Get on Board, A Series of Delicious Food Boards: Sushi
The last featured food board was a super sweet s’mores board. This week we headed in a savory direction with a make your own sushi board to celebrate our nephew’s 19th birthday. While we often get carry out sushi (which used to be dine in…), making it ourselves provided a delicious meal AND a birthday evening activity.
In addition to being fun, making your own sushi can be cheaper than getting carry out from a restaurant. Like any other dish, making it yourself also allows you to see and control what goes into your creation. This is a great option for a fun get-together with folks who have dietary preferences and/or restrictions.
You can use whatever ingredients you want inside your sushi, and the more you do it the more creative you will be. I will provide details below on the ingredients we used, along with a few tips and tricks.
The Base.
To make sushi, you need sheets of edible seaweed known as nori. You can purchase these sheets from the grocery store. I do not have a preferred brand for this item. They cost about $5.00 for 10 sheets.
The Rice.
To make sushi, you need short or medium grain rice. These types of rice have more starch than their long grain counterpart. The starch gives the rice the right texture for sushi, and it holds together nicely with the ingredients. I prefer short grain rice and use the Nishiki brand or Mahatma brand. After I cook my rice according to the directions, I mix it with rice vinegar, sugar, and salt and let it cool. Do not use any vinegar except rice vinegar (it will not taste good) and only use a wooden spoon to stir your rice.
I used the Mahatma brand for this board and it has a very sticky texture that makes it great for beginners. Mahatma makes several types of rice and they are all very good. Both brands can be purchased at most big box grocery stores. I purchased mine from Owens (Kroger) for less than $2.00.
The Ingredients.
For our board, we used cucumber, sweet potato, avocado, crab, cream cheese, mango, and asparagus. I purchased all these ingredients for less than $15.00.
These ingredients are not super unique, but they allowed us to make some tasty combinations, especially with the sauces below.
Ingredient Tips.
When I start to assemble my ingredients for my sushi, I stick my cream cheese in the freezer. I cut it up last so it is as firm as possible. You do not want it to be frozen, but it is much easier to cut when it is very cold.
Make sure to purchase asparagus that is thin, so the texture is not overwhelming in you roll. It is best to blanch the asparagus so that it retains some crunch. You can also purchase bags of steamable pre-cut asparagus and undercook it to maintain some of the crunch.
Did you know that you can peel a mango with a potato/carrot peeler? This is a much safer (for me) method to peel the mango versus using a paring knife. It is also faster and easier.
Sweet potato is amazing in sushi if you lightly bread it in a tempura batter and fry it. For this board, I just cut the sweet potato into thin strips and fried it in my air fryer for about 5 minutes.
For the avocado (and all avocados in general), get a tool like this one if you do not have it! I cut my hand a few years ago using a knife to cut an avocado (the only time I have ever had stitches…), so I got this type of tool and never looked back!
The Sauces/Extras.
Our board had sauces/extras typically found with your sushi order, such as pickled ginger, tamari (gluten free soy sauce), and wasabi. In addition, we had toasted sesame seeds, Thai chili sauce, sriracha mayo, and hot chili honey. Next time I think I will make some of the fry sauces from this post. The sauces really elevate the taste of your sushi if you pair it with the right ingredients.
Tools & Other Information.
This post was to provide board inspiration and not a tutorial (but I can do that later with pictures if you want!), but if you have never made sushi before, assembly might be daunting. It is SO easy! With the exception of a sushi mat, which you can purchase for about $5.00, you likely have the other needed tools. You need a wooden spoon/spatula, a pot/lid to cook the rice, saran wrap, a sharp knife, and measuring cups. You make the rice, add in the extras as outlined above, let it cool, spread the rice on your nori, put the ingredients in the middle, ROLL IT UP, slice, and EAT!
I flip my nori over after I put the rice on and make mine with the rice on the outside. I use a piece of saran wrap on my mat so I do not have to clean it and nothing sticks. My husband and nephew make their rolls with the rice on the inside. My favorite combo is anything with mango and avocado, but I like to add some cucumber for some crunch and lots of sauce for a special flavor.
What is your favorite sushi combination? Do you think you could make it at home?
Katie G.