Ben's Basic Sushi Recipe

Making sushi at home can sound intimidating, especially when you hear about traditional sushi chef apprenticeships lasting years, but the reality is far simpler. This basic sushi recipe is perfect for beginners and shows you how to make sushi at home using ingredients that are easy to find in UK supermarkets. Once you’ve mastered the basics, you can get creative with a variety of fillings, whether that’s smoked salmon, cooked prawns, or fresh vegetables. If raw fish isn’t your thing, cooked meats such as hoisin duck or char siu pork work just as well.

The most important part of any homemade sushi is the rice, but it’s not as tricky as it sounds. Cooking sushi rice is no different from cooking any other rice — you simply cook it until the grains are tender, then season it correctly. This easy sushi recipe keeps things straightforward, and there’s something genuinely satisfying about slicing into the rolls and revealing the colourful cross-section of neatly arranged fillings.

This recipe makes two sushi rolls, which will give you around 18–20 pieces once sliced. If you’re serving sushi as a main meal, I usually make four rolls, so simply double the recipe to suit.

We've put together a great kit with all the basics you need to make sushi. Click here to view.

Smoked Salmon, Prawn & Avocado Sushi

Servings 4 | Cook Time: 90 mins (including 60min rice cooling) | Prep Time: 10 mins

Ingredients

150g Sushi Rice
190g Water
45ml Rice Wine Vinegar
1tbsp Caster Sugar
1tsp Sea Salt
2 Sheets of Nori
1 Sushi Bamboo Rolling Mat
50g Smoked Salmon, sliced into 1cm strips
½ Avocado, sliced into thin strips
25g Prawns, sliced in half
30g Pickled Ginger
15g Wasabi
50ml Soy Sauce

Instructions

1. It's really important to thoroughly wash the rice in plenty of changes of water. This will avoid the rice getting too sticky and unworkable. It's also a good idea to soak it for 20 minutes after washing, before you cook it.

2. The quantity of water to rice is important, use 1 part rice to 1.25 parts of water. Bring your water to the boil in a cast iron pot, tip in the soaked rice, turn down the heat to the lowest setting and put the lid on. Cook gently for 16 minutes then turn the heat off. Without opening the lid, leave for a further 10 minutes in the pot (the cast iron pot retains heat well so will keep gently cooking the rice). You will now have perfect rice.

3. Whilst the rice is cooking, mix up the seasoning. Simply combine the rice wine vinegar, sugar and salt and stir so that the sugar and salt dissolve.

4. Once the rice has cooked, remove from the heat and gently stir through the seasoning, being careful not to break up the grains. Spread it out onto a tray and place a damp cloth over and allow to cool, then place in the fridge for around an hour to go completely cold.

5. To make up the rolls, place a sheet of nori onto your rolling mat. Have a small bowl of water handy with a splash of rice wine vinegar to keep your hands wet whilst you assemble. Spread a layer of rice over the nori sheet, leaving a 1 inch gap at the front and a 2½ inch gap at the top edge.

6. Just in from the front edge of the rice, place a line of your filling ingredients - first the smoked salmon, then the avocado and then the prawns.

7. Using the mat as your rolling aid, bring the front edge up and begin the roll. The first part is the trickiest, you are aiming to roll the exposed strip of rice on the front edge, on to the top of your filling ingredients. Once you've made your initial roll, use the mat to tighten everything up, before continuing to roll. Finally, moisten the back edge of nori so the sushi roll sticks and complete the roll.

8. You can now go ahead and slice the rolls into sushi pieces, however a short stay in the fridge will firm everything up. You can make these well in advance and then cut them just before you serve.

9. It's good to have a damp cloth to hand when slicing the sushi to keep your knife clean, you'll end up with much cleaner cuts.

10. That's it, serve with some soy sauce, wasabi and pickled ginger. Enjoy.

Cooking Tips

• It fine to cook the rice a day before and leave it covered in the fridge overnight.
• If you have one, a rice cooker is great to give you perfect rice.
• If cooking the rice on the stove top, using a heavy, cast iron casserole dish does help to give you a good result.
• As with many food that require rolling (burritos, summer rolls etc) don't be too greedy! If you use too much filling, you'll have difficulty rolling them and making them look pretty!
• You will find it easier to slice the sushi rolls once they have been in the fridge for an hour or so (even overnight). Wrap each roll in cling film to prevent them from drying out.
• Slicing the sushi with a very sharp knife is also important - a thin bladed knife works best. Wipe the knife clean with a damp cloth after each cut.
• Don't try to cut the sushi pieces too thin, aim for pieces around ¾ - 1 inch thick.

Serving Suggestions

• Sushi is most classically served with pickled ginger, wasabi and soy sauce.
• You can also serve a simple miso soup or steamed edamame beans

Variations

There are lots and lots of sushi variations, here is a list of some of them:

• Uramaki (Inside-Out Rolls)
  Rice is on the outside, with nori inside. Popular examples include California rolls. Often topped with sesame seeds or fish roe.
• Nigiri
  Hand-shaped rice topped with a slice of fish or other toppings such as omelette (tamago) or smoked salmon. Simple but requires good rice technique.
• Temaki (Hand Rolls)
  Cone-shaped sushi wrapped in nori and filled with rice and ingredients. These are informal, fun to eat, and great for make-your-own sushi nights.
• Sashimi
  Slices of raw fish served without rice. Technically not sushi, but commonly served alongside it.
• Chirashi Sushi
  A bowl of sushi rice topped with assorted fish, vegetables, and garnishes. Easy to assemble and perfect if you don’t want to roll.
• Inari Sushi
  Sushi rice stuffed into sweetened tofu pouches. Mild, slightly sweet, and popular with vegetarians.
• Oshizushi (Pressed Sushi)
  Sushi that’s pressed into a mould, traditionally from the Osaka region. Less common but visually striking.