What is sushi? Kids can use these simple directions and a minimal amount of help from an adult, to get in on the fun and surprising delight of simple sushi making.
Sushi is becoming increasingly popular in the United States and children can learn to prepare and enjoy this food. Sushi is raw fish wrapped up in seaweed right? Wrong!
Sushi means “vinegar flavored rice.” It is a simple food that can be prepared with foods we all know and love. It does not have to involve any raw meats.
Learning how to cook rice and prepare sushi rolls is a window into Japanese culture. Sushi is a food customers purchase at convenience stores, restaurants and eat often at home. It is tasty and nutritious.
Kids will need some help with handling hot pans, lighting the burners and chopping some ingredients. Beyond that, they should be able to assemble and roll maki-style sushi themselves. The creative decisions about what to put inside their sushi rolls and how to serve the sushi can be all theirs!
Equipment Needed
- Saucepan for cooking rice
- A hangiri or wooden rice tub (substitute a glass mixing bowl)
- A shamoji- wooden or bamboo rice spatula
- A rolling mat
- Cutting board
- Measuring cups and spoons
- A mixing bowl
Ingredients:
Some ingredients are necessary and others you choose from. Sushi can be made with the meats and vegetables, and spices you like.
Choose:
- assorted vegetables
- carrots
- cucumber
- white radishes
- zuchinni
- red or yellow bell peppers
- spinach leaves
- mushrooms
- sliced ham or turkey lunch meat
- chicken strips or frozen shrimp (steamed or fried )
- feta cheese
- rice wine (optional)
- toasted sesame seeds
- chopped walnuts.
Necessary:
- Nori sheets (pressed sheets of glossy black product made from dried and pressed brown algae)
- dried kelp
- rice vinegar
- sugar
- salt
- soy sauce
- small grain white rice
Cook the Gohan (sushi rice)
Cook white rice by these directions. Fill a saucepan with 6 cups of water. Bring to a boil. Add 1 teaspoon of salt, 2 tablespoons rice wine (optional), and one inch square of kelp (chopped). Return to a boil and then cover with a tight fitting lid and reduce heat to a low simmer. The rice should cook for about 15 minutes. Do not stir the rice while it cooks or keep lifting the lid to check it. The rice is done when steam holes form in the top of the rice.
While the rice is cooking, mix up your rice dressing. This dressing will be mixed into the cooked rice. Mix 6 tablespoons rice vinegar, 2 tablespoons sugar, and 2 teaspoons salt together in a small cup.
Turn off the burner and leave the rice in the pan with the lid on to rest for at least 5 minutes.
During this time have an adult help you slice your vegetables, meat, and cheese into strips.If you use chicken or shrimp they can be sauted in 2 tablespoons on oil in a small fry pan.
Coat the Rice with Dressing
Next turn the rice out of the pan into a hangiri or large glass bowl. Do not stir the rice, but slowly cut the rice with the edge of the wooden paddle, gently turn it, and toss it as you drizzle on the dressing. Work for a couple of minutes to coat the rice well. Don’t refrigerate or store in the fridge as the rice will turn tough.
Now for a fun part! With a paper fan (fold a sheet of paper into a fan shape) or use an oriental hand fan to fan the top of the sushi rice. This helps cool the rice and makes the surface gel some and turn glossy.
(This recipe will make at least four six inch rolls.)
Roll the Sushi
Roll out your mat. Lay a sheet of Nori on it. Spread out the cooled rice on top of the Nori. Don’t mash the rice down. Spread about ¼ in. thick and spreading to within ½ inch of the Nori edges. Now use the side of your hand to make a slight dent in the rice lengthwise down the center of your rice. In this line and on each side of it, lay a strip or two of meat, some cucumber peeled and cut into strips, carrot sticks, sliced thinly, some sesame seeds, and pieces of chopped cooked shrimp. Choose about five ingredients for your sushi roll.
Now use the mat to help you begin to slowly roll up the sushi. The mat should roll up and over the roll so the ends meet.
When your sushi is rolled set the roll off unto a cutting board. Slice each roll into six disks, each about one inch tall. Lay these cut face up on a platter. Do the same with the other three rolls.
Serve with Sauce
The rolls can be eaten with horseradish (wasabi) sauce or soy sauce for dipping each slice in before eating. Each piece is picked up by hand (Nori keeps your fingers from getting messy!) and eaten whole as they are impossible to bite into without coming apart.
This is part of the fun. You get to eat with your hands and take huge bites! That is the correct way to eat sushi.
What a fun and versatile food sushi is! Try some for a family meal or when friends come to visit. Let everyone get in on the sushi making.
