Sushi Preparation To Guarantee Good Homemade Sushi

Making sushi at home is a challenge that can be met quite easily by the new cook for as long as some timely steps are taken. Sushi is one dish that is not really difficult to make but once you start the cooking process, everything must follow in swift and orderly fashion. To avoid being derailed at any point during your sushi making, there are certain things that should be ready beforehand.

Materials for a Nice Sushi Meal

There are some basic items that are important for smooth sushi preparation. If you intend to make sushi every now and then, investing in these items will be well worth the expense.

• A 4 inch bento knife or any sharp handy knife is an absolute necessity in making sushi. A dull knife will mash the edges of your filling and fail to create the neat and sharp cuts needed for attractive sushi.

• A makisu or a mat made of bamboo sticks is also needed to shape and roll your makisushi. Once you start rolling the broad nori sheet with rice and different fillings, you will see just how essential this traditional material is. This mat helps you create compact, evenly shaped cylinders which are easy to cut. In general, you can use the mat as is when rolling out sushi with the nori outside but when you are trying to prepare uramaki or inside-out sushi, it is best to line the makisu with plastic wrap to make sure the rice gets compressed neatly.

• A shamoji or a rice paddle is a broad wooden ladle that is used to scoop out rice and to mix it with flavored vinegar. Although you can use any spoon to do this, used correctly the shamoji enables you to mix the rice without mashing it into fragments.

Ingredients for your Sushi

The quality of the sushi you will produce depends largely on the ingredients you use. Therefore, of utmost importance to sushi preparation is the selection of fresh or good quality ingredients especially because sushi is one dish where it is impossible to disguise quality.

• Nori or seaweed wrap absorbs moisture quickly. If is to be stored then a well-sealed plastic container or a zip lock bag should be used. The best nori sheets are dark black with one shiny side. Good quality nori should not be so thick it is hard to bite through but neither should it be so thin it has holes. Choose nori that is somewhat crisp, never on the chewy side. It is preferable that sushi with nori on the outside be prepared right before it is served.

• Wasabi is also referred to as Japanese horseradish although strictly speaking it does not belong to the horseradish family. The wasabi for the usual sushi preparation is packed in a tube or sold as powder.

• The sushi dip is made of soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, a touch of dashi and wasabi. Rice wine vinegar, available in Asian stores, is also a very basic ingredient for flavoring the sushi rice. Ask around which brands are best for home use. If you have friends who are fond of Japanese food, they might be able to point you to some stores where you can get advice as you shop.

• Fish and other fillings for the sushi should of course be of the best possible quality. Before you put everything together, all the fillings should be sliced and chilled. Fish and seafood are to be given special attention during preparations. Where these are only available frozen, these must be thawed carefully, sliced with a very sharp knife and chilled till you begin to put the sushi together.

There are little touches for authenticity that you can add for a truly enchanting sushi meal. You can grate some radish, sprinkle roe and sesame seeds over your urimaki and get some pickled ginger. Find samples of the different ways carrots and cucumber are sliced and folded for garnish then look for pretty ways to present your wasabi. A final cincher would be if you can find serving plates and shoyu dishes that will best show off your sushi. Once all this is done, you can relax and get down to the business of putting together your tasty little morsels of epicurean delight.