Japan is an island nation, its surrounding seas warmed by Kuroshio, the plankton-rich Japan Current, and abundant with an astonishing variety of fish and shellfish. Japan has always fed its dense population from the sea and the rice fields, its cuisine emphasizing what nature provides.
Sushi, one of Japan’s most representative foods, is now well-known in most places around the world. Sushi was not always what it is today. Originally, it was a way of preserving fish. Rice was packed around the fish and then thrown away before the traveler ate the aging flesh. Over centuries, this turned into narezushi (still eaten to this day), layers of fish and layers of rice in a jar with a stone on top. The rice ferments, giving the sharp sweet taste that vinegared rice now approximates. This dish became what is known as Osaka-style sushi. Fresh seafood is putt into a shallow mold, rice is added, and the whole is pressed, resulting in a large pie-like dish, which is then cut into bite-size pieces. The more popular Edo-style finger-formed nigirizushi now eaten universally, originated in Edo  (now Tokyo) in early nineteenth century. There is no fermenting, no waiting. Such sushi has been called the world’s first fast food.

In order to make a fine japanese sushi roll (or nigiri) there is no need to go through five years of fish cutting studies in Japan.

How to make sushi maki

1. The rough side of the nori
Feel the nori sheet from both sides and you will find one side to be a bit smooth and the other a little rough. The nori should lay on the rolling mat with the rough side facing upwards.

2.Getting busy with rice
Get your hands wet, and make about a handful of rice to a ball of rice. It’s important to keep your hands wet while working with sushi rice because it is sticky. When you work with the nori though, you should keep them as dry as you can. Keeping a bowl of water and a dry towel in your rolling zone is pretty necessary.

3. The spread
Gently put the rice ball in the middle of the nori sheet, and start spreading it equally on the nori, creating a layer of rice covering almost the entire sheet except the upper margin of about 2cm that should be kept uncovered. Later on, that margins are going to be needed empty of rice in order to close to sushi roll properly.

4. Can you fill this?
Now it’s time to place a slice of fish (preferably no more than one) on the edge of the nori, along with 1-3 pre-cut slices of vegetables.

5. Commence the rolling sequence
Using the closer edge of the rolling mat, close on the filling with the nori making a rectangular shaped hill and tighten it from above.

6.Continue the rolling sequence
Move forward, continue rolling in the rectangular hill steps, keeping it tight with every move until you reach the end of the nori. Put pressure on the roll from all three sides at all time, especially on stops to allow it to roll tightly.

7. And….cut!
Use a wet, sharp knife to cut the roll in to little sushi units. 6-8 units per roll – that’s your call.

The inside out sushi roll, also known as Uramaki, is more common in the U.S. than in Japan and is very popular in western sushi bars. What makes the inside out roll unique is the fact that rice is in the outside and the nori is on the inside, wrapping the filling.

How to make inside out sushi

1. Wrapping the rolling mat
Hoping you are using the “one side round and one side flat” rolling mat, and not the cheap kind with both sides round. Cover the rolling mat with a plastic wrap starting with the round side, and ending with it. Make about 2-3 full rounds of wrapping. After you are done wrapping, roll the mat to squeeze out all the air locked inside the wrapping. If needed – poke it with a toothpick to let the air out.

2. Break point
Take a nori sheet, and break it down the middle. If it doesn’t break easily, it’s either old, or not such a good brand of nori to work with. Place the nori sheet on the rolling mat abut 5 cm from the edge, with the rough side of the nori facing upwards.

3. The turn over
Get both your hands wet and make a ball of rice, using about a handful of rice (you can always add more rice later, but drawing out rice is a bit complicated once you’ve put it on the nori). Place the ball of rice in the middle of the nori and start spreading the rice, pressing it down gently, until it is equally spread along the nori sheet. You should now have a 1cm high, equal layer of rice on top of the nori. If needed, add some more rice – just remember to keep it even. Flip the nori over so that the rice is facing the mat and the smooth side of the nori is facing upwards.

4. Can you fill this?
Now it’s time to place a slice of fish (preferably no more than one) on the edge of the nori, along with 1-3 pre-cut slices of vegetables

5. Commence the rolling sequence
Using the closer edge of the rolling mat, close on the filling with the nori making a rectangular shaped hill and tighten it from above.

6. Continue the rolling sequence
Move forward, continue rolling in the rectangular hill steps, keeping it tight with every move until you reach the end of the nori. Put pressure on the roll from all three sides at all time, especially on stops to allow it to roll tightly.

7. And….cut!
Use a wet, sharp knife to cut the roll in to little sushi units. 6-8 units per roll – that’s your call.

Spicy Tuna (or Salmon or Yellow Tail)

Ingredients:

2 cups sushi rice

2-3 nori sheets

150Gr of Tuna (or Salmon or Yellow Tail) fillet (sushi grade)

Avocado

Spicy mayo sauce:

1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tbsp hot chili
1 tbsp hot sesame oil

Preparation:
Stir in a small bowl to combine evenly. Once combined, use a spoon to load the newly made hot sauce into a baggies, and pinch a tiny hole in the bottom. In order to use the sauce, simply squeeze the baggies and let the sauce leave a trail of hotness along the roll.

The following recipe is suitable for both classic type rolls and Inside Out rolls.

Let’s begin by cutting the tuna to 3cm thick, and 15cm long strips. Roll it with the avocado in the method you have chosen, classic or inside-out, and cut
After cutting, put a tiny drop of Chili mayonnaise on top of each piece, and it’s ready to go.

California roll sushi

Ingredients:

2 cups sushi rice

2-3 nori sheets

100gr Imitation crab stiks (Surimi)

Avocado

Cucumber

Preparation:

The following recipe is suitable for both classic type rolls and Inside Out rolls.

California roll sushi is basiclly, a “softer” version of the spider roll. It is made with Imitation crab sticks instead of real crab which makes it easier to make, cheaper to buy, and some would say tastier.

1. Take half a nori sheet, and cover with rice – 1cm high.
2. Flip the nori so that the rice is facing down and start placing the filling for the california roll.
3. Line up the crab sticks: in pairs or singles – depends how thik you want the roll to be.
4. Next to it, line up a 2-3cucumber stiks.
5. On top of both crab and cucumber stiks, put a large slice of avocado.

Make sure all ingridients are equal in size and position, and roll. Afterwards, you might want to sprinkle some sesame seeds on top for decoration, either dark or light sesame goes well.

Serve with soy sauce.

Tamago (japanese sushi omelet)

Tamago is the Japanese omelet commonly used in maki, nigiri and Temaki sushi. Unlike a regular omelet, the tamago is made with sugar, soy sauce, and mirin added. Furthermore, it is fried by a very unique method, as explained below.

Ingredients:
4 eggs
3 spoons of mirin
2 spoons of soy sauce
2 spoons of sugar
a rectangular pan

Preparation:

Stir all ingredients together to creat a solid batter .Pick up a rectangular pan. Oil it, and cover it with tamago batter, 1cm deep.

After 2-3 min, when the bottom of the omelet gets brownish, use a kitchen spoon to fold the omelet twice. First from the closer end towards the middle, and second towards the far end of the pan. There’s no need to flip the omelet, just fold it. Even if the upper side of the omelet seems uncooked before folding, the “inner layers” of the omelet will get done by the end of the process.

Now oil the pan again (or not, depends if you prefer it crispy or oil free) and add another round of tamago batter. Notice that the batter you have just added should touch the omelet you folded in the last step.

Repeat steps 2-3, until you run out of tamago batter.

Now that your omelet is ready, place it on a dry cutting surface, and slice it into 2cm thik slices. you can use it either as a topping for nigiri sushi, or as a filling for tamaki and maki sushi.

Sources:

Donald Richie, A Taste of Japan

Sushi history, http://www.geocities.com/NapaValley/5789/history.htm

Sushi recipe and photos, http://www.makemysushi.com

Tamago photo, http://www.ease.com/~randyj/tamago2.jpg