Sushi Rice and Recipe Ideas

Sushi has been touted as being healthy for as long as I can remember. Healthy fats in both avocado and fish, being the main ingredients in sushi, along with the antioxidants provided by the seaweed has propelled the raw food generation to explode. Since sushi is not cooked or processed in any way, it is probably the closest to its natural form (except maybe the freezing required to bring fish to land locked Calgary). Recently though, I’ve noticed that a lot of sushi restaurants are becoming “trendier” and have gotten more “westernized” with their special sushi roll creations and new sauces. Don’t get me wrong, I love the ingenuity that’s required to come up with new ideas and is usually enticed to try the up and coming sushi restaurants due to its unique use of ingredients. Although the true sushi aficionado in me does occasionally crave the simplistic sushi served the true original Japanese style, without the mayonnaise created sauces added in to the rolls and sushi.

One of my favourite rolls and it has been the case since the first time I’ve tried it is the spicy tuna roll, which restaurants now serve with a sauce made with a mixture of siracha hot sauce and mayonnaise. Although the spicy tuna roll to some would not be considered true Japanese sushi, since it is more of a westernized version of the sushi roll, but when it’s made with just siracha hot sauce without the mayo, I believe it would classify as being closer to the original style of sushi.

Nutritional Tidbit: Spicy food has been found to increase one’s metabolism when ingested. Capsaicin, which is the spiciness that we feel when ingesting hot peppers adheres to our tastebuds causing that all too well known burn eliciting our body to try and regulate the internal temperature by producing sweat, which in turn causes a heightened use of calories to maintain homeostasis. If you’re not one to eat too spicy, adding in fruit does tone down the burn factor a bit, but also lowering the amount of hot sauce used will give you a great taste without being overwhelming and the fruit also provides added antioxidants!

So I figured since it seems harder and harder to find authentic sushi, why not try a go at making sushi at home? It’s fun and definitely economical (I think we ended up eating sushi for 3 meals afterwards)! Here is my recipe for sushi rice and some suggestions on what type of ingredients you can add to make rolls that are considered fancy but still a close resemblance to the traditional Japanese style that we all know and love! Hope you enjoy rolling the sushi as much as I did.

Sushi Rice Recipe (to make the rice healthier I’ve lowered the amount of sugar used and barely noticed a difference)

Ingredients:1 cup sushi rice
2 cups water
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt

Preparation:
Rinse rice once or twice with water to remove the top layer of starch. Add in water and boil rice on medium heat for 15 mins or until all water has evaporated or use a rice cooker if you have one. Fluff quickly with fork and let cool.

In a small bowl, combine the rice wine vinegar, sugar and salt and heat in microwave until sugar and salt have melted.

Add the vinegar mixture in to the rice and use for sushi and rolls.


Ingredient Suggestions:
Green onions (chives)
Mangoes
Kiwi
Avocado
Peas
Siracha hot sauce
Be creative and feel free to add in different types of fruit and herbs to make a unique sushi recipe but have it still be good and good for you!