We took a sneaky break from the blog party yesterday (and I’m certain you missed us while we were gone, didn’t you?! ;) ).

We grabbed a basket of goodies and went to the farmhouse to join with Janie’s mum and brother, for Janie’s sushi party at home and her ‘master’class in how to make sushi! I say masterclass in inverted commas, because she told us later that she’d actually only ever tried it once before and that it was an unsuccessful attempt! Janie, the ‘expert’….hmm!

What fun!

So….how exactly DO you have a sushi party at home?

1) List of things you will need for your sushi party (some of which you will need to cook before you get started)

Sushi mats (doesn’t matter if this is just one – it is fun taking turns and watching how each person gets on)

Sheets of nori (we used 1 pack between four people), cut in half

Vegetables chopped into very thin strips – we used cucumber (remove the ‘watery’ seeds from the middle) and celery

Selection of fish and seafood – we used smoked peppered mackeral cut into 2/3 inch strips, peeled cooked langoustines (deveined if they need to be), smoked salmon – 2/3 inch strips rolled up, small tin of crabmeat

Jar of pickled ginger

Tube of wasabi

Sushi & sashimi soy sauce (Janie says she has been seeking this distinctive soy sauce flavour for ages and discovered it in a bottle of this) – poured into a dipping bowl

Cooked and cooled sushi rice (straight from the saucepan saves on washing up!)

1 large bowl of water

2) Prepare all your ingredients – get everyone involved!

Place on a large chopping board or plate to make it easy for selection.

3) Make your sushi! For a great start, here is how to make a California Roll:

Take it in turns to place your sushi mat on a hard surface (we used placemats) and position a sheet of nori on it.

Wet your hands in a bowl (very important step this – apparently that’s where it all went wrong for Janie last time she tried!).

Grab a handful of sushi rice and apply a thin layer of the nori, leaving a half inch gap from one of the longer ends (place this end furthest away from you), spreading out to all three of the remaining edges and pressing down firmly.

Squeeze out a smidgen of the wasabi onto your finger and spread in a line down the centre of the rice section.

Select your filling (suggest a combination of fish/seafood and vegetables) and place down the centre of the rice section. Don’t use too many ingredients or you won’t be able to wrap the filling into the roll.

Place the filled nori sheet 1/2 inch from the edge of the mat nearest to you.

Roll the mat over, tucking everything in as you go.  When you get to the last part, wet the exposed nori with water and keep rolling until it is ‘glued’ at the end.

Dip a sharp knife in the bowl of water and slice little sections of your roll.

Some will look beautiful! It is highly likely that others will be less so, but they will all undoubtedly taste incredible!

4) Sit around the table and enjoy the ultimate finger buffet with friends!

Serve up your sushi on a platter / board with the leftovers from the ingredients you’ve cut up, the soya sauce dip, a little wasabi, ginger.

Dip your sushi in the soy sauce and add a (very) little wasabi/ginger.

Help yourselves to all the delights laid out before you!

Who made the best effort? Whose flavour combination is the tastiest?

We all agreed that a sushi party is such a lovely hands on experience for everyone involved! Highly recommended!

Lizzy <3

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