sushi- how to make

RoastedTwinkies · Post by **RoastedTwinkies** » Sat May 15, 2004 11:16 am

How many people here enjoy sushi as much as I do? I personally love it, though most of my family and friends don't.

I went to my friend's house yesterday, and she taught me how to make sushi. I didn't realize that it's so easy to make!

How many people here are food experts?

Because I need to know:

1. What kind of rice do I need to buy? The rice needs to be able to stick together when it cooks, so which should I buy? Long grained rice, or short grained rice?

2. What kind of fish is okay to eat raw? I'll eat premade sushi, because we know it's safe, and if it does make us sick, we can sue the store or restaurant that made it. But, I'm still apprehensive about making my own; raw things usually scare me; I don't want to get tapeworms or samilella (sp?). Don't most fish you buy at the supermarket need to be cooked?

If anyone can help me with this, that would be great. Thanks.

Sailorasteroid · Post by **Sailorasteroid** » Sat May 15, 2004 11:53 am

I adore sushi, it tastes wonderful. The rice you get with it tastes so much better than any other. My favorite is salmon--it has a great fatty taste. I've never tried to make it at home, but I do know a few things about it.

The rice you should get is glutenous rice, short-grained, also known simply as sushi rice. If there's an Asian market around they should have it, or any good gourmet place. They'll also provide the seaweed, if you're using that. (I much prefer the nigiri sushi)

The key to fish is to get freshly caught ones--salmonella and things like that are more likely to be in food left lying around for a while. Tuna is the most common sushi fish, or you can use salmon, yellowtail, or mackerel. If you can find a straight fish market than sells nothing else, that's the place to get it. Tell them you're planning on making sushi and you want the freshest stuff they've got.

There are also some good cooked sushi, like prawn (shrimp) and eel. Also, there are some good vegetable sushi, like avocado and cucumber. Especially if you're cooking sushi as a dinner for more than one person, it's good to have some cooked stuff for people who refuse to eat something raw.

RoastedTwinkies · Post by **RoastedTwinkies** » Sat May 15, 2004 12:41 pm

Sailorasteroid wrote:I adore sushi, it tastes wonderful. The rice you get with it tastes so much better than any other. My favorite is salmon--it has a great fatty taste. I've never tried to make it at home, but I do know a few things about it.

*edited for space*

There are also some good cooked sushi, like prawn (shrimp) and eel. Also, there are some good vegetable sushi, like avocado and cucumber. Especially if you're cooking sushi as a dinner for more than one person, it's good to have some cooked stuff for people who refuse to eat something raw.

Thanks a lot for the tips! I can't wait to get started!

Celexa · Post by **Celexa** » Sat May 15, 2004 9:44 pm

Also, crab is commonly used. In the Japanese resturants by us, we found the commonly used either crab or musscel for the california-roll type sushi.

I have my own question, can you just by the fish from the market? Sushi is good but it's so expensive! My guess is it's less expensive to make your own. Tell me if I'm wrong?

RoastedTwinkies · Post by **RoastedTwinkies** » Sat May 15, 2004 11:30 pm

Celexa wrote:Also, crab is commonly used. In the Japanese resturants by us, we found the commonly used either crab or musscel for the california-roll type sushi.

I have my own question, can you just by the fish from the market? Sushi is good but it's so expensive! My guess is it's less expensive to make your own. Tell me if I'm wrong?

I do know, that just like making sandwiches and whatnot, sushi is much less expensive to make if you make it yourself. Most deli's charge like $5 (I'm speaking in Canadian dollars) for a sandwich. Making the sandwich at home would cost maybe $1 to make, so the same goes with sushi. I still need to buy sushi stuff to make sushi and it is kind of a pain in the butt to find things like sushi knives and sushi mats, but in the end, it's all worth it.

Tyra · Post by **Tyra** » Sun May 16, 2004 2:59 am

I think the rice tastes better with vinegar (well that's just me) when it comes to sushi.

Celexa · Post by **Celexa** » Sun May 16, 2004 12:53 pm

On the sushi menu at a resturant I go to, I see "Kappa maki" (I think that's how it's spelled), or cucumber roll / sushi (It's been a long time.) Why do they have cucumber in the sushi menu? I thought sushi was raw fish!

As for vinegar, I've never tried it. Usually I want the sushi so much I down it without putting anything on it.

My mom found a place that'll let you buy six pieces of sushi for six dollars. Is that a good price, or is it still cheaper to make your own?

Sailorasteroid · Post by **Sailorasteroid** » Sun May 16, 2004 1:15 pm

I believe that the word sushi literally means "with rice". In any case, sushi is a rice-based dish either surrounding or surrounded by something else, and maybe tied off with a ring of seaweed. The something else can be a vegetable, egg, various types of roe, or seafood, some raw, some cooked. But the use of raw fish gives sushi the stigma of being something it requires bravery to eat, and it turns a lot of people off. The flavors of the fish is not ridiculously strong, the strength only increased if you add the grated wasabi root, so it's mostly a psychological thing.

The vinegar used for sushi is not the regular kind; it's a rice vinegar that tastes like salad dressing vinegar.

$6 for six pieces isn't bad. When it's said that it's cheaper to make your own, also consider economies of scale--it's a lot cheaper to make sushi for a family of six than to take them out to a restaurant, but for one person, it's fairly equivalent.

Personally, I like going out to sushi restaurants for the experience: the Japanese music playing, the presentation of the dishes, the towel presented to you at the beginning, really makes it worth the money for me. Plus I don't have to clean up.

doodlebuguk · Post by **doodlebuguk** » Sun May 16, 2004 2:49 pm

Why do they have cucumber in the sushi menu? I thought sushi was raw fish!

They use cucumber a lot in 'Calafornia Roll' sushi, which as you can guess by the name it isn't a very traditional sushi, but it is very popular!

I've never tried making sushi but I've tried it a couple of times. I don't eat fish but the vegetarian sushi was delicious. Has anyone ever tried inari-zushi? It's so yummy! It's sushi rice in a deep-fried tofu pocket, it's so nice... *starts to day dream* ... now I'm hungry, LOL!

Oh yeah, and $6 for 6 pieces is really cheap, the sushi restaurant near me charges between £1.50 and £5 a plate (2 pieces or 4 obentou sushi pieces)

RoastedTwinkies · Post by **RoastedTwinkies** » Sat May 22, 2004 8:59 pm

I just made some sushi today with my friend! I bought all the supplies I needed. It's so EASY to make and so far I haven't got sick from the raw fish

Migiwa · Post by **Migiwa** » Wed Jun 02, 2004 6:49 pm

I really like sushi, though personally I prefer to eat the cooked kind rather than uncooked. My favourite so far is Ebi, and I've become addicted to wasabi. It hurts so good!

I don't like it so much that I'd make my own, though ^^;; it's a resturaunt food for me.