Maki Sushi

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I don’t just eat sushi, I adore it!
Since a Japanese friend of mine made me some when I first came to the US, I was hooked up immediately!
It’s just amazing how you can love something you’ve never tasted before, but I did.
And I still do.

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I was kind of intimidated though by the way of making it, until my good friend Lois posted step by step on her blog. I dared myself and I made a LOT, but no fish unfortunately, because of the kids 🙂 It was delicious and I recommend it!

Since on her blog the step by step instructions are in Bulgarian, I decided to translate it in English and post it here with my pictures.
However, I have pictures only of the finished product, so if you want to take a look at her step-by-step instructions, take a look here.

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You will need:
1 and 1/2 cups jasmine rice ( for sushi)
2 and 1/4 cups water
4-5 seaweed NORI ( large sheets)
1.35 oz rice vinegar
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt

For the filling- you can use whatever you like- eggs, fish, caviar, crab sticks, carrots, avocado, scallions, seedles cucumber, tofu etc.
Whatever you use, it has to be cut on long sticks, so it can be place in the middle of the sushi roll and not fall off when you cut it.

First, wash the rice thoroughly with water, then place it in a bowl and add water until the rice is covered. Let it soak for 30 minutes, then drain it.

Place the rice in a large sauce pan with a lid and add the 1 and 1/4 cups water . Place the pan over medium heat until it reaches boiling point, then let it stay for 5 more minutes and turn the heat off. DON’T remove it from the stove and place the lid on top.
* If you have a rice cooker, you can skip that part, but for the majority of us folks that don’t that’s an easy way to steamed rice at home.

In a small sauce pan warm up the rice vinegar, salt and sugar. Have in mind that you don’t have to boil it, only the salt and sugar have to dissolve. Leave it aside.

When the rice is cooled down, fluff it with a fork and add the rice vinegar.

Now, you might think you need a bamboo mat to make sushi, right? Wrong!
I made mine on a plain plastic cling wrap!
Off course if you have bamboo mat or want to buy one, go ahead but you don’t NEED, it, it just would be nice to have one.

So, place a sheet of Nori on top of the wrap, spread enough rice to cover the sheet, then place the strip cut ingredients at the end closer to you( so it would become the middle part of the sushi) and start rolling.
When you roll you need to detach the cling wrap on top with your fingers. By doing that you will be rolling only the Nori and rice, not the plastic wrap with it.
( take a look at Lois’s picture here).

When you are finished, cover the sushi with the plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator for a couple of minutes. As a matter of fact you can prepare it for guests the night before if you are not using fresh fish.

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When it’s cold and ready, cut with a very sharp knife and serve on a platter with Wasabi, marinated ginger and/or soy sauce.

You can use caviar or dry fish sprinkles as a topping as well.

You can very well use the “reverse” Maki sushi idea that I made too- spread the rice and place the Nori on top of it, that way your sushi will be white on the outside and black on the inside. Don’t forget to roll the sushi roll in sesame seed ( black preferably, but white is OK too) before you cut it.
Enjoy!

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