← Nouns Cooking · Japanese

Ingredients

• 360 g Japanese short-grain rice
• 400 ml Water
• 1 piece kombu (5 cm square) (optional)
• 75 ml unseasoned rice vinegar
• 2 tbsp Sugar
• 1½ tsp Salt
• 4 sheets Nori, cut in half across the lines
• 150 g sushi-grade (sashimi) tuna, cut into 1 cm sticks
• 1 Cucumber, deseeded, cut into 1 cm sticks
• 1 Avocado, cut into 1 cm strips
• 1 tsp Wasabi paste (optional)
• soy sauce or tamari, to serve (optional)
• pickled sushi ginger, to serve (optional)

Method

1. Rinse the rice in several changes of water until it runs nearly clear, then soak it in the measured water (with the kombu) for 30 min. Bring to the boil, cover tightly, cook on the lowest heat for 12 min, then rest off the heat, still covered, for 10 min. A rice cooker works too.
2. Warm the vinegar, sugar and salt just until dissolved. Tip the hot rice into a wide bowl, drizzle with the vinegar and cut it through with a paddle, fanning as you go, until glossy and at body temperature. Keep it under a damp cloth.
3. Lay a bamboo mat with a half nori sheet on it, shiny side down. With wet hands, spread a thin layer of rice (about 90 g) over the nori, leaving a 1 cm strip bare at the far edge.
4. Put a line of tuna, cucumber or avocado across the middle of the rice, with a dab of wasabi if you like.
5. Lift the near edge of the mat and roll it over the filling so the rice meets the rice on the far side, pressing gently into a firm cylinder. Roll on to seal the bare strip of nori.
6. With a sharp knife wiped on a damp cloth between cuts, slice each roll in half and then each half into 3 pieces. Serve with soy sauce, wasabi and pickled ginger.

Tips

• Raw fish must be sold as sushi- or sashimi-grade (previously frozen to kill parasites), kept cold and eaten the same day. Raw fish is not advised during pregnancy or for young children; use only cucumber and avocado for them.
• Soy sauce contains wheat; serve tamari for a gluten-free meal.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Just One Cookbook Chopstick Chronicles RecipeTin Japan