There’s no denying it: sushi is really rather trendy. Once considered an essential menu choice only for the Japanese, this naturally healthy style of preparing and serving seafood has become one of the must-eat cuisines around the globe – and more and more people are trying to re create the delicacy at home.
With summer now in full swing, the chefs at Le Royal Meridien’s award winning Soba restaurant are cooking up a class act with professional sushi lessons for the capital three days a week throughout the summer. How difficult can it be to sculpt rice and wafers of fish into mouth-watering delicacies?
Actually it looks very tricky indeed, but ultimately it’s all a matter of ingredients and technique. So Abu Dhabi Week was welcomed to the world of wasabi and got ready to mould and roll some bitesized seafood. Chef Elvin Quintero starts by gathering everyone around the table; vinegar water, wasabi, rice and salmon are lined up on each of the workstations, aprons and hairnets are at the ready. After a quick briefing on what we’re going to be making – two types of sushi, as it happens: maki and nigiri – we’re ready for the practicalities.
Nigiri is hand-moulded sushi. Delicate and slightly messy, the method involves little more than some gentle rolling and careful handling. The rice is sticky and we’re glad of the vinegar water – it is simpler to use than a pair of gloves, and just as good at keeping bacteria at bay. It also aids rolling the rice into a ball without sticking to the fingertips. Or at least this is what we discover on our third attempt.
After swapping the rice ball from hand to hand a few times, we carefully add a dot of wasabi and a sliver of salmon to the top. More moulding produces an elegant oval – and it’s as simple as that: we’ve made nigiri sushi, and it looks rather good.
Maki takes more preparation, but we think it’s more fun. This style of sushi is made by rolling rice and seaweed around a number of garnishes like carrot and cucumber to form neat circular portions. Starting with a large handful of rice, we roll it into a ball. A sheet of seaweed is placed smooth side down on a bamboo mat and the rice is spread across it, covering any gaps. The seaweed is lifted and turned over so the rice is now facedown. It’s then time to get creative with the ingredients that will become the middle of the sushi roll.
Now we’re ready to roll. The bamboo mat is tucked in and around the seaweed and rice – and without pressing – is lightly rolled and moulded to form a cylinder of food. Once the mat’s removed, we slice the long sausageshaped seafood in two and choose from bright orange fish-eggs and other dressings to decorate the outside. More slicing produces neat, equal (ish, in our case) portions.
With the lesson over, we receive a congratulatory certificate and pack up the remaining uneaten sushi in a takeaway box to show off and share back at the office.
The course is fun, simple – and edible. Soba is classy and classic Japanese cuisine, the summer sushi lessons add an extra string to its bow, and we’ll definitely be back for more ...
What? Sushi Classes at Soba Restaurant
Where? Le Royal Meridien: Saturday 10-12pm and 4-6pm | Sunday 4-6pm
How much? AED 150 per class
Why? Fun, easy and informative – and very tasty!
Why not? You may eat so much sushi during the lesson that it’s a while before you want to see sticky rice and fish eggs again
Contact: 800 101 101
[Originally published in Abu Dhabi Week vol 2 issue 25]
