Making Sushi

Sushi is an art form of a food. It involves a lot of technique, of which I learned on my own from books, videos online, and friends. Meaning that I am not professionally instructed. I love sushi, but learning how to make it informs me if I'm overpaying at the restaurant.

Fun fact: sushi is actually pronounced zushi in Japanese.


First, cook the rice as you normally would. A rice cooker should be fine. The rice should not be burned nor mushy


When the rice is done, take it all out to cool. Do no flatten or smash the rice. Gently break it apart and fold it onto itself. Sprinkle a mix of rice vinegar, sugar, and salt over the rice.(the bottle should tell you their recommended measurements)


While the rice was cooking, prepare your fillings for the sushi. On top: (L-R) pickled daikon, cucumber, and imitation crab meat with japanese mayo. On bottom: (L-R) sliced pieces of tuna sashimi, spicy tuna (tuna, siracha, japanese mayo, green onion), and uni(sea urchin)


Tuna nigiri sushi(left). You can't tell, but I used too much wasabi to adhere the tuna to the rice underneath. I also sliced the tuna too thick, but important to cut against the grain so the tuna falls apart in your mouth and you're not chewing at it. Uni genken sushi(right). Rather easy to make once you get the hang of it, unfortunately I was running out of rice and seaweed paper. The bottom was the last and best one that came out.


My mother wanted some non-raw sushi, so I used any ingredients to make a close to california roll and hand rolls. My sister helped me roll most of them. We used a bamboo roller for these.


these are spicy tuna maki sushi and dakion maki sushi. I used a mini wooden sushi press that I purchased from a very nice man at the 2010 Cherry Blossom Festival in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles. I like these, because they are simple and quick to make and are bite size.

And that is it. I would have recorded myself making this, but it's a bit difficult doing it myself. If there is enough interest, I may make the effort to do so.

Until next time, bon appetite!