Learning the traditional ways of making sushi can be an engaging, educational, and enjoyable home activity. Sushi is a dish made up of rice combined with various other ingredients – these may include raw fish (such as salmon and tuna), avocado, and vegetables.

Launch by placing a sushi mat on a flat surface. Place a nori sheet, rough side down, on top with rice evenly distributed across it – leaving approximately an inch bare nori at the top for decoration.

How to roll

Sushi is a dish composed of rice that is combined with various ingredients and assembled by rolling or layering. Commonly made using Koshihikari rice – known for its sticky consistency when cooked – available from supermarkets and Asian grocers – before seasoning it with vinegar and sugar before adding nori sheets as an important binding component that impart a salty, delicately grassy taste while helping hold together sushi creation.

To begin rolling sushi, first cradle a sheet of nori in your nondominant hand with its smooth side facing upward. Spread an even layer of rice across it; leaving about an inch at the top bare; using your fingers, place fillings over it as evenly as possible before shaping them into a cylindrical form with your hand and rolling until all ingredients have been enclosed by nori sheets.

As soon as your roll is completed, cover it with plastic wrap and set it aside. If desired, garnish your sushi with toasted sesame seeds, fish eggs (tobiko) or both for an eye-catching presentation. Serve your sushi alongside soy sauce, wasabi and pickled ginger if desired.

Hosomaki can be easily created following the steps for uramaki but with only one filling used on its outside surface. When complete, cut into six equal slices before serving.

Preparing the rice

At the center of any successful sushi recipe lies its base ingredient: rice. Preferably, prepare it a few hours ahead, giving it time to cool off and absorb any seasoned vinegar mixtures you plan to add after you cook the grain. Short grain sushi rice contains more starch that will hold together better than regular white grains; additionally, you should create a mixture of vinegar, sugar and salt that can be mixed into the cooked batch of grain for after adding finishing touches such as rolling.

For optimal results, when cooking rice you must use a rice cooker. Water should be reduced by 10% compared to usual and Kombu added during the process to add both flavor and nutrition. Once completed, allow the finished product to cool to room temperature before handling or using in sushi preparations.

Even without a bamboo sushi mat, you can still craft delicious sushi rolls by using a thick towel or placemat as your rolling surface. This will allow for easier rolling of sushi rolls while providing additional practice before moving on to larger or fancier rolls.

Sushi is a Japanese dish consisting of short grain rice layered with other ingredients and prepared according to traditional techniques. Popular fillings for sushi include raw seafood like salmon, tuna, shrimp or octopus; avocado, cucumber and daikon radish; as well as soy sauce, wasabi or pickled ginger sauces and pickles ginger pickled as condiments.

Making the fillings

Sushi can be made using various ingredients. Fish, vegetables and fruit are popular fillings; you could also add kimchi and pickled ginger for extra probiotic support! Many of these items can even be found at regular grocery stores these days!

Traditional sushi preparation requires short grain rice that has been cooked until tender and drained before being mixed with vinegar and sugar before cooling – this allows it to become fluffier while adding additional flavor. Once cool, the cooled mixture is spread on nori (seaweed) sheets before topping them off with raw or cooked fish slices or other fillings and then rolled and served.

For creating sushi rolls, all that’s necessary is a bamboo mat and plastic wrap. Place one nori sheet, rough side facing down, on the mat. With wet fingers, evenly distribute a cup of cooked, unseasoned rice onto it leaving about 1/2 inch space at the top – don’t crush or flatten the rice or it may end up too heavy and dense! For optimal results, leave no space above or below. This ensures fluffy sushi.

Start by layering cucumber, crab meat and avocado about 1-1/2 in. from the bottom edge of a nori sheet. Tuck these fillings over your rice, and gently roll the sushi. Transfer it to a dish with toasted sesame seeds before serving along with soy sauce and wasabi as needed.

Rolling the sushi

Sushi is an adaptable food, capable of being made into many variations. Nigiri sushi (handfuls of rice topped with fish or other ingredients), is created by layering raw ingredients on short-grain seasoned with vinegar and sugar; in rolls however, cooked rice is covered by sheets of dried seaweed known as nori before being filled with fillings before rolling tightly to create circular shapes.

Hosomaki is the easiest form of sushi roll to prepare, consisting of just one filling (usually tuna) cut into six pieces. Start by placing a sheet of nori with its blank side facing upward in your non-dominant hand, blank side down. Apply a thin layer of sushi rice over this base layer, leaving about an inch space around all edges for your fillings to go in later.

Use your fingertips to evenly spread rice across the surface of the nori and add an even layer of fillings, so as not to overwhelm or make too large of an object. Fillings should remain simple so as not to overshadow or make the roll too large.

Once filled with ingredients, fold over and tighten the bare edge of nori over them before gently shaping and rolling it to form a roll. Continue rolling until all your ingredients have been enclosed; once finished place the sushi onto a plate and serve with soy sauce and wasabi for best results.