Sushi for kids

I may have mentioned it (a little bit) but I was sponsored at the Britmums bloggers conference by Yutaka, a Japanese food company. Odd, for a mainly parenting blogger you might think, but no! We were sent their sushi starter kit, with the intent that I make sushi with the boy (who is five now)

I was surprised at how utterly straightforward it actually was. All the ingredients you need to make two generous portions of sushi (except the filling – you get to choose whatever filling you like)

The rice is boil in the bag – simples – and once it’s cooked you leave it to cool while you get on with the interesting task of choosing and chopping the fillings. I decided to let the boy choose. He seemed convinced that because you wrap sushi, it must be like a sandwich.

Cheese and cucumber it is then!

Once the rice is cool enough, you lay out the mat and put a sheet of nori down. Then you spread the rice thinly, leaving a space at the top and bottom for the roll to stick together. Once you’ve done that, you lay your chopped filling down the middle.

Once all the filling is set, it’s time to roll! The boy needed a little bit of help to get it going, but once the mat had gone over, he was quite happy to roll and squish. Excellent work, minion.

I’m not sure we did it quite right as I did have to trim a bit of nori off the edge before I started cutting it, but the roll was still quite thick. You need a super sharp knife to cut the roll, so I banished the minion at this point. You cut it in the middle, then cut those bits in the middle, and again so you have even pieces.

I think we should have put a bit more filling in, but I’m pretty pleased with our very first attempt! You can keep cooked sushi rice in the fridge as well, and use any leftovers you might have to make sushi. It’s really quite filling as well, so great for a night where you don’t have much time to cook – just chop, spread and roll!