Homemade japanese sushi - maki, nigiri & panda
Homemade sushi is a great japanese dish to prepare with friends or family. We will show you how to make maki, nigiri & a slightly different and cute version called panda sushi!
Servings: 2 portions
Equipment
- Bamboo sushi mat
- Bamboo sticks
- Bowl
- Pot
Ingredients
Sushi basics
- 200 g sushi rice
- 3 tbsp rice vinegar
- 400 ml water
- 1 tbsp salt
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 5 pcs nori roll
- wasabi
- pickled ginger
- soy sauce
Filling (depending on your taste)
- 100 g tuna raw and fresh
- 100 g salmon raw and fresh
- 1/2 cucumber
- cream cheese
- 1 avocado
- 2 eggs
- Other ingredients such as crab, shrimps, mango, tofu or something you prefer.
Instructions
Sushi rice
- Wash the sushi rice with a sieve under cold water until the water is clean. Let the rice drain.
- Boil the rice with 400 ml of water for 2 minutes, then reduce the heat and let the rice simmer for another 10 minutes under low heat. Taste the rice and when finished, turn off the stove, and let the rice steam for 10 min with the lid on. The rice has to be moist and sticky.
- Meanwhile, bring to boil the rice vinegar, salt and sugar and let it cool down again. As an alternative, you can buy sushi vinegar at the grocery store.
- Pour the vinegar mixture over the rice and mix gently.
- Let the rice completely cool down at room temperature and cover it with a wet towel until usage.
Preparing the filling
- Slice the vegetables (e.g. cucumber, avocado, and paprika) in slices of 1 cm thick
- For sushi rolls, the salmon and the tuna have to be about 1 cm thick.
- For the nigiri variant, the fish or avocado have to be about 4 cm long and 1.5 cm wide.
- Gently mix the eggs and make an omelette; you can either make a sweet or savoury variant. Finally, slice the omelette into pieces to use in sushi rolls or nigari variant.
Making the maki sushi
- Place the bamboo mat on the counter.
- Place the nori, smooth side down, on the bamboo mat.
- Evenly place the rice on the nori, not too thick. Leave 1 cm room on the top side, because you need this to close the roll.
- Place fish and other ingredients on the rice. You can make all the combinations your heart desires. Optionally, you can also add a little bit of wasabi below the filling for a spicy taste. But watch out not to use too much, because it is very hot ;)
- Use the bamboo to roll the ingredients into a nice roll. Because of the moisture, the nori will stick very well. However, if it does not stick, you can use a bit of water to secure the nori.
- Use a very sharp knife to cut the roll into small pieces. Wipe the knife in-between with kitchenpaper for optimal results.
Making nigiri sushi
- Bring a small bowl with water for your hands and an empty plate for the nigiri sushi.
- Wet your hands and take a bit of rice.
- Roll the rice in your hands and create a rectangle by pressing your hands together.
- After you finished forming the rice, you can place fish or omelette on the rice. Again,you can spread a bit of wasabi below the filling.
- To secure the fish, you can cut off a thin slice of (0.5 cm) of nori and wrap it around the entire roll.
Making panda sushi
- You need to use a small bowl with water to wet your hands again, and an empty plate for storage.
- Make rolls of about 4 cm high and 3 cm thick. These will form the body of your pandas. Make sure they can stand up straight.
- Take a very sharp knife or a scissors to create legs, hands, ears, mouths and eyes for your panda of a nori skin.
- Place the mouth, hands etc. on the correct location of your panda. You can cut a small piece of fish, avocado or cucumber and place it in between the legs and hands of the panda.
Notes
Serve together with wasabi, soya sauce and pickled ginger!
Traditionally, you eat sushi with the fingers or with bamboo sticks.
Enjoy with some green tea or Japanese beer :)
TIP:
Calculate some time for preparing the rice, because it has to cool down first.