How to make sushi for beginners

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I have a confession. While I might dazzle you with my fancy prawns and pavlova, but I can not make rice. I try. I do. But mine always ends up too gluggy, or crunchy or just not right. So this year we invested in a $13 rice cooker. And I thought I’d be all over it. But I burnt my brown rice one day, and undercooked it the next. Seriously!

So I’ve been avoiding those microwave packs assuming they have a whole host of nasties inside, but I was pleasantly surprised to learn that it’s not the case! SunRice approached me recently offering their Microwave Sushi Rice to try for myself. When I checked the ingredients list I was happy to learn that it’s in fact 100% cooked sushi rice. No additives, no preservatives and it’s gluten free. Best of all in just 2 minutes you have perfect sushi rice. So while you all show off with your pot of water and rice-cookers, you know what I’ll be using!

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HOW TO MAKE SUSHI

Step 1: You need to gather your ingredients. You’ll need sushi rice {I used the SunRice Fast & Easy sushi rice}, rice vinegar, seaweed sheets, a bamboo mat and your favourite ingredients. We love tuna and avocado. I like to be a little bit fancy and blitz my tuna with the food processor and add sesame seeds, but seriously I think I’m just trying to over-compensate for not being able to cook rice. I also love Kewpie mayo.

Step 2: Heat the SunRice sushi rice in the microwave for 2 minutes as per the pack instructions, add the vinegar and let it cool. Place the seaweed sheet on the bamboo mat and cover just over a third with the now cool rice. You can get the kids involved and be messy. It’s allowed. Sometimes it’s easier to work with wet hands when dealing with the sticky rice.

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Step 3: Place your ingredients on top. If you want to add mayo or wasabi, you can do it now.

Step 4: It’s time to rock and roll. So using your bamboo mat, roll that baby. Roll it tightly so that it all stays in a neat roll together.

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Step 5: You can either tidy up the ends of the sushi and serve as a long roll, or cut up into smaller pieces. Make sure you use a sharp knife, and sometimes wetting it will help keep the rice from sticking again.

Step 6: Enjoy with soy sauce for dipping.

64 thoughts on “How to make sushi for beginners”

  1. I love the teriyaki chicken and cucumber combo- simple and super yummy! I would invite Jamie Oliver into my home to share the sushi cos he’s a lovely guy and I’m sure he would give my sushi a big thumbs up

  2. My favourite is spicy tuna and avocado – for the filling I mix up canned tuna, kewpie mayo and a pinch of cayenne pepper. Then top with fresh avo. Gives it a bit of zing!

  3. Our family favorite is a shrimp tempura roll. I think I would let my ten year old ( loves to cook and has wanted to make sushi at home) do the sushi making and knowing him he would invite his grandparents!

  4. The child loves the smoked salmon and avocado. I like the same except I like my salmon raw. I think perhaps it would be fun to invite the school friends around for sushi. When I was a kid we had never even heard of the stuff but these days they sell it in the school canteen everyday. And they sell out everyday too.

  5. oooooh! Good question! My fave is smoked salmon, pickled ginger and little slivers of red capsicum đŸ™‚
    I would love to have Alex O’Loughlin over for Sushi <3

  6. wow this looks easy! I will try it, we were talking about making our own sushi the other day, I kinda shuddered… đŸ™‚

    Sarah

  7. Raw salmon, salmon roe, avocado and wasabi (brushed onto the rice cause I like it hot) Now who would I like to invite….probably someone who could actually show me how to make it properly would be a good start….I would say Jamie Oliver as he is always so vibrant and full of energy on his shows and it’s the passion for food that I would like to capture

  8. ooer! I would love love love to win this!!!!! I mango in my sushi. sometimes I just need a little sweetness in my life. as for who to invite over – I may instead take it to the streets and feed the homeless. who says they can’t eat well? đŸ™‚

  9. I have two favorite sushi combinations, and could never choose between the two… peanut avocado (is the most amazing) and spicy/crunchy tuna. I have found that I am not always able to get the peanut avocado rolls which is so disappointing if I am craving it! Would love to start making my own!!

    -Coleen
    http://www.skinnyinstilettos.blogspot.com

  10. I can not cook rice either! Even with my rice cooker! I make lovely meals then ruin the rice part. Anyway my fav combo is anything with prawn in it. Woul invite my sister over who I never see as she is always so busy – I thinking the sushi may be a drawcard!

  11. I love plain old cooked tuna and cucumber, it’s just so refreshing on a hot day! As for who I would invite, I wouldn’t invite anyone, Miss L (my 3 yo) and I love to enjoy sushi together, it’s our secret thing we do when dad is at work and big brother is at school. Making it with her would just be a blast!

  12. Wow! You make sushi look so easy! I too have the same problem with rice. I cannot make it, and it doesn’t matter what device I use. I love crab with mayo and cucumber – some may find it boring, but it’s my favourite!

  13. I love all sushi! I could eat sushi EVERY day for th rest of my life. My dream is to be able to make it as well as the pros! Can never go wrong with cucumber avocado crab spicy tuna and salmon. I also love any roll with asparagus! I would invite my dad’s mother who I never was able to meet before she passed. I’m hoping she would love sushi as much as I do!

  14. I LOVE sushi……fave flavour combo is prawn and avocado with just the right amount of kew pie mayo, a sprinkle of sesame seeds and some wasbai on the side…..the perfect mummy treat for lunch when all the kids are at school đŸ™‚ If I were to invite someone to my house to make sushi for them it would have to be OneD……can you imagine my 10 and 12 yr old daughters’ faces if that happened?????? If they couldn’t make it then I would invite you chantelle…just so you could try my fave flavour combo x

  15. Mmm…sushi! My fave combo is crunchy coated chicken with avocado & soy.

    I would invite Jamie Oliver so I could personally thank him for the way his cookbooks have transformed our family dinner routine!

  16. This is torture as I love sushi but can’t have store bought ones when I’m pregnant! I know I can make my own but I can never seem to get it right. I love the prawn tempura, or soft shell crab, or california. Lily loves the seafood salad and has to have a roll every time we do the grocery shopping.
    And I would invite a proper Japanese sushi maker over to make it for me so it’s perfect! đŸ™‚

  17. My favourite sushi flavor that I’ve had so far is soft shell crab. Delicious!

    I don’t think I’d feel confident making sushi for anyone, let alone the Queen! I’ve only ever made it once and it didn’t turn out that great lol I do like flyingdrunkenmonekys idea of inviting a proper sushi chef over so they could teach me how to make it though! đŸ™‚

  18. OMG Kewpie is the best!!!Hubby and I love going to sushi train!! Teriyaki chicken and avocado, drizzled with sweet soy and kewpie mayo is my fave.. Then I’d invite my family and friends over to feast on sushi

  19. I love the very basic salmon and avocado combo with soy (not a friend of wasabi). I also tried sweet coconut & strawberry & chocolate makis some time ago (add a little coconut milk into the rice instead of vinegar, and roll the makis without the seaweed using cling film, and roll in coconut flakes before cutting, then dip in melted chocolate), very delicious! I’d invite my mom over and make fish-free sushi (as she is allergic and has never been able to try sushi before).. I think sweet fried pork with shitake mushrooms would be a lovely combo for her.

  20. My fave is smoked salmon and avocado! Of course with kewpie mayo! And wasabi. I’d love to make sushi for my inlaws- who live overseas.

  21. If you hanker for sushi rice and haven’t got special ingredients, you can get the sushi rice flavour using ordinary white vinegar, sugar and a pinch of salt: ratio 2:1.5 tablespoons/cup of uncooked rice, added while the cooked rice is still hot. One of my Japanese friends uses sticks of processed cheese in her sushi-definitely not my favourite.

    BTW, two tips for cooking brown rice in the rice cooker: make sure you measure the water carefully according to the amount of rice, and put through two cycles of cooking.

  22. My favourite to make is crab, avocado and cream cheese, but my favourite to eat out is fresh salmon and avocado, with kewpie mayo. I would be perfectly content making it for hubby, we love making and eating sushi together!

  23. YUM! I’m definitely going to try this! I’m missing sushi so much now that I’m pregnant and you can’t eat the stuff that’s been sitting around for more than 5 seconds. I love avocado and sesame seeds and kewpie mayo – sometimes with tuna and sometimes on its own. And I love the ones with tofu and carrot too.
    I’m not sure I’d be entirely good at sushi making as I’m not very neat, so I would steer clear of fancy folk, and have a girlfriend over instead – I can cook the rice and she can roll them neatly đŸ˜‰

  24. Favorite sushi flavor combo is spicy salmon and advacado! I would love to have my sister over and make sushi for her. She moved from the west coast of the US to the east coast earlier this year. I haven’t seen her in over seven months and miss her terribly.

  25. I LOVE Sushi! My boyfriend and I have a sushi picnic (as in we eat it on the floor) every time I visit him in Melbourne (I live in Brisbane) and we love it. I love it all but my favourite is Salmon Nigiri (moulded rice on the bottom with raw salmon on top, no seaweed). I absolutely adore salmon and tuna sashimi (raw sliced fish) though, it’s to die for, especially when drizzled with soy sauce, a generous dollop of kewpie mayo, and topped with pickled ginger. I’m drooling just thinking about it! If I could make sushi for anyone it would be my boyfriend, it has definitely become a tradition for us and I would love to be able to make it for him!

  26. My favourite combo is salmon avocado and wasabi. Yum yum!! I’d eat it with my partner who would willingly eat it (in my fantasy world!)

  27. I love mine with Teriyaki anything and avocado and soy. I wouldn’t invite anyone over except my family as they’ve seen how non-crafty I am and seriously rolling sushi is similar to origami top me !

  28. Mine is always crabstick, cucumber and salmon (the one that use for sandwiches). Nyummy!! And I always make some for my boyfriend. He loved it!

  29. Ohhhhh I know it’s not TRADITIONAL but I LOVE tempura prawn, cucumber and lettuce, mmmmmmm yummy!! And id have to share it with my bestest girl who originally introduced me to sushi!!! Xxx

  30. Without fail, the Californian roll. Who would I invite? you ask, probably yourself Chantelle so I could guide you through your rice cooker manual and show you perfect rice CAN BE DONE!

  31. I love chicken and sweet chilli sauce AND hot chilli sauce, I would invite my Dad over, because he loves spicy food as much as I do!

  32. I love teriyaki chicken with soya sauce đŸ™‚ On another note: to cook perfect microwave rice (using basmati rice and 1100w microwave oven) In large casserole/microwave rice cooker-1 cup of uncooked rice, add two cups of boiling water (from kettle), give a little stir. Place cover on container- in micro for 14 mins with 50% power. Stir with fork when finished and you have perfect rice đŸ™‚

  33. im a big fan on you, but this sushi doesn’t look right. You must the rice more even in the center, so when you put the filling sutff will remaind in the center when you close all together. And do it very tight also.
    Cheeers!! still a big faaaaaaaaaaaaan good vibes

  34. i know it may sound weird but mango and salmon, soo good! and I’d invite my best girly… from all the way across the county đŸ˜€

  35. Microwave sushi rice?? Awesome! When I was in Japan a few years ago I had sushi pizza.. it was great! It was seaweed, mayo, sesame seeds and some other things on pizza dough.. so thats my favourite combo! I’d invite the cast from Perks of Being a Wallflower.. just because I really want to meet them and talk about the movie. xoxo

  36. We love crispy chicken and avocado with some kewpie mayo
    and sweet chilli sauce … I love to have my entire Greek family over and we
    just go for it and make up a whole heap of different flavours (salmon/avocado
    or prawn/cucumber/carrot or tuna/lettuce/egg) the list is endless and then we just
    sit around scoffing our faces and just having the best time x

  37. What’s your favourite flavour combo when it comes to sushi? : I love love love just avocado! Simple but the wasabi gives it punch! BAM!

    And who would you love to invite into your home and make some sushi for {perhaps the Queen!}?: I would like to invite my japanese friends. They introduced me to sushi and gave me a sushi party! I would like to pay them back their kindness!

  38. Favourite combo is soft shell crab with avocado and mayo. Delicious!
    And I’d love to make sushi for all of my friends who are coming to my 40th on Saturday 8 December! Now that I now microwave sushi rice exists, I might have to give this a go in the next couple of days to see if I can mass produce them by Saturday!

  39. love teryaki chicken with mayo and avocado simple but yumm, i would invite Shaun Presland the hot sushi chef a) cause hes hot and b) so he can give me some amazing tips on making great sushi.

  40. My favourite sushi is avo, and crispy skin chicken made with brown rice, love some Kewpie mayo too! Probably invite a bunch of my beasties cause we never get to see each other very often these days, may have to purchase a microwave first though!

  41. Oh my favourite flavour combo is some deep fried chicken (healthy, i know!), lettuce, avo and kewpie!
    And I think I would like to invite the eldest of my brothers, because he lives in Melbourne and we don’t see each other often. We need some bonding time!

  42. Wow that looks so easy! Sushi rice from scratch is SO tedious. I’ve got so many favourite flavours, soft shell crab, tempura prawn, duck…….drool. But my all time fav is smoked salmon and avocado, you just know it’s always gonna be good.

    I would invite my two boys lol Might sound funny but when we lived in the big smoke we used to love stopping in at our favourite sushi bar once a week. Now we live in regional Tasmania, there’s no sushi bar to drop into! So the boys and I would have a blast concocting our own selection of sushi. I’m definitely putting this on the school holiday to do list!

  43. OOh. Looks so yummy!
    Don’t know why, but I loove unagi! Or veggie sushi. lol, I’m glad to hear I’m not the only person who kills rice in a rice cooker!

  44. Firstly, let me say, you are a legend. Akin to my own soul I must say đŸ˜‰ Next, I too am useless at rice, that and keys…?! Meanwhile, I have sunrice brown microwave rice sachet & trying to use for sushi for school lunches tomorrow. No recipes online, unfortunately. But I have found yours, thank you. I will zap my brown rice, add some rice wine vinegar & perhaps a little bit of caster sugar and fingers crossed it will be perfect. Thank you for yet again another great post. I love fatmumslim; discovered you on the search for the perfect goalie me recipe & have become a goto blog!

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