Less of a recipe, more of a 'Listen to what I tried to do.. '.

It's the ninth of August and my summer has officially started. I finally sat my last exam today, and I could not be more at ease right now. In true style of 'Typical Lauren Celebration', I planned to spend my day in the city center, surrounded by the two loves of my life. Patrick, my boyfriend, and Yamamori's finest sushi. 

Anyway, my dream was crushed because I forgot to tell him my plans and he wanted to stay local when he came home from work. After a short squabble, which I won, he agreed to buy me a tonne of ingredients in the hopes that we could make some sushi a fraction as good as what we're used to. 

Before I delve into the process itself, making sushi is the stickiest operation I've ever attempted to do. Prepare yourself for matted hair, and the moaniest kitchen help ever because it's no easy task. It's messy and time consuming and I probably wont ever do it again. 

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A list of essential ingredients that you will probably not have lying around and will definitely have to buy; 

• 2 cups of sushi rice
• 3 cups of Water
• 1/4 cup of Rice Wine Vinegar (realistically you don't need the vinegar and the sushi seasoning, one or the other will work fine, just adjust the measurement to half a cup)
• 1/4 cup of Sushi Seasoning
• 1/4 cup of White Sugar 
• 1 tablespoon of Sunflower Oil (or vegetable oil)
• 1 teaspoon of Salt
• Sheets of Nori

When I go out for sushi, I'm a huge fan of Salmon and Cream cheese, Crayfish and Spicy Mayonnaise and Spicy Tuna and Kimchee norimaki. So here are just some ideas for the toppings you could use; 

• Salmon and Philadelphia Soft cheese
• Crab Meat and Avocado (because you cant make sushi without making California rolls)
• King Prawns with homemade spicy Mayonnaise and sticks of cucumber. 

I alternated a lot between all the ingredients, so no limitations. If for some reason it doesn't taste too good, you just have to drench the sushi in teriyaki or soy sauce. Problem solved. 

Some of the extras I used 

• Spicy Mayonnaise (Homemade - mix original mayonnaise with a touch of Tabasco and paprika OR a bit of Sriracha sauce)
• Pickled Ginger
• Kikkoman Soy sauce (best soy sauce in my opinion)
• Teriyaki sauce (store bought or just mix soy sauce, honey and vinegar if you're lazy like me)

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Getting on with it now..

1. Rinse your 2 cups of sushi rice in a sieve and do it really well. It's going to take a while but you have to keep rinsing until the water that comes off it, runs clear. 
2. In a reasonable sized saucepan, 2 cups of rice is enough for about 3 or 4 people, combine the 2 cups of sushi rice with 3 cups of water. Bring to the boil then turn the heat as low as possible. Cover the pot and set a timer for 20 minutes.
3. While the rice is simmering away, you're going to have start making the solution that binds the rice together. In a small saucepan, mix a quarter cup of rice wine vinegar and a quarter cup of sushi seasoning ( or if you prefer a half a cup of just either one). Add a quarter cup of sugar, one tablespoon of sunflower oil or vegetable oil and a teaspoon of salt. Put all this over a medium heat and stir gently until the sugar dissolves. When this happens, take it off the heat and leave to cool slightly. 
4. By the time you've done all this, your sushi rice should be just about done. Pour your solution into the cooked sushi rice. At first it's going to look super wet and gloopy, but keep mixing and gradually it should dry up as it cools. 

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From here on out, it's really up to yourself. One thing I will say though. I didn't have a bamboo rolling mat. If you fold a tea towel into four, and wrap cling film around it, it works just fine. When you're rolling your sushi, you want to face your nori shiny side down on the cling film. Apply a thin layer to the sheet of nori, as thin as you possibly can, just make sure you can't see the nori through the rice. Leave a 2 cm gap of nori free of rice on the far edge of the sheet. Apply your fish and veg to the edge closest to you. I can't really tell you how to roll, it'd say a lot of people are disparate. All I can say is that it helps if you make the first roll with a blunt knife and your good 'ol fingers I guess. Your makeshift bamboo mat does the rest of the work, roll the sushi as tight as possible to create a good roll, visible when you cut it later. When you get to the section of nori with no rice on it, just wet the back of a spoon and run it across the seaweed. When you roll your barrel of sushi over this, it should stick and secure the entire roll. 

Overall, the procedure of making this not so attractive sushi took up a a good chunk of my day and I did have fun, so evidently it was a success. I ate so much that I felt physically ill, which always means that you just enjoyed yourself too much. I gobbled my sushi up with a G & T, my bf and The Princess Diaries. 

So I wont make it again and I'll appreciate the chefs in Yamamori so much more, but it let me write up this second post and that makes me happy. 

Talk soon,
Lauren