2torial #0415:
Learn2 Make Sushi (continued)

Buy the other ingredients

Whether you're making vegetarian or fish-based sushi, you'll need the following ingredients and pieces of equipment.

Sushi rice. Japanese short- to medium-grain polished rice is hands down the best for sushi. Its high content of amylopectin, a glutinous starch, helps it stick together. Unconverted medium-grain white rice can also do in a pinch, but don't use long-grain, wild, brown, or instant rice: They're just not sticky enough. You can get Japanese rice in many supermarkets and in Asian groceries.

Seaweed. Nori, or pressed seaweed, is used to wrap sushi. It's commonly sold in packages of about ten 8 by 7-inch (20 by 17-centimeter) sheets. Nori that's blackish green in color is superior in quality to paler sheets. Buy toasted nori (it should say so on the package).

Condiments. You'll need a few other ingredients to prepare and enjoy sushi. You can find them in Japanese groceries and in many supermarkets:

• Wasabi is green Japanese horseradish. Buy it powdered and reconstitute it with water until it's the consistency of a thick paste, or buy it already prepared in a tube.

• Japanese rice vinegar can be bought seasoned (with sugar, salt, and maybe a little MSG added) or plain. It's easy to season to your taste (we'll tell you how a little later), so go ahead and buy the plain stuff.

• Soy sauce is the standard dipping sauce for sushi. Buy a Japanese brand (many Chinese soy sauces are thick and sweet and not appropriate for sushi).

• Pickled ginger (gari) has a clean, sweet taste that clears the palate between courses of a sushi meal.

Equipment. It's likely that the only thing you'll need to buy (and it's cheap) is a sushi mat (makisu), used to roll maki sushi. The mat is less than a foot (30 centimeters) square and is made of thin pieces of bamboo tied together with string. Japanese groceries sell them.

A note on quantities. For a sushi main course, count on the following quantities for each person:

• 2 to 3 cups (300 to 450 grams) cooked rice (2/3 to 1 cup or 150 to 220 grams uncooked)

• One to three sheets nori (fewer if you are making mostly nigiri, more if mostly maki)

• 8 ounces (230 grams) fish or vegetable filling

Have full (or nearly full) bottles of vinegar and soy sauce, and a few spoonfuls of wasabi, and you shouldn't run short.