Last weekend, I was invited along to the fabulous UNI Restaurant in London’s Belgravia for a Sushi-making master class. You might remember that in the early days of Fitness On Toast, I had a [relatively successful] stab at making brown rice sushi, here… This post runs through the health benefits and drawbacks of traditional sushi, as well as giving a round-up of the tips & tricks I learned at the UNI masterclass! MORE here…
Instructions
HOW TO:
Discussing with UNI’s ultra-charismatic head chef Christian (pictured above), who was teaching the class, it takes several years to become a fully fledged sushi chef. However that wasn’t going to deter me from accelerating the process into a single day – I love sushi and whilst my presentation of the maki rolls and nigiri may have been a little haphazard (!), they tasted pretty good and looked relatively authentic to me! This is how to do it yourself at home! Get adventurous, add spices and herbs for flavour!
MAKI ROLLS:
1) Clean and then wet your hands (to avoid the rice sticking to them)
2) Pick up the white rice and form it into a small ball in your hand
3) Place the small rice ball on the centre of the seaweed paper (the shiny side facing downward), then spread the rice to the side and to the end of it, leaving a small space at the top end away from you.
4) Add the filling (cucumber / avocado / salmon / tuna), and then roll away from you using the rolling mat to encourage a neat, binding roll.
5) Fold the seaweed flap over, and your roll should look something like the below image. Then take a knife to halve, quarter, and slice again until you end up with classic Maki rolls 🙂
NIGIRI:
1) Clean and then wet your hands
2) Create an evan smaller ball than for the Maki, perhaps the size of a table-tennis ball.
3) Place the ball of rice under the tuna /salmon sashimi slither, and squish it out underneath. Hard to
4) Finally, stroke down the side of the fish to cover the rice. Voila.
After putting together the above plate of interesting-looking sushi, we enjoyed a delicious array of maestro creations courtesy of UNI, and one of their signature Chili & Coconut Mojitos! The dishes were immaculately executed, putting my handiwork to shame. Plenty of Butterfish nigiri, Crab Maki, Yellowtail sashimi, and my personal favourite, the Crazy Roll! Well worth a visit when you’re in the area!
Faya x