Maki Sushi

About Sushi

“Sushi” is the name of the most popular Japanese dish, and it has over a thousand years of history and tradition. “Sushi” began as a way of preserving fish with rice and salt. In the course of Japanese history, hundreds of different types of “Sushi” were formed.
Many different combination of“Sushi” were invented and also the ways of serving them. Today, a definition of “Sushi” is the marriage of vinegared rice to other ingredients.
Two most popular type of“Sushi” are “Nigiri” and “Maki”.
“Nigiri Sushi” is made with vinegared rice that is shaped into a bite-size ball 
and topped with a slice of raw fish or other ingredient.

The word “maki” means “roll,” thus “Maki Sushi” is rolled Sushi. It is rolled with a sheet of seaweed, vinegared rice with various fillings. There are many kinds of maki, depending on the filling used. “Hosomaki” (Thin roll) is generally contains only one filling; “Kappamaki” (cucumber roll), “Tekkamaki” (a raw tuna fish roll), and Oshinkomaki (a pickled radish roll) are some examples. “Californiamaki” is a western invention of maki sushi with avocado, cucumber and crabmeat. “Futomaki” (Thick roll) is a fancy roll with 5-6 different ingredients. "Maki Sushi” is simple to make and is frequently prepared at home.
 

Ingredients for making Maki Sushi

• Sushi rice: 2 cups
  for seasoning the rice
• Rice vinegar: 1/3 cups
• Sugar: 2 tablespoons
• Salt: 1 teaspoon

• Nori (dried sea weeds): 6-8 sheets
• Bamboo sheet (rolling mat)

serve sushi with
• Soy sauce
• Sushi ginger
• Wasabi (green radish)

Suggested fillings for Maki Sushi:
• Cucumber
• Avocado
• Eggs (thin omelette)
• Dried Mushrooms (marinate in soy sauce, sugar, and little bit of water)
• Takuwan (Japanese yellow pickled radish)
• Sesame seeds
• Fish eggs (Salmon roe)
• Crabmeat (Surimi)
• Raw Tuna, Raw or Smoked Salmon, Cooked Shrimps
• etc.

Making Sushi Rice

First rinse 2 cups of rice with running water three times,
then add 2 cups of water
and let it soak in the water for 20 minutes before cooking.

Cover the cooking pot. Cook the rice with medium heat, then bring to boil.
When water boils, turn it to low heat and let it simmer for 10 minutes.
Then stop the heat and let it stand and steam for 10 minutes.

Make vinegar sauce:
Mix 1/3 cup rice vinegar, 2 tablespoons of sugar and 1 teaspoon of salt

Put cooked rice in a bowl and pour the vinegar sauce over,
gently mix them together and cover the rice and let it stand for 20 minutes.
That’s Sushi Rice!  

Preparation

 

While the rice is cooking, prepare the filling. One sheet of Nori is 7 1/2“ x 8“,

you want to cut ALL fillings small or into long thin strips. 

 

Make a rolled omelet, and cut it into long thin strips.
Cut cucumber into long thin strips.

 Cut Raw Fish, Crabmeat, Cooked Shrimps, etc.

 Cut avocado in slices

Making tasty marinated mushroom:
soak some dried mushrooms in little bit of soy sauce, water and sugar
then cut them into small pieces.

 Fish eggs, and sesami seeds are nice Ingredients to add to sushi.

Rolling Maki Sushi

 Place one sheet of nori (shiny side down) on a bamboo rolling mat.
(for hosomaki (thin maki), cut a sheet of nori in half.)
Place a thin layer of rice over nori.

Use hands to spead the rice gently and evenly,
leaving 1 inch space at the top.

Place long, thin strips of fillings of your choice in the center of the rice.

 Keep a small bowl of water next to you and keep wetting your hands as you do this.
The rice is sticky, but rice will not stick to wet hands.

 Lift the front of the bamboo mat closer to you.

 Slowly fold the mat over tucking in the end of the nori and start to roll.

Keep rolling at the same time lifting up the mat.

Continue to roll until Sushi is rolled completely.
Keep pressure on the roll, make it tight.

To finish the roll, keep the bamboo mat wrapped around the roll and
squeeze it gently to even it out and forms a nice firm cylinder roll.

Push back any rice or fillings that comes out at the end of the roll with your fingers. 

Unfold the bamboo mat,
and place the rolled sushi with the edge down this will keep Nori stick together.

Use sharp knife to cut Maki Sushi.
Keep the knife very moist to prevent sticking, remoistening before each cut.

Normally you cut Maki Sushi into 8 pieces.
I prefer cutting into 10 pieces,
smaller pieces are easier to eat.

You can eat Maki Sushi by dipping in soy sauce with
 wasabi (green horse radish) and with sushi ginger !