By Shreya Goswami
Want to try your hand at making sushi at home? Dinesh Mhatre, Executive Chef at The Orchid Hotel Pune, has all the expert tips you need to start with.
The basic ingredients you need to make sushi at home are sushi rice, nori sheets, rice vinegar, and brown sugar.
Two absolute necessities for sushi making at home are a good rice cooker, a sushi mat and a sharp professional knife.
You can use vegetables like carrot, beans, cucumber, avocado and asparagus to make simple vegetarian sushi.
Prawns and salmon are the chef’s recommended fish and seafood choices for Indian home chefs.
Proper washing, soaking and cooking of the sushi rice is critical. Soaking the rice for 30 minutes and 1:1 rice-water ratio matters.
Cut the vegetables and fish into finger-sized pieces to make an even distribution possible. Always use a sharp knife.
Always ensure that you get a tight roll so that the sushi maintains its beautiful shape and the rice doesn’t fall all over.
Never use hot rice for rolling. Properly cool the rice completely before you start placing it on the mat and rolling.
Sushi is traditionally served with light soy sauce, wasabi paste and pickled ginger, so source these from reliable places.
Sushi eating etiquettes should be followed while eating out, but you can also relax a bit while making and eating them at home.