So lately I’ve been craving sushi and I’ve noticed people either share my excitement and then tell me of a great Sushi restaurant or they screech in horror – ‘Gross out – fish was meant to be cooked!’
Some myths about Sushi revealed!
1. The word “sushi” actually refers to the seasoned rice, not the fish.
Sushi was developed hundreds of years ago in Japan as a way of preserving fish. To properly ferment the fish, it was packed in rice, but then the rice itself was discarded. Over time, cooks began experimenting with cooking the rice to eat with the fish. Eventually people started eating the fish raw rather than preserved, so cooks mixed the rice with sugar and vinegar to give it the sharp fermented flavor they missed from the fish. The word “sushi” actually refers to the seasoned rice, not the fish.
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2. So sushi rolls DO NOT have to contain RAW fish as many people are lead to believe.
For a long time I thought this and was just horrified at the idea rather then it be based on something I had actually tasted. I would eat Avocado, or Sweet Potato, Cucumber, Sweet Chilli Chicken Sushi and then slowly branched out to try some with Shrimp. The other day I ended up at a buffet Japanese restaurant where the Sushi options were endless! So I decided to go all out try all these random raw fish options – guess what! They didn’t actually kill me… or for that matter taste bad! Most of the ‘Sushis’ in American/Australia have been so westernized anyway – I bet they don’t have a ‘Philadelphia Roll’ (Rice, Smoked Salmon, Cucumber and cream cheese) or a ‘Californian Roll’ (Avocado, Crab, Cucumber and Mayo) in authentic sushi restaurants in Japan.
3. Sushi is simple, fun, healthy and cheap to make!
My friend Mandy and I attempted it last night. Instead of going out and spending money on a ‘Sushi making kit’ I randomly came across a ‘bamboo place mat’ at the dollar store that I used as the ‘sushi mat’ to make the rolls. It worked awesome!
I watched a bunch of very educational youtube videos:
How to make a ‘Inside out Californian roll’ (Uramaki is actually the word for sushi that has the rice on the outside.)
How to make a tiger roll
Found a great taste recipe to make ‘sushi rice’. I halved this recipe and we had more then enough for two people!
Hint: Make sure you by proper sushi rice and sushi vinegar and the recipe calls for. If your rice isn’t sticky you’re sushi wont happen!
Find some recipes to ‘roll’ with
We made – Cali roll – Avocado, Crab meat, cucumber and Mayo
Phily roll – Smoked salmon, cucumber and cream cheese
Sweet chili chicken – precooked strips of chicken marinated in sweet chili sauce and fresh garlic add a little more sweet chili sauce when rolling up.
Shrimp roll – shrimp (prob would add more to this one in the future… bit bland)
We sprinkled sesame seeds on the outside of all of them too! So delicious and we barely used any of our ingredients and were full as bulls!
Highly recommend the homemade sushi making to do with friends or a date one night when you have a bit of time to muck around in the kitchen. Prepare the rice before your guests arrive. Sit the computer on your table and watch the experts show you how to do it. It isn’t quite as easy as it looks… but you get the knack of it after a while. My first roll was a bit fat!
Mandy making rolling her roll
Sitting down on the floor Japanese style to eat – just forgot to buy some chopsticks!
Have you ever made sushi? Do you have your own recipes or favourite combinations?
