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.
Slice up the red pepper and toss it in a little olive oil. Sear it in the frying pan you’re going to use for the steak. (it will give the steak a lovely flavour)
2. Season and oil the steak in a Tupperware box. Rather than putting oil in the pan. 
4. Place the steak in the pan and cook for a minute or so until the underside it brown (or charred depending on your choice of steak), turn it and repeat.
Put the salad leaves, and tomato, in with the red pepper and add a good slug of awesome sauce (available here) and mix until everything is evenly coated.
