumber, carrots, asparagus, whatever you like), cream cheese (the block not the tub), fish roe (if you can find it) and tempura batter (usually in a box).

Hardware list: wooden sushi rolling mat, a wooden spoon, a plastic or wooden bowl, a very sharp knife.

Core Ingredients #1: You plan on making fresh, raw fish sushi, you will need to visit a fish monger or a warehouse that brings in fish right off the boat. You do not want to go to a grocery store and buy fish that has been sitting in a case all day or overnight for that matter. You have a high chance of getting sick. You want the freshest fish possible. With that being said, you can get all kinds of fish – tuna (all varieties), salmon, eel, grouper, scallop, shrimp, whatever you like.

Core Ingredients #2: If you plan on making only cooked sushi (which I recommend until you know what your doing), then go to the grocery store and pick up some fresh chicken meat, fish to cook, crab meat (get the langastino in a package), that way you can make some california rolls.

Now that you have all that you need, lets get to work. Start by cooking your rice in a large pan, with plenty of water. Depending on who you ask, will depend on how they tell you to do this step. I suggest making it the way you make all rice and do what you know. Cook until soft and drain when done. DO NOT RINSE THE RICE! You need the starch’s. Set aside to cool. You may put a fan next to the rice to cool it, but do not put it in the refrigerator.