My toddler asks if we can make sushi, every time we go to the grocery store. He’s only had it once and he was quite small so I can’t believe he remembers. I think he just likes saying the word, “Shushi”, that’s how he says it.
I’ve avoided making sushi because in my mind it seemed like an overwhelming task. But I’m happy to report that it wasn’t and it was actually fun. I’m glad we tried and we’ll definitely make it again. Our kids LOVED it and ate it.
Well, today was the perfect evening to have Sushi Making Family Night. My oldest who is always trying to squeeze in a movie into every activity, suggested we make it into Sushi and a Movie Night. And we did since we had a documentary type of video he checked out of the library that needed to be returned. We enjoyed our sushi with Lemon Ginger and Mint Agua Fresca (I’ll be posting a recipe soon).
Family Night: Sushi Making
We are not master sushi makers and I’m sure you can tell this from all of my pictures. Nonetheless, it was a delightful activity to enjoy as a family.
Making sushi is not hard and overwhelming as I envisioned it. Basically you make rice (I’ve used normal white rice and then added rice vinegar to it), Then you fill the nori (the black shiny “tortilla”) with rice, veggies and we used tuna (canned or fresh works). We had everything in our cupboards except the nori and rice vinegar.
The veggies we used were: cucumbers, carrots, avocado, bell peppers, celery and we cut it long so it would fit perfectly into the roll. I also had cream cheese out, you can’t spread it so we just cut into it and place it on the roll. In my opinion the cream cheese and sauce totally make the roll. The sauces I made ahead of time were my secret sushi sauce and peanut sauce. Everytime I’ve made my secret sushi sauce which isn’t really a big secret, everyone loves it.
I put everything in the middle of the table so we could all have access to the ingredients. I also had cups of water out so that they could dip their fingers in it to make the rice spreading easy. Once you fill it with all your ingredients you start the rolling process. My neighbor let me use one of her bamboo place mats and that worked just fine but I also had one sushi rolling mat. As you roll, make sure your tighten it as you go and then wet the end of the nori to “glue” the roll together (long ways).
I also dip the knife into the water before cutting it helps with easy cutting.
I’m sure someone else has better sushi making instructions, my hope was just to give you a creative idea to enjoy as a family. Our kids LOVED the whole experience. My 4 year old needed some help with rolling and spreading the rice but he enjoyed making his own meal and ate his sushi roll.
