Until having it demonstrated to me, making sushi seemed like it would be difficult. This recipe was taught to us by someone from Japan so rest assured, this is the real deal. It's actually not as hard as it looks, and there is a ton of potential with this recipe. While this is a simple iteration we used, feel free to substitute your own favorite foods or fish. Think of it like a rice burrito, you can wrap anything as long as it fits in the paper.
As obvious as it might seem, good rice really is the backbone of sushi. Simply put, the rice needs to be sticky and this is much easier to accomplish with glutinous rice. Normal white rice likely won't be sticky enough unless you add something to it so look for specific types. This is one example but any glutinous/sweet rice will do: https://www.amazon.com/Nishiki-Premium-Sushi-Rice-15/dp/B001CWCO90
Equipment
Plastic Wrap/Cellophane
Knife (very sharp)
Spoon (for spreading rice)
Rice Steamer (optional for best rice)
Ingredients
Seaweed Sushi Paper (example: https://tinyurl.com/yarywcsj)
Glutinous/Sushi Rice (example: https://tinyurl.com/y7wbwahk)
Sweet Rice Vinegar
Cucumber
Imitation Crab Sticks
Eggs
Tuna Salad (A little sour is better)
Soy Sauce (for dipping)
Directions
1. Cook the rice, in a rice steamer is better. If you do cook the rice in a pot on the stove, try putting a paper towel between the pot and the lid as you steam it. This will keep more of the moisture in and make your rice stickier.
2. When the rice is finished, add in the sweet rice vinegar to taste. This gives the sushi that toasted rice flavor it's famous for. Regular rice vinegar will work too, just don't use as much.
3. For the eggs, you want to make a really simple omelet. Try to keep it as large a piece as possible. Use a knife to slice the egg into short, thin strips no longer than the seaweed paper.
4. Cut the cucumber into short thin strips also. The pieces should not be any longer than the seaweed paper.
5. For the imitation crab, you want to pull it apart into thinner strips. The whole stick is too large for the sushi roll unless you want only imitation crab and nothing else in there.
6. By now you should have small, thin strips of all the ingredients. The tuna salad should be mixed and thick so that it's spreadable. Watery tuna salad will ruin your sushi roll and make it too wet to roll.
7. Lay out a rectangular piece of plastic wrap/cellophane, and put the shiny side of the seaweed paper face down. Seaweed paper has a rough side, and a shiny side. The rough side is what you attach the rice and ingredients to, the shiny side is what you see when you finish rolling it.
8. Spread a thin layer of rice across most of the seaweed paper. Leave a tiny bit of room on the edges for rolling.
9. At this point, you can put whatever combination of ingredients (or your own additions) inside the roll. Only put the ingredients on one end of the paper, concentrated in an area you can roll.
10. Now you want to roll the seaweed from one end to another. Start rolling at the end where your ingredients are concentrated. The roll should be tight. If you've ever rolled a sleeping bag, it should be as tight as that.
11. Let the roll sit with the weight of the sushi on the loose end of the seaweed. The weight in addition to the sticky rice should make the roll stick together.
12. To serve the sushi, slice with a sharp knife. The slicing should be quick or your roll might fall apart. Dull knives can ruin it. A sharp bread slicing knife is great for this actually. Serve with soy sauce and wasabi for dipping.
This might seem complicated but give it a try! It's actually pretty simple and easy once you get it the first time. We will make a follow up video with step by step instructions, so stay tuned.