Experiment - Recipe: Sushi Rice (& various Maki Rolls)

by Simon Fernandez of ferdiesfoodlab

I love sushi! 

I’m a grazer, I like variety in my food, I like to make lots of different types of roll, which inevitable means I end up with rather more than I could possibly eat myself!!  That's why I make it when I have friends around. It’s nice to get everyone involved in the rolling . .  
S U S H I   P A R T Y ! ! , or maybe a little rolling competition : )

What I’ve found is that if you give folk a set of ingredients and let everyone freestyle, you invariably get some pretty random stuff, and it’s quite often very good!! I always take notes!!! : )

In this post: crunchy tipped chicken and mango rolls, mushroom rolls, soused cucumber and cream cheese, red pepper and mayo, sweet lemon lettuce and egg pancake roll.

OK first the basics: the rice

One of the most important things to get right is the rice, you don't want it too wet or mushy or too hard!

So first you need the right kind of rice: Sushi rice has a grain in between pudding rice and risotto rice, very similar to paella rice.

The next thing to get right is the ratio of water to rice which is 1.3 by weight. So for example 500g rice to 650g water.

For other types of rice you can have a quick check on the Quick Ref tab on this blog : )

How do I cook sushi rice?  Wash the rice by rinsing it in a sieve under the cold tap, cook it with or without seasoning seaweed (EG kombu), one cooked turn it out onto a tray. Spread out gently to season it. Season with sweet vinegar, do not allow to go cold (makes the rice hard).

What ratio of water to rice? 1 : 1.35  rice : water  by weight will give you mid ground bite. 1.3 to go more al dente 1.4 for a softer touch

How much rice vinegar & sugar to rice? 

After it’s cooked: 60g seasoning per 600g uncooked rice - 10% by weight (add as soon as the rice is cooked & turned out)

or 

Before it’s cooked: 60g seasoning per 300g uncooked rice - 20% by weight (add as soon as the rice is cooked & turned out)

How much sugar in the sweetened vinegar?

Rice vinegar : Sugar : Salt = 6 : 6 : 1

Nori: Shiny side in or out? Shiny side out rook nice! (also rice sticks to the rough side better, so assemble rice onto rough side)

What now? Get rolling Daniel-san aye.

What to go inside? Man the variety and spectacular presentation and combination of flavours of sushi masters is truly beguiling!

Best learn how to roll before you go native since some of the ingredients are delicate and expensive!

I believe Japanese food to be both the most fun and the most f8cking serious you’ll ever encounter! (and very rewarding)

This post is very much about fun : )

ingredients (serves 4 as a starter)

makes

2 large rolls - chicken and mango rolls (6 pieces x 2 types)

3 small rolls - mushroom rolls (18 pieces)

2 small rolls - soused cucumber and cream cheese (12 pieces)

2 small rolls - red pepper and mayo (12 pieces)

2 large rolls - sweet lemon lettuce and egg (8-12 pieces)

For which you'll need 7 sheets of nori. (plus any practice spares)

for the sushi rice

When working out how much rice you'll need calculate with 50g cooked rice per small roll

and 100g cooked rice per large roll (more quantities here: Quick Ref Tab

250g uncooked rice rice makes 550g cooked rice

large x2 100g x2 200g

small x9 50g x10 500g

need at least 700g

for the rice (1kg)

450g sushi rice 

585g water

2 sheets kombu (optional)

for the sushi vinegar (100ml  10% of weight of the cooked rice!) 

46g rice wine vinegar

46g sugar

8g salt

for the egg roll w/ sweet lemon & shredded lettuce

2 eggs

15g flour

50g milk

1/2 tsp sugar 

pinch of salt

1/3 iceberg lettuce (shredded)

1/2 lemon 

1 tbsp sugar

for the mushroom sushi

250g mushrooms (duxelles)

1tsp soft cheese

1/2 tsp all purpose

for the crispy chicken and mango salsa sushi

2 chicken thighs chopped into strips

1/2 mango (fine diced)

1/2 red onion (fine diced)

1/2 chilli

coriander (torn)

50g bread crumbs

50g egg roll mix (see below)

for the soused cucumber sushi

1 tsp soft cheese

1 tsp mayo

1/3 cucumber (cut into strips)

250ml white wine vinegar

125ml sugar

125ml water

12g salt

for the red pepper sushi

red pepper (julienne)

1tbsp mayo

for the accompaniments

pickled ginger

wasabi

ponzu

apparatus / equipment

sushi rolling mat

nimble fingers 

square frying pan (for pancakos)

rolling method

When spreading the rice onto the nori (seaweed sheets) have a bowl of water with a little vinegar in it. Dip your fingers in it every time you grab some rice so they don't completely covered in rice and stop you right in your tracks!!

When cutting the rolls make sure your knife is clean (and keep it clean with a damp cloth during the whole process) and sharp!

sushi vinegar

Mix all the ingredients together until the salt and sugar are dissolved. (Warm if required)

sushi rice

Wash the sushi rice, then cook it in a rice cooker ratio of 1.3 water to 1 rice by weight.

Once cooked turn the rice out onto a tray and season it with sushi vinegar. Sprinkle the vinegar over a paddle, flicking the paddle back an forth to evenly distribute the vinegar. When mixing the seasoning in take care not to squash the rice.

mushroom sushi

This is a simple mushroom duxelles in a small roll, great umami flavour and not too much mushroom texture, which for some people is a real bonus!

crispy chicken and mango salsa sushi

This flavour profile had nothing to do with Japanese cuisine, it’s more equatorial Brazilian kinda vibe but it works well in a sushi roll, this is what experimenting is all about!

soused cucumber sushi

Fairly standard roll contents but pickled. Mix the sousing vinegar ingredients (salt, sugar, water, vinegar) until the salt and sugar are dissolved. Pickle the cucumber for 60 mins. Mix the mayo and the cheese, and combine the the drained cucumber and mayo in to a roll.

Quite nice a nice combo is plain cucumber with a little wasabi mayo wrapped in pickled ginger in the centre of a roll.

Ahem, before any of the purists have a pop, it’s worth nothing that pickled ginger is traditionally used as a between sushi rounds palette cleanser.

red pepper sushi

Again another bog standard ingredient in its raw form. Roasted red pepper and beef tartare or charred beef are a great combo

egg roll w/ sweet lemon & shredded lettuce

Swiss roll style with and extra inch at the end to hold the wrap, filled in the centre shredded iceberg lettuce dressed with lemon syrup.