Sushi @ home

Sushi is quite simple to make - it's just so fiddly! I usually make several different types of fillings for the sushi, but I'd thawed out a bit too much chicken and made quite a bit too much teriyaki marinade, so it was teriyaki chicken sushi for dinner with teriyaki chicken salad. Hehe.

Teriyaki marinade/sauce

Anyway, decided that I was gonna make the teriyaki marinade/sauce. It is so simple. Honestly. At its most basic level, it comprises of three ingredients: soy sauce, mirin and sugar. Now apparently there are two types of mirin (a sweet cooking wine used in Japanese cuisine) - shin mirin and hon mirin - the difference being that one contains 1% alcohol and the other contains more than 14% alcohol (I forget which one and I'm to lazy to google it). I bought the one with the 14% alcohol (no wonder it was pricey). If you want to jazz up the teriyaki sauce, you can add ginger and chilli, but try to keep it simple. Teriyaki sauce is made by combining in a saucepan on medium heat the soy sauce, mirin and sugar in the ratio of 2:2:1 respectively. I replaced half the sugar with honey just to experiment with the taste. The chicken was then marinated with the teriyaki sauce overnight before. The chicken was grilled and basted with the remaining marinade whilst on the grill.

Sushi rice

You can use normal short grain rice for the sushi rice. I bought actual sushi rice which was twice more expensive than normal rice, but only because I couldn't find short grain rice at Subi markets. Honestly, I don't think there is much difference between the two.

You cook the rice as you normally would cook rice. In my case I used the rice cooker. To make the vinegar dressing for the rice, combine in a saucepan rice vinegar and sugar in the ratio of 2:1 respectively and stir over a medium heat until the sugar is dissolved. Once the rice is cooked, place rice in a non-metallic bowl, drizzle the vinegar dressing on the rice and 'fold' it in to mix through the rice being careful not to mush up the rice. Allow the rice to cool to room temperature. I've heard that the trick is to cool the rice down as quickly as possible but I don't know the reason for it. And voila, you have sushi rice.

The sushi itself

Lay a sheet of nori (seaweed) on a sushi mat. Don't fret if you don't have a sushi mat - you can use a sheet of baking paper instead. Spread rice out over 2/3 of the nori sheet (warning: rice is very sticky - it helps to wet your hands with water first).



Place the desired ingredients (I used julienned carrots, cucumber sticks, avocado and chicken) in a line as shown in the photo. Have to be careful not to chuck on too much ingredients otherwise the nori sheet will not roll easily.



Then all you do is roll it into a sushi roll. This is where the saying 'Practice makes perfect' comes into play. I remember how awkward it was when I first made sushi. Just rest assured in the knowledge that your sushi-making skills will get better. The sushi mat/baking paper helps a lot with the rolling. Wet the edge of the nori sheet to help adhere the seam together.



Then all that needs doing is place the sushi seam-side down on the cutting board, and use a very sharp knife to cut into sushi pieces. And voila! you have made sushi. Serve with soy sauce, wasabi and preserved ginger (as they do at Japanese diners).