Papa and I love sushi. I hated not being able to have raw fish during pregnancy, and once I was allowed again we have frequently treated ourselves to some delicious maki rolls. But as you all know, sushi can be quite expensive. We’ve been thinking of making sushi ourselves for a while now, but never got around to it. Until now.

Utensils for sushi

We purchased sushi rice, nori seaweeds, avocados, and salmon. Admittedly, we didn’t find real whole salmon fillets at the supermarket we went to at the last minute. Instead, we improvised with some hand-salted breakfast salmon hoping it would turn out fine. Finally, we are now the proud owners of a sushi making bamboo mat.

Sushi rice and bamboo mat

Sushi preparation

After cooking the rice and putting it in the fridge to cool down, we watched some how-to-make-maki-rolls video online. Then we prepared the nori sheets and the avocados (to prevent the latter from browning, I coated them in lime juice). We spread the nori sheet onto the bamboo mat, put a layer of rice on top, and added the fillings of our choice.

Rolling the sushi proved to be a challenge in spite of the videos and our first few attempts looked… special. The learning curve was steep though, and for a first sushi making attempt we believe we did just fine. Papa, our perfectionist when it comes to food aesthetics, practiced rolling until we ran out of ingredients. I admit his sushi rolls were much rounder and appealing than mine, though the taste was identical.

Sushi is so yummy

The verdict

The salmon worked quite well, even if it was not the real deal. In fact, I am thinking to not ever try unprepared salmon fillets – after all, this is a real time saver. Papa and I loved the taste of our first self-made make rolls with soy sauce, and also the relative ease of preparation. This is one fast dish to “cook”, and very nutritious for all of us. Not to mention the incredible savings in store for us now that we no longer have to purchase the expensive store or restaurant versions. What Bubsi thought about lunch you can see for yourselves – she also ate some of it 😉 !

Bubsi flying in her sushi high chair