Make Your Own Sushi

By Eliza Chute: blog contributor

This semi-recent Japanese food craze is getting more and more popular as more and more sushi restaurants are popping up all over. More and more people are warming up to the idea of eating raw fish. And why shouldn’t they? It’s tasty. If you haven’t had the privilege of going to a sushi restaurant where you can watch them make the sushi, you maybe haven’t had the chance to look at it and say… “I can do that myself!” Well, you can. It is quite easy, once you get over the idea that you will be handling raw fish. Sushi is pretty good for you considering the main ingredients are raw fish and rice which are low in fat and high in protein, vitamins minerals, but also carbohydrates. And one should always be cautious of eating in addition to the fact that tuna can contain mercury.

There are over 7 types of sushi, some of which are harder to make than others. There’s Nigirizushi, Makizushi, Fotomaki, Temarizushi and a whole slew of others all equally as difficult to pronounce. The most typically made type is hand rolled sushi, which is rolled with a bamboo mat. The key ingredients are nori and rice. The rice is more specifically a sticky-type rice, so that it will stay attached to the nori which is the seaweed wrap in which the sushi is wrapped. You can wrap specifically the fish, which is normally salmon, tuna, yellowtail and eel. Avocado is also commonly used in sushi. The way to make it is to spread the sticky rice on the nori, all on top of the bamboo mat. You can choose to cover one or both sides of the nori, but if you cover only one side then typically the rice goes on the outside which would be on the bottom. Then you can fill it with the fish, some avocado, celery or whatever you choose, get some wasabi ginger and soy sauce and you are good to go.

Celebrity Chef Maria Liberati was busy this weekend on stage at Bally's Casino in Atlantic City.Also there was Emeril,Guy Fieri, Ted Allen, Ingrid Hoffman, Cat Cora. Read about it in her blog at http://www.marialiberati.com/blog2