I am a huge fan of sushi. I love fish and I also love the vegetable kind. Sushi restaurants are somewhere I love to go. I have taken the kids, but they aren’t as keen on the raw fish, instead they opt for the bento boxes. These are fab and contain various different bits and pieces, including the sushi rice and sometimes chicken. I thought a great way to get the children to try different types of sushi, would be to make it themselves. This is what we did when YUTAKA got in touch and asked me to try out the sushi making kit.

Are you a sushi fan? Sushi is a fun and healthy snack that can be used as a main meal, in packed lunches, lunch time meal and can even be used as a sweet dessert with fruit instead of savory fillings. YUTAKA are the leading UK-based Japanese food company. Their ingredients, contain no additives and allow you to make sushi at home, simply and easily. It’s a great versatile and healthy snack, one that you can adjust so all the family will love. 

There are no set ingredients for making sushi other than the sushi rice. This is the first thing we made as it’s takes time to cool.

How to make Sushi Rice:-

• Put 250g of Sushi rice into an empty bowl. (it has to be Sushi rice, it won’t work with ordinary rice.)
• Wash with cold water.
• Drain using a sieve.
• Repeat this 3-4 times.
• Drain with a sieve.
• Add to a pot.
• Next add in 330ml of cold water.
• Bring the rice to boil.
• Then put the pot lid on and simmer for about 10 minutes.
• Cook until light and sticky, not mushy.
• Once ready, you turn off the heat, leave the pot lid on and leave for 25-30 minutes.
• You can then Season the rice.
• In a small bowl mix 3 tblsp of Yutaka Rice Vinegar and 1 tsp of salt.
• Once the Sushi rice has cooled, you fold this into the rice to season.
• It does make a difference and makes it taste more like the one you can buy than plain rice.

How to Roll into California Sushi Rolls:-

• Place 1 sheet of Nori onto your bamboo rolling mat.
• Spread a thin layer of the cooked, cooled and seasoned rice as evenly as possible over the Nori.
• A tip is to your water on your fingers, knife or spoon when spreading as the rice can be quite sticky.
• Leave around a 1cm gap at the top and bottom of the Nori. This allows for it to be sealed when you’re ready.
• Then add your choice of filling in a line about 5cm in from the front of the Nori.
• Don’t be tempted to cover it all as we found it, you don’t need a lot.
• Lift the top of the bamboo mat and gently roll the Nori, pressing down on the filling. Firmly, but not too heavy.
• Once you have your Sushi roll complete inside the bamboo mat, press down to keep it’s shape.
• Remove the Sushi roll and transfer to a chopping board.
• Dip your knife in water and carefully trim your sushi into slices. About 3-4cm or a little larger if you like.
• Well done, you’ve made your first lot of sushi. Easy wasn’t it. Now you can make some more.

Here is a link to a You Tube Video made by Yutaka on making Sushi rice at home if you want to have a wee watch to find out more.

Sushi is a great food item for children to make. It encourages them to play with their food and try new things. It is a simple no cook (once the rice is made) dinner, snack or lunch which is healthy and can contain a variety of foods. You can add in protein, it doesn’t have to be raw fish, vegetables work well or even fruit. Get the kids involved in making and they will try out more. I spoke about this when I was talking about getting toddlers to eat more. They love to cook and get involved in meal preparation it is fun and exciting. They’ll instantly lick their fingers and find out that it does taste good, even if they wouldn’t try it before.

Aria had a go at first, she had fun, but is still very young at 3 to do the tricky bit of rolling. Luckily her brother, who love cooking and baking, came to the rescue and was a natural. Ok, our Sushi doesn’t look quite pro yet, but the more we make the better it got. We got the hang of spreading the rice and not using too much of the middle ingredient. Which was our downfall in the first roll we made.

Our first ones we made contained smoked salmon, as all the kids and myself love this, with some cream cheese. We made some with cucumber as well. We didn’t just make some with Nori, we also made some without and added the black sesame seeds around the rice. There are so many options from tuna, prawns, peppers, chicken, whatever you like, you can add in.

We also made some Nigiri Sushi, which was simple and very effective.

How to make Nigiri Sushi:-

• The most important part of this is having a Nigiri Sushi mould.
• Wash the mould.
• Add in a thin slice of Nori if you want to use to decorate.
• Place your protein or vegetable in the top or the bottom when you are making.
• Then add in your seasoned Sushi rice and press down firm.
• Put the Nigiri Sushi lid on.
• I put in the fridge for about 10 minutes before taking out.
• It’s a little tricky getting it out so I used a small nice to help.
• It comes out in one piece and looks great

 Like I said I’ve been a huge fan of sushi for many years, but wasn’t sure how the kids would like it. They loved it. Sushi is easy to make, quick, extremely tasty and healthy, what’s not to love! Plus once you have some rice made you can store it in the fridge to have as a snack at anytime. I have to admit the kids weren’t as keen on the ones with the Nori. They did prefer the ones with the sesame seeds and Nigiri Sushi. Once we got the hang of making it, we got better each time.

We served the Sushi with Wasabi paste and soy sauce.  The perfect lunch is served. We also had the pickled ginger, but none of us are fans. We even got to try out some chopsticks. Which makes eating even more fun, don’t you think? I highly recommend the Yutaka Sushi products, they are excellent value for money and once you’ve bought them you can use up your fridge ingredients to make loads of different types of Sushi. If you are not a fish fan, don’t let that put you off, use something you do like. We will be making loads more of this and it’s perfect for back to school packed lunches too.

YUTAKA also have a range of delicious looking recipes here to us to try. And you can follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Blog.

Giveaway

I’d love to see you be able to have a go at making your own sushi so I am giving away a Yutaka Sushi Kit for two. Thanks to Yutaka.

Meal Kit for Making Sushi Rolls

Kit contains: 1 x Sushi recipe, 1 x Boil in the bag rice 150g, 1 x Sushi seasoning 30ml, 2 Nori sheets, 1 x  Rolling mat, 1 x Ginger 50g, 1 x Soy sauce 15ml, 1 x Wasabi paste 10g.

Just fill in the Rafflecopter entry below. And good luck.

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