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Recipe

A Bite To Eat With Alice: M-Y-O sushi (temaki sushi)

Prep time: 
20
Cook time: 
50
Skill level: 
Low
Serves: 
4
Homemade sushi rolls and temaki with salmon, shrimp, avocado, and greens on a yellow-rimmed plate.

This 'make your own' sushi is a bit like a 'choose your own adventure'. (ABC TV: Wesley Mitton)

Alice Zaslavsky is the host of A Bite To Eat with Alice, weeknights at 5pm on ABC TV and anytime on ABC iview. Alice is the resident culinary correspondent for ABC News Breakfast and ABC Radio, a food literacy advocate, bestselling cookbook author, and creator of Phenomenom, a free digital toolbox helping teachers slip more serves of veg into the curriculum.

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Alice is joined in the kitchen by Nina Oyama, a self-professed sushi addict — she might just be able to show Alice a thing or two.

Fresh salmon fillet and raw prawns on ceramic plates, ready for sushi preparation.

When choosing your sushi filling, always ask for sushi/sashimi-grade salmon. (ABC TV: Wesley Mitton)

Cooling the rice is key to making great sushi at home, a lesson Nina learned early on while helping her dad roll sushi as a kid, fanning the rice to perfection. Alice shows Nina how to whip up a quick-pickle shiitake, to take their sushi to the next level.

Quick-pickled shiitake mushrooms soaking in a savoury marinade.

Tangy, umami-packed quick-pickled shiitake — perfect for adding a flavour punch to your homemade sushi. (ABC TV: Wesley Mitton)

Alice is also hoping to master the art of hand-rolled sushi, but with a spread of fresh ingredients, and a little guidance, this DIY temaki feast is all about having fun and getting creative.

Nina Oyama and Alice preparing sushi together, rolling nori with a bamboo mat in a bright kitchen.

Nina Oyama shows Alice her sushi rolling skills. (ABC TV: Wesley Mitton)

Tips

  • Flatten your rice after cooking. It helps it cool faster and more evenly.
  • Cover the rice with a slightly damp cloth to prevent it from drying out.
  • Always buy sushi- or sashimi-grade fish for the best quality and safety.
  • Cut only from the edges of the salmon. Keeping the rest whole helps it stay fresh longer.
  • Use a fan to cool the rice, just like in Japan. It speeds up the process and enhances texture.

Here’s the full list of recipes from Season 2 of A Bite To Eat With Alice.

This recipe appears in A Bite to Eat with Alice, a new nightly cooking show on ABC iview and weeknights at 5pm on ABC TV.

A Bite To Eat With Alice: M-Y-O sushi (temaki sushi)

Prep time: 
20
Cook time: 
50
Skill level: 
Low
Serves: 
4

Ingredients

Rice

  • 1½ cups (350g) sushi rice (Japanese short grain rice) 

Quick-pickle shiitake 

  • ¼ cup (60ml) mirin 
  • 1 tablespoon light soy sauce (plus extra, for dipping) 
  • 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar 
  • 50g fresh shiitake mushrooms  

Rice seasoning  

  • 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar  
  • 1 tablespoon caster sugar 
  • ½ teaspoon fine sea salt 

Sushi toppings, choose from: 

  • 10—12 nori sheets, cut lengthways in half   
  • 1 good handful mesclun (soft lettuce leaf mix eg. butter, oak-leaf, mizuna) 
  • 100g firm tofu, cut into 1cm wide sticks  
  • 1 Lebanese cucumber, cut into 10cm sticks 
  • 1 avocado, cut into 1cm wedges 
  • 8 cooked prawns, peeled and sliced in half lengthways, or 350g sashimi-grade salmon, sliced thinly 

 To serve

  • wasabi, pickled ginger, Kewpie mayonnaise, to serve 

Method

  1. Wash the rice several times in cold water, or until the water runs clear (3—4 times should do it). Drain in a colander/sieve for about 30 minutes to absorb excess water and shorten the cooking time. If you're in a hurry, skip the draining, and cook the rice after washing instead. 
  2. Place the rice and 440ml cold water (more than the classic 1:1) in a medium saucepan and cover with a fitting lid. Bring to a boil over a medium-high heat. Immediately, turn down the heat to low and cook for 12 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave to stand for 10 minutes, making sure the lid is not removed. Alternatively, cook the rice in a rice cooker, following the manufacturer’s instructions.  
  3. While the rice cooks, make your quick-pickled shiitake. Combine the mirin, soy and rice wine vinegar in a small bowl. Thinly slice the caps of fresh shiitake, removing the stems, as they tend to be rubbery. Then, add slices to the mixture. Set aside for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until ready to serve.  
  4. Meanwhile, make the rice seasoning by stirring the rice wine vinegar, sugar and salt, to dissolve in a small bowl. Tip the cooked rice into a wide, shallow non-reactive bowl or tray and pour over the vinegar mixture. Working quickly, but gently, use short strokes to mix together with a spatula or thin wooden spoon. Be careful not to mush the rice. Traditionally, the rice is cooled using a handheld fan, but fanning with your weekend magazine will also do the trick. 
  5. While the rice is cooling, set up the table with your accoutrement. Arrange the fresh ingredients on a platter, including a bowl of pickled shiitake, small dish of ginger, nori sheets on a plate and sushi rice in a bowl. Give each person a plate and a small dish of soy sauce.  
  6. When the rice has cooled to about room temperature, cover with a clean damp tea towel. It’s best to use the rice immediately. If not using it within an hour, the rice  can be refrigerated for up to 1 day.  
  7. To make the temaki, take a sheet of nori and, on a flat surface, lay the long edge in front of you. Spread a small amount of rice on the left third of the nori sheet. Add a little wasabi and kewpie, if desired. Then, choose your ingredients and place them on the left diagonal. Squish a small amount of rice into the top right-hand corner to act as glue for holding the sheet together. Then, roll the bottom-left corner of the nori sheet into the middle to form the cone, and keep rolling to close it. Make different filling combinations and eat as many as you like.  
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