SUSHI RECIPES

You can easily prepare sushi even by yourself using proper ingredients and tools. Tokyokan sells both starter sushi kits for beginners and suitable ingredients and tools for more advanced sushi chefs.

Ingredients and tools

Kokuho Rose or Tsurumai sushi rice, Mitsukan sushi vinegar (su), sushi seaweed (nori), low-salted Yamasa soy sauce (shoyu) and Japanese horseradish (wasabi) for dipping, pickled ginger (gari), bonito soup (dashi) for egg rolls, bamboo mat (makisu) for maki and egg rolls, nigirizushi press form (oshigata), green tea, raw sea fish, vegetables.

Cooking sushi rice (sumeshi)

Wash 4 dl of rice with cold water. Put the rice into a deep kettle and add 4.5 dl of water. Allow the rice to stand in cold water for about 15 min and cover it by lid. Heat by maximum power until the rice starts to boil, turn the power to minimum and allow the rice to boil for another 10 min. Cut the heating power and allow the rice to steam for another 10 min. Move the rice into a large bowl. While cooking the rice, you may prepare a sweet vinegar dressing for seasoning.

Seasoning of sushi rice with sweet vinegar dressing (awasesu)

Heat and cool 7 tablespoons of rice vinegar, half a tablespoon of salt and 4 tablespoons of sugar, or use about half a cup of ready-made sushi-su dressing. Pour the dressing over rice while mixing it with a scoop by horizontal slicing motions. Cool the rice rapidly into room temperature using e.g. a fan. If you do not use the rice immediately, cover it by a wet towel. Rice may be kept for a day at room temperature (not in a refrigerator, as vinegared rice will harden in cold).

Makizushi (rolled sushi)

1. Place a sheet of toasted seaweed (nori) on a bamboo mat (makisu). Spread a layer of vinegared rice (sumeshi) onto the nori. Leave about 3 cm of the edge uncovered. Form a light groove in the centre.
2. Put the fillings such as raw fish or cucumber in the middle. Roll the layers over with the mat. If the nori ends do not stick to each other, wet them by water.
3. Roll into a tight, even cylinder.
4. Slice the roll into 8-10 pieces. Dip the knife in vinegar between slicing.

Gunkanmaki (roe-topped sushi)

1. Take a couple of tablespoons of rice and form an oval rice ball. Cut a slice of nori to surround the rice ball horizontally so as to be 1-2 cm higher than the rice ball.
2. Join the nori ends with water. Put a spoonful of roe and a bit of wasabi on top.

Nigirizushi (fish-topped rice balls)

1. Take a couple of tablespoons (20-25 g) of sushi rice. Roll it into a ball.
2. Take a slice of fish in your left hand. Add a bit of wasabi onto it.
3. Press the rice ball lightly on top of the fish.
4. Form the rice ball into an oval shape by pressing it lightly.

Tamagoyaki (sweet egg rolls)

1. Mix 4 eggs so that the yolks get broken.
2. Melt 2 tablespoons of sugar into 4 tablespoons of bonito soup (dashi).
3. Pour the soup onto the eggs and add a little salt.
4. Heat a rectangular tamagoyaki frying pan and add some oil.
5. Pour a thin layer of mixed eggs onto the frying pan.
6. When the egg layer is fried, roll it over as shown in the picture.
7. Move the roll into one end of the pan.
8. Lift the end of the egg roll so that liquid flows under it. Repeat steps 6 and 7 until the liquid is finished.
9. Cut the fried egg roll either into thin slices to be used for makizushi filling or into larger pieces for nigirizushi topping.

Sushi recipes with pictures

The same recipes in Finnish with detailed pictures are available here as a pdf file: sushiohje (the free Adobe Acrobat Reader is required for reading it)

TOKYOKAN
Annankatu 24
FI-00100 HELSINKI, FINLAND
Telephone: +358 9 622 5553
E-mail: info (at) tokyokan.fi
Open mon-fri 10-18, sat 10-15

Suomeksi   Japanese