The secret to quick and easy homemade sushi

You might remember from my trip to Yo! Sushi last year that, as a rule, raw fish and I do not get along. As the wide-grinned sharks of Finding Nemo once said, raw fish are friends, not food. Okay, I added the raw bit in but you get where I’m going with this. I can just about stomach a smoked salmon bagel but throw seaweed and avocado into the mix and… just no.

Following my trip to Yo! Sushi in Cheshire Oaks, I still wasn’t convinced at all and slightly irritated about it TBQHWY. So, when an email landed in my inbox challenging me to give homemade sushi a crack of the chopstick, I saw it as the perfect opportunity to attempt training my stubborn tastebuds once more. Not only that – but also to up the ante on my skills in the kitchen department too!

My secret weapon? Kenji microwave Sushi Rice.

Now, from doing a bit of research beforehand, I have established that making rice for sushi can be a bit of a ‘mare. You have to cook it for a very specific amount of time, you can only use a wooden spoon, it has to be washed over and over again… all sounds like a load of hassle to me.

The Kenji Sushi Rice on the other hand comes in a microwavable container, which simply requires 2 minutes in the microwave, time to cool down and then a splash of rice wine vinegar gently stirred through the grains. The packet does recommend leaving the rice to cool for 4-5 minutes and using 2 tablespoons of the vinegar but I would say allow a good 10-15 minutes for cooling and maybe only use 1-1.5 tablespoons of vinegar as the taste came out quite strong.

We decided to try our hand with some smoked salmon, cream cheese, avocado and Sriracha mayo – maki style – as these seemed like the most simple to create. We spread the rice over the seaweed sheets, laid out our fillings and well, roll up, roll up… look how they came out…

Pretty damn good, I think you’ll agree?! For our first time mastering the art of homemade sushi, I was definitely impressed with the outcome and have no doubt in my mind that the microwavable rice made the whole thing 200% less stressful.

In fact, I think I might be starting to come around to the idea of sushi!

Okay, so, I know you’re all dying to know…

My top tips for making homemade sushi

• If you’re using the Kenji rice like me, don’t forget to pick up some Rice Wine Vinegar at the supermarket to add to it. I learnt that the hard way.
• Don’t overfill your roll with rice so the rice:filling ratio ends up being all off.
• Don’t overfill your roll, full stop.
• Leave about 3/4 of an inch of the nori sheet at the end for overlap/sealing.
• Have a bit of water ready to seal the end of the roll with once you’re done rolling.
• If you’re going to use avocado, use one that’s not too ripe so it holds.

…and a couple more from my way-more-knowledgable-than-me foodie chums:

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This blog post has been written in collaboration with S&B Herbafoods but all words, photographs, opinions, teeth, hair, boobs and nails are my very own. The product is currently available in Waitrose (in store and online) for a limited introductory price of £2.50.