My Weekly Grind
  • Blog
  • Magic: The Gathering
  • MTG Finance
  • Homemade Sushi
  • Charlotte, NC
  • Travel
  • Japan 10 Day Guide
  • Japan Travels FAQS
  • Navigating Japan
  • Get In Touch
  • About Me

My Weekly Grind

Homemade Sushi Part 1: Purchasing The Ingredients

9/27/2019

 
Making sushi in your own home can be a daunting process. There are many steps in making sushi that require attention to detail, cutlery skills, planning, and timing appropriately. This series of articles is designed to teach anyone how to create a sushi meal for friends and family.

Planning is Critical to Success
The most important lesson I have learned making sushi is how critical planning is to the overall success. The entire process can take three to four hours to complete a sushi roll platter for six individuals. It is important to understand the timeline and order of operations. Even planning what kind of rolls you want to make and how much rice to cook is important. Before I get into too many details, there is a critical step at the beginning of the process. The first step to making great sushi is purchasing the correct ingredients.
Picture
Sushi ingredients
What to Buy and Where to Find It
​
The basic ingredients for making sushi are typically available at your local grocery store. These items consist of seasoned rice vinegar, soy sauce, short-grain rice, soy sauce, and seaweed sheets. You can make your own seasoned rice vinegar at home, but I find it easier to purchase in a bottle. It is very important you purchase the correct kind of rice. Short-grain rice is ideal, but medium-grain will work as well. I always buy the same brand to avoid this issue. For seaweed sheets, I generally use one sheet per roll. If you want to make hand rolls, you will cut a sheet into smaller pieces. Two packs of ten sheets is usually enough. I have seen these ingredients for sale at grocery stores such as Harris Teeter, Kroger, and Bi-Lo. If you are fortunate enough to have a local oriental market, I recommend going there to purchase the necessary ingredients. From my experience, oriental markets offer more selection and lower prices than large grocery stores. Here is a list of the basic ingredients and my favorite brands:

Seasoned Rice Vinegar - Kikkoman. 
Soy Sauce - Kikkoman's reduced salt version.

Short-grain Rice - Kokuho Rose's 5 lb. bag of California rice.
Wasabi Paste - Any brand that has wasabi paste pre-made in a tube.
Seaweed Sheets - Any brand with normal sized sheets.
Pickled Ginger: Harder to find at large supermarkets.
Siracha Mayo (optional): Lee Kum Kee. You can make your own mixture too. 

Beyond buying the basic ingredients, you need to consider what kind of fillings to put inside your sushi rolls. The staple fillings I always consider buying are imitation crab, cooked shrimp, smoked salmon, cucumbers, cream cheese, and avocados. This will allow you to create California Rolls (imitation crab, cucumber, avocado), Philadelphia Rolls (smoked salmon and cream cheese), and other combinations with cooked seafood. If you are planning to purchase sashimi grade tuna or salmon, I highly recommend visiting a fresh seafood market. Sashimi grade fish is also expensive, so budget accordingly. Typically, I will purchase a combined total of 1.0 to 1.5 pounds of sashimi grade tuna and salmon from a seafood market for six individuals.  
Picture
Local oriental market called Super G Mart

Comments are closed.

    RSS Feed

    Picture
    Follow Me
    ​on Instagram
    ​@card_knock_life

    Categories

    All
    Charlotte
    Culture
    Entertainment
    Food
    Italy
    Japan
    Magic: The Gathering
    MTG Commander
    MTG Finance
    MTG Speculation
    Sushi
    Travel

    Archives

    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017

    This website contains affiliate links to TCGPlayer
Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Blog
  • Magic: The Gathering
  • MTG Finance
  • Homemade Sushi
  • Charlotte, NC
  • Travel
  • Japan 10 Day Guide
  • Japan Travels FAQS
  • Navigating Japan
  • Get In Touch
  • About Me