Japanese Sushi Recipes for Beginners

Sushi is a huge part of Japanese cuisine, and has become a popular food across the globe. If you’re a sushi-lover or sushi-newbie, you can try your hand at creating your own with these Japanese sushi recipes for beginners. You may be surprised at how simply these recipes are to make, but make sure you have all of the right ingredients! Let’s start with something simple…

Salmon Nigiri

Ingredients needed:

• 2 cups of seasoned sushi rice
• 1 salmon fillet
• Wasabi
• Soy sauce
• Pickled ginger

Take the seasoned sushi rice and shape it into 10 equal mounds. Slice the salmon into 10 slices and place a little wasabi on each slice. Place the salmon on top of the shaped rice, with the wasabi sticking the fish to the rice. Shape the nigiri by pressing well with your hands, and serve with soy sauce and a little pickled ginger on the side. And there you have it, the Japanese sushi recipe is complete -enjoy!

Spicy Tuna Roll

Spicy tuna rolls are one of the most popular sushi options and a great sushi recipe to try. Firstly, make sure you have the following ingredients:

• 1½ cups prepared sushi rice
• 4 ounces sashimi-grade tuna
• 3 teaspoons sriracha sauce
• 2 teaspoons chopped green onion/scallion
• ½ teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 sheet nori (seaweed) , cut in half crosswise
• 2 tablespoons white roasted sesame seeds
• Spicy mayo
• Bamboo mat, covered with plastic wrap
• Tezu (vinegared hand-dipping water): ¼ cup water and 2 teaspoons rice vinegar

Now to get the hands dirty – start off by cutting the tuna into 1/4-inch cubes. Then place these into a bowl and mix with the siracha sauce, alongside 1 teaspoon of green onion and sesame oil. Take a bamboo mat and lay down a sheet of nori paper onto it, with the shiny side faced down. Dip your fingers in tezu and evenly spread ¾ of a cup of the sushi rice onto the nori sheet. Then, sprinkle the rice with sesame seeds. Next step is to turn the nori paper over, with the rice side facing down. Line the edge of the nori sheet at the bottom of the bamboo mat, and place half of the tuna mixture at the bottom end of the nori sheet. Now for the slightly more delicate stage. Hold the bottom edge of the bamboo mat down, while keeping the fillings in place. Roll the sushi into a tight cylinder, and gently lift he edge of the bamboo mat. Keep rolling it forward whilst keeping gentle pressure on the mat. Carefully take a sharp knife and cut the roll in half. Then proceed to cut both halves into 3 pieces. Garnish the rolls with the green onions and then they are ready! Spicy tuna rolls.

Vegetable Sushi

Vegetable sushi is great as you can mix and match the vegetables you use, purely based on personal preference – or what you have in the fridge! This vegetable sushi recipe incorporates the following ingredients:

• 250g of sushi rice
• 3 tbs of sushi vinegar
• Pepper (any colour)
• Carrot
• Cucumber
• Raw beetroot
• 3 nori sheets
• Soy sauce

If you have bought uncooked rice, start off by cooking this as normal. While this is cooking, it’s a good time to prepare the vegetables. De-seed the pepper, peel the carrot, wash the cucumber, and peel the beetroot. Then, slice each of the vegetables into thin strips. Once the rice is cooked, poor the sushi vinegar over it and mix well, and then place the mixture into a bowl and allow it to cool. Once the mixture has cooled down, lay down a sheet of nori onto a bamboo sushi mat, with the shiny side faced down. Fill a bowl with cool water for you to be able to wet your fingers before handling the rice. Take 1/3 of the rice and spread it over ¾ of the nori sheet, leaving ¼ free on the end that is furthest from you. Make sure the rice is even and taken right to the edges of the nori. Take some of your prepared vegetable strips and place them in a horizontal line across the rice. This is where the bamboo mat comes into practice – roll the sushi up tightly using the mat, rolling away from you and towards to free ¼ strip of nori. Once you have the rice in a roll, brush some of the water along the free nori strip and complete the rolling, gently pressing down to seal the edges. One of your rolls is now complete! Do the same for the rest of the rice, vegetables, and nori, until you have 3 sushi rolls. If you have used most of your vegetables, take the opportunity to prepare some different vegetables for the remainder of your rolls. Then, using a sharp Japanese kitchen knife, dip it in the water and use it to slice the sushi into pieces. Now that you’ve made the sushi, all you need is some authentic Japanese sushi plates and Japanese chopsticks to finish it off nicely. We are huge Japanese sushi lovers and recently had the pleasure of teaming up with the new Edo Sushi restaurant in Leeds. The sushi there is incredible and we had the opportunity to pair their beautiful sushi with our wonderful sushi plates! We hope you enjoy trying these sushi recipes - keep up to date with our blog for more insights in Japanese culture!