I love sushi!
Although my mother made many delicious Asian-flavored meals from scratch when I was a child (Chinese stir fry, Asian chicken salad…), sushi wasn’t as accessible. The first time it graced my dinner plate, I fell in love!
Okay, maybe not the grilled eel or fried tofu options… But those aside, I love sushi because of its unique and stunning taste. My husband agrees, so early married life was filled with sushi indulgences!
Now, more than a decade later, our Real Food family of 7 loves sushi too!
Why is is so appealing? Homemade sushi is…
- a practical way to utilize and enjoy the raw, fresh harvests of our own gardens
- more affordable and nutritious than that of most restaurants
- a delicious way to include seafood, with all of its vitamins and minerals
- flexible, depending on family preference and availability
- allergy-friendly (just omit any ingredients that cause issues!)
- a way to incorporate the whole family in meal prep
- full of complex, wonderful flavors that expose our children to another culture’s foods
- a beautifully decorative meal
Are you convinced to make homemade sushi yet? Below I share a peek at how my family comes together to make sushi and memories all at the same time!
How To Make Real Food Sushi At Home
Supplies:
- at least 1 set of a sushi mat and paddle — perhaps multiple if you are a larger family
- chopsticks (optional)
- several bowls to hold sushi fillings and mix sauces
- knives and cutting boards on which to cut veggies and fish
For the rice:
- 3 cups dry short-grain brown rice (long-grain tends to be less sticky) — soaked before cooking for easier digestion
- 6 tablespoons whey, kefir, lemon juice (or other acid)
- 4 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Rapadura (or other unprocessed sugar)
For the sauces:
- fermented soy sauce or tamari
- “regular” mild sushi sauce (2 tablespoons mayonnaise + 2 teaspoons lemon juice)
- spicy sushi sauce (2 tablespoons mayonnaise + 2 teaspoons lemon juice + 1 to 2 teaspoons sriracha sauce)
- wasabi (Eden wasabi powder + hot water to form a paste)
For the fillings:
- nori sheets
- 1/4 to 1/2 cup sesame seeds
- 1 to 2 cups of each, thinly sliced: carrots, avocado, scallions, cucumber, red bell peppers, or other vegetables your family enjoys or harvests at home
- 1/2 to 1 cup ginger carrots, fermented (as shown in our Lacto-Fermentation eCourse or in Sally Fallon’s book, Nourishing Traditions)
- 1 to 2 pounds sashimi-grade fresh tuna, wild salmon or other fish, sliced in about 1/2-inch wide strips (about 2 to 3 inches long)
Makes about 15 long sushi rolls, then sliced into 8 to 10 bite-sized rolls.
Instructions
Soak your rice overnight before cooking. When done cooking, stir in rice vinegar and sweetener. Place in fridge when cooled.
If you have young children, we find that adults should slice and chop veggies and fish midday while also preparing sauces ahead of time. This decreases dinnertime crankiness and impatience! 😉 Young children tend to enjoy getting in on the sushi rolling, though.
About an hour before dinnertime, pull out prepared veggies, fish, and rice. Unroll sushi mat and lay it flat. We lay ours atop a large cutting board. Will the outermost layer of your sushi be nori or rice? It’s easier to do nori, but either works! Choose either and lay it down first.
Now decide what you want in your roll — and how much. In the below picture, a very eager, hungry sushi-lover (okay, me!) chose all the possible veggies and fish, along with the spicy sauce, to go in her first roll.
Lay chosen items lengthwise across width of roll and spread either the regular or spicy sauce along the inner side of your pile of fillings (see photo).
Now you’re ready to roll (pun intended)! Lift up the fillings end of the roll over the top of the fillings themselves, using the mat as your guide and support. When this end touches down onto the rice, just past where your fillings had been laid, continue to roll.
Keep in mind: Your mat does not roll into your Sushi roll. It simply stays on the outside, constantly guiding your roll. When you get to the end, your mat should be laying over the Sushi roll. Hold both hands over the mat and gently squeeze the roll. This will carefully push the ingredients together into a nice, compact roll, which makes it easy to slice and eat.
This is what your roll will look like after rolling, but before slicing.
To slice, make sure you have a sharp knife! Slice the roll across the width into about 8 to 10 bite-sized rolls. Slice slowly and gently.
Just before eating, drizzle soy sauce or tamari atop your sushi rolls. For those who like a spicy life, spread a little wasabi over the top of each one too (or dip each roll into wasabi already on your plate).
Finally, after everyone has eaten their fill, you’ll probably have leftovers! Refrigerate the ingredients and make more homemade sushi rolls fresh for lunch the next day!
Will you try making homemade sushi? Have you already? I’d love to hear your story! What are your favorite ingredient combinations?
This post was featured in 24 {Cold!} Main Dishes & 22 Sides for Hot Summer Days.
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...without giving up the foods you love or spending all day in the kitchen!
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Thank-you!!! Sushi is my all-time favourite food. Words cannot describe how much I love it! I recently discovered that I am gluten-intolerant, and many of my faves at the sushi restaurant include that deliciously crunchy tempura batter. Now I’m totally going to attempt to make my own! Woohoo!
Where do you buy your sushi-grade salmon? I live in a large city, so I’m sure I can find it. Maybe at an Asian grocery store??
Hi Beth – I guess we’re on the same page as far as Sushi is concerned – an all-time favorite food! I’m glad you’ll be able to try your own Sushi-making at home now, so you can be sure it’s gluten-free, according to your dietary need.
I actually have bought fresh, wild tuna and salmon at local fish markets, or even at Whole Foods. I would do a bit of online searching for stores in your area, and then make calls before you go to see what they currently have fresh.
Enjoy, and we’d love to hear how it goes! Jenna
Let’s have a sushi party!!
Sounds good! I’m always up for a Sushi gathering! 🙂 Jenna
Hi Jenna… I loved your article … so informative and the pictures really help! I have watched a number of professional sushi makers and they all seem to use clear plastic wrap directly on top of their mat… Then apply the nori or rice for the roll … This seems to help keep the rice from sticking to the mat and makes it easier to cut… The wrap is removed after cutting into individual pieces… Have you seen this or tried it?
Hi Kathy! Thanks for commenting. Yes, actually, the first couple times we did it, we found the plastic wrap directly on top of the mat helped prevent sticking. Our most recent family Sushi event, however, proved we can indeed do it without the plastic wrap. Although, that was true so long as the Nori sheet was the very outside layer, rather than the rice being the very outside layer. I’d love to hear about it if you try making Sushi! Jenna
When making rice the outside layer, simply press the rice directly to the seaweed and flip it over so that rice is against bamboo roll and then continue adding ingredients to your roll. It also works to put the bamboo roll inside of a ziplock bag before rolling so that it won’t stick to the rice. Then when you are done, take off the ziplock bag and the bamboo board is clean ad ready to store for further use. This is what has worked for us and make sushi making more efficient 🙂
Hi Stephanie, Thank you for your help, hints, and insight. We will definitely consider these things next time we make Sushi. Yum! I appreciate you chiming in. Happy new Year, Jenna
Jenna, Your pictures are great!! I love sushi, but my family is debatable. I may have to try this though someday to see if I can win them over. Looks like a fun family experience!!
Thanks for your nice comments on the pictures, Becky. The brilliant colors of Sushi ingredients make photographing them even more fun! Yes, perhaps you can win over the family someday. You could always start just using vegetables. Some people are turned off just by the thought of fish or raw fish. But pure veggies may be enough to win them over. God bless, Jenna
I am literally drooling right now. Must. Make. Immediately. We live in San Diego, and can get excellent sushi, but we haven’t made our own in a long time. This convinced me to do it this week! Thank you! (I shared this on my FB page for my readers- thank you!)
Hi Kimball, does it sound funny to say, “I’m glad to hear you’re drooling?!” No really, I’m glad this article inspires you to try Sushi-making. And thank you for sharing this on your FB page. I hope many others enjoy the fruit (or fish?) of their Sushi-making labors. It’s so good! Enjoy and God bless, Jenna
Ladies and Gentlemen, fellow Sushi-makers, I have to comment: Our three-year old asked me out of the blue last weekend, “Mommy, when are we going to have Sushi again? I love Sushi!” The only Sushi he really knows is home made. You can do it, you real food cooks! Give it a try! 🙂
Although I do eat seafood I no longer like raw fish in sushi. BBQ eel (unagi) is OK but otherwise I prefer vegetables – steamed asparagus, pickled radish, mushrooms, avocado, steamed carrots – alone or in combination. I wonder about cooked squash/rutabaga strips, dill pickles or pickled hot peppers.
Hello kitblu, Thanks for your comment. The vegetable combination you mentioned sounds delicious! I wouldn’t know about cooked squash, etc., but I would encourage you to try anything you feel sounds good together. Sushi is so flexible. Thanks and Happy New Year!