The good news is that it can definitely be almost as easy. All you really need by way of equipment is a bamboo rolling mat (online or at specialty Asian stores), a pot for rice, and some cutting boards and knives – which almost goes without saying. Ingredients can almost all be found from your average grocery store: sushi rice, avocado, cucumber, sweet rice vinegar, nori (seaweed sheets).
What trips most people up is the matter of eating raw fish. Whereas you wouldn't think twice about eating high-quality, sushi-grade fish from a sushi bar, the bargain salmon filets at the grocery store aren't quite as safe.
For effective sushi filling, slice salmon fillets into long strips, sauté skin side down in a generous amount of oil. To avoid breaking the strips, don't flip the salmon. Simple cover the pan and let the insides steam cook.
Remove salmon from pan to cool. For a delicious sauce, add soy sauce, rice vinegar and honey to the still warm pan with the remaining oil and salmon juices. Simmer to loosen up pieces of fish skin on the bottom of the pan and cook until slightly thickened.
Lay your sushi rice on the bottom half of a piece of slightly moistened nori. Pat out to form a thin base for your toppings. | Now the magic really begins. For the aesthetics of it, gather all your ingredients on big white plates, lay out your bamboo mats, prepare your nori. Put some J-pop on Pandora. |
We also tried barbecue chicken. Sacrilegious, perhaps. But it tasted good, so sue me.
Words can't do the process justice, but I'll try.
Picking up the edge of the bamboo mat closest to you, the nori halfway so that the fillings are covered by one layer of seaweed. at this point, use the mat to shape the roll, before rolling it to completion, pulling the mat out of the way as needed. Got it? Okay, no. Go look at a YouTube video and then get back to me.