Tell me about your experiences making sushi.

[Pool Hall Ace]

My local HFS is having a sale on Emerald Cove products, including nori sheets. I'd love to be able to make my own sushi :9 . . . have you done it??

[RebelOne]

1. Vegetarians and vegans don't eat sushi.

Try the Cooking and Baking forum.

[Pool Hall Ace]

2. I didn't even eat sushi until I became a vegetarian.

I buy it from the grocery store already prepared. It has carrots, cucumber, avocado, . . . and rice, of course.

There are plenty of vegetarian/vegan sushi recipes out there. I was wondering about what it is like trying to manipulate the sushi mat, getting the nori sheet to stick after it is rolled up, etc. I'm far from a fantastic chef, but I'm working on improving my skills.

[TBA]

3. Not hard just time consuming

The mat makes it easy and keeps everything tight. It is just like rolling a big joint on a tabletop. I suggest finding a youtube video.

Most important - get the right type of rice. Should be very sticky. Most stores have suchi rice so get that. Regular rice won't do. I think most recipes call for sweetening the rice and cooling it quickly. I cooled mine with a fan.

As for the mat, you may want to try laying plastic wrap on top of it. So mat first, then plastic wrap, then nori, rice and stuff. The plastic keeps things cleaner but you can skip it if you want.

Enjoy!

One more thing... Big mistake is trying to put too much stuff in it. Better small suchi than fat suchi.

[Pool Hall Ace]

4. "like rolling a big joint on a tabletop."

It has been a while, but I used to do that well. :smoke:

I checked out a few videos, and you are correct, it does not look difficult. And thank you for the tip about not putting too much stuff in it.

So now it is just a matter of practice, practice, practice! :)

[RebelOne]

6. The grocery stores here in North Georgia carry very little

in the way of vegetarian foods. This is a state of carnivores. The only sushi I have seen in my local Kroger contains fish or other raw seafood. But I have checked out vegetarian sushi recipes online. Lots of good stuff I can't wait to try.

[Pool Hall Ace]

9. I don't know if you will see this, Rebel, given the age of your post,

but do you have Harris-Teeter in your area? That is where I buy the prepared veggie sushi from the deli. I still have not gotten around to trying to make it on my own. I must try it! :D

[Codeine]

5. I eat the hell outta sushi.

Sushi doesn't need to include raw fish; my favorite sushi rolls involve avocado, tempura-battered carrot strips, and cucumber.

[Chan790]

7. Correction:

Vegetarians and vegans don't eat sashimi.

Sashimi is raw fish. Shari is the prepared rice.

Sushi is a vinegar-rice dish (Shari with "fillings"), usually but not always served with sashimi. (I might seem nitpicky but it's a distinction that annoys me, like when people say homemade salsa when they mean pico de gallo. (Salsa is cooked and cooled. Pico de gallo is uncooked, salted to sweat the vegetables and stews in its' own liquid.))

In fact, the serving of sushi with sashimi is far more common in the West than in Japan where sashimi sushi is a delicacy. The most common sushi pairings in Japan are cucumbers, tofu and daikon. Alternately, sushi is rolled into balls that are then rolled in sesame seeds and eaten for breakfast.

The ingredients of sushi:
Glutinous short-grain rice
Rice vinegar
Sugar
Salt
Elbow-grease. It's an exceedingly labor-intensive process requiring specialized tools and containers. (It can't come in contact with metal, it changes the flavor.)

[Chan790]

8. After that, I'd be remiss to not include the recipe.

Here is a recipe for making sushi rice. Japanese rice is short grain rice and gets slightly sticky when it is cooked. Long grain rice isn't proper for sushi because it is drier and doesn't stick together.
Ingredients:

3 cups Japanese rice
3 1/4 cups water
1/3 cup rice vinegar
3 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt

Instructions at the link:

http://japanesefood.about.com/od/sushiforbeginner/r/sushirice.htm