Sushi = Difficult

So, with my move to the Boston area being more or less successful (barring travel problems--see The First Leg and The Second Leg--and losing some books that I shipped through USPS), I have begun to wander the areas surrounding my apartment. One day, I came across an Asian market and found what I thought would be all of the supplies I would need to make sushi.

I have a sushi addiction. I could eat it every day, but being the frugal graduate student that I am, I decided I should learn how to make this expensive food, as opposed to spending the outrageous, yet understandable, prices that restaurants charge for it. The only problem was that making sushi is a bit more complicated than I expected--especially when the directions you're using leaves several unanswered, pertinent questions that only arise once you're in the middle of preparing the sushi.

COOKING THE RICE :

Rinsing : Rinsing sushi rice is essential. The website I initially trusted to guide me on my culinary journey said I needed to strain the rice after rinsing it. So, I went out and bought a strainer. But, as it turns out, a strainer is unnecessary. You can simply put the rice in a large bowl and then mix it around. When the water gets cloudy, dump out the dirty water, and repeat until the water is relatively clear.

Batch #1 : Luckily, this didn't turn out too bad.

Cooking : The instructions for cooking the rice were very fuzzy. The first website I consulted told me to let the rice sit in enough water to just cover the top of it for a half hour. Once the thirty minutes had passed, I was to then cook the rice without adding additional water. Bad idea. The rice had soaked up the majority of the water and started burning. The second website I consulted told me to boil the rice for 7 minutes and then let it simmer for 15 and was very adamant about NOT STIRRING THE RICE. As you can imagine, it didn't turn out very pretty.

Batch #2 : Mmmmm. Crispy. Thank you, Internet Sushi Dummies.

SEASONING THE RICE :

Apparently, you have to make a special mixture to season your sushi rice. I didn't realize this when I was buying my supplies, and I wasn't about to trek across town a third time. I figured I wouldn't need the seasoning since I bought soy sauce and wasabi. I figured that would be seasoning enough. I'll just buy rice vinegar for my future sushi attempts (and successes).

ROLLING THE SUSHI :

So, I understood the idea of spreading the rice across the seaweed. But, dang it, that rice isn't called "sticky" for nothing. Spreading it out was much more difficult than I anticipated. I couldn't get it to spread too evenly.













The actual rolling of the sushi was something else. I thought I did pretty good.

And then I flipped the roll over and saw my seaweed sticking out. I would have considered this a fail, but the sushi held together and that's what really counts, right?

CUTTING THE SUSHI : 

This was my first attempt at cutting my sushi. One sushi-making video I watched online showed the chef making one swift chopping motion. I attempted to do the same, and obviously failed. My conclusion is that I will need a knife as sharp as a samurai sword to do this correctly.

After my first attempt at cutting the sushi roll, I proceeded with a bit more caution than before. I think I did okay.

SOY/WASABI MIXTURE :

So, finally, I had some semblance of sushi. The rice was too thick and unseasoned and the roll looked like it had been cut by being run over by a lawnmower. But, whatever. I'm not picky. And then I realized that I didn't have one of those little dishes that you generally use to mix your soy sauce and wasabi. I may have to buy one in the future, but for the moment, a mixing cup worked just fine.

CONCLUSION :

Making sushi is difficult and the Internet is an incompetent teacher (at least in regards to making sushi). I heard that my landlady's husband teaches sushi classes and I plan on taking it. I will learn how to make sushi that is both tasty and beautiful . . . one day . . . one day.