Maki Sushi

I looooove sushi. And I know that I am not the only one. Judging by the worldwide fish stocks, we may have to forget about them again one day.

Before that though, let's enjoy them while they last. Here comes the basic recipe (with some exotic versions to try).

Ingredients (for 10 rolls, i.e. roughly 80-100 maki):

500g sushi rice

7 dl cold water

10 tbsp rice vinegar

2 tsp (!) sugar

2 tsp salt

10 Nori sheets (the dried algae sheet)

Wasabi

Soy sauce

Pickled ginger

For the filling, you are quite free, but here are some basic ingredients:

Smoked (or fresh) salmon

Tinned (or fresh) tuna

Prawns (cooked or fried in batter, i.e. tempura)

Surimi (the crab sticks)

Avocado

Cucumber

Eggs

Capsicum

Spring onions (or chive)

Philadelphia (or sour cream or crème fresh)

Mayonnaise

More possible (some slightly exotic) ingredients are: different vegetables (carrots, courgette, mushroom,...), fish eggs (for Gunkan Maki - the ones that look like little boats), tofu, beef, pickled plum, mango and other fruit (strawberries are yummy!), mint,... the list is endless!

Preparation:

The rice is the most important in sushi. Lucky us, every bigger supermarket these days has sushi rice and rice vinegar on some shelf. 

Before cooking, wash the rice thoroughly (just like Basmati or Jasmin rice) until the water is clear. Then add the 7dl cold water and bring to a boil. Simmer for 10 minutes with the lid on. Turn off the heat, but leave the pan on the stove and DO NOT LIFT THE LID for at least 15 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the rice vinegar with the sugar and salt and once the rice is ready, mix into the rice, gradually "cutting" through the rice with a wooden spoon. Leave to cool out (the rice is better when at room temperature than cold). Cover with a tea towel.

Start making the sushi by lightly spreading rice on the Nori sheet. Wet your hands before grabbing the rice as this prevents it from sticking to them. Also: you can toast the Nori sheet lightly by holding it over a toaster in order to increase its aroma. Do not squash the rice when spreading it. Leave about 3cm at the top edge and about 1 cm at the bottom, left and right. Place a stripe of ingredients on the first third of the roll, then roll the maki sushi according to the pictures and instructions below.

Slowly start rolling the paper around the filling; "tuck" the Nori sheet under to hold the filling in place.











Press evenly (from the center towards the edges, i.e. moving the hands outwards) on the roll. Then open the matt and roll the roll one by one, turn by turn. Put some rice corns on the top edge of the Nori sheet to make it stick.

To cut the roll, hold a sharp knife (most of us don't have a sushi knife readily available so use a cook knife) under cold water, then slice a piece (about 1-1.5cm thick) off in one go. Try to avoid "sawing" through the roll as this will make the filling fall apart. Wet the knife before every cut.



Serve with soy sauce, wasabi and pickled ginger.