Homemade Sushi

Everyone in our family loves sushi! Although it can be very expensive when dining out with our family of five, David has mastered this art and can make our family sushi in a flash. The key to making sushi at home is FRESH FISH! We usually go to Rex’s Seafood Market (In Dallas), Whole Foods or Central Market and ask them for sushi-grade tuna and/or salmon. Good fishmongers will always tell you what they have that is sushi-grade, and sometimes will even tell you that they don’t have any fish that is fresh enough to qualify. You usually won’t get this knowledge and/or freshness at a typical national grocery store. While there is no technical definition by the FDA of sushi-grade fish, it’s usually defined as fish that has been frozen at a very cold temperature (-4 degrees) for at least 15 hours. The freezing process helps eliminate any bacteria. When David gets the fish home, he freezes it for at least several hours so that it slices really thin when he's ready to make it.

**To help better demonstrate this process, I've included a couple of short video clips after the recipe.

Sushi-grade tuna and salmon (1/2 pound each)

3 Cups of Japanese rice (sushi rice or short grain)

1/3 Cup of Rice Wine Vinegar

2 TBSP of sugar

1 tsp of salt

Pickled ginger, for serving

Wasabi, for serving

Soy sauce, for serving

Make the sushi vinegar mixture by adding the vinegar, sugar and salt together in a small saucepan and heat until the sugar dissolves.

In a rice cooker, cook up some sushi rice. Sushi rice is usually sold as “sushi rice” but what you’re really looking for is short-grain or Japanese rice. This rice gets sticky when cooked. Cook the rice for approximately 20 minutes and spread out on a cookie sheet with a spatula. Then, pour the vinegar mixture over the rice and mix in.

Take small dollops of rice and cup your hand so that the rice makes a shape similar to a large slug. Then, slice a thin slice of tuna or salmon and put a small dot of wasabi mustard on it and “glue” it on the top of the rice. Be sure as you continue to do this to put the sushi in a very Zen-like design, as placement and feng shui is almost as important as the wonderful taste of your fresh sushi! Serve with wasabi mustard, sliced pickled ginger and soy sauce. Sushi, in particular, must be served beautifully, or much of the beauty of it is lost. Zen is the way to sushi enlightenment!