At Germany for Kids, we make learning skills fun, we also like to combine subjects as part of our multi-faceted approach. Here’s an activity that brings learning to make tasty and healthy food together with art and creativity; Sushi For Kids.
Watch our movie then keep reading for recipe and tips
Sushi is easy to make and looks great, we make maki rolls, they really look like restaurant sushi and do not need to contain raw fish so are suitable for all.
As a minimum you need the following:
- Nori seaweed sheets (available in large supermarkets or oriental food stores)
- Cooked sushi rice (recipe below)
- Wasabi (in a tube)
- Sushi ginger (you can make this at home, see recipe below)
- Fillings. We suggest strips of cucumber, carrot and spring onions, but can be anything children like or of course, fish! read about our local delicacies below.
For the garnish you can also be creative but we use:
- lemons: sliced and strips of zest
- radishes (carved)
- spring onion strips
- cucumber peel and slices
- carrot ribbons (made with a potato peeler)
Method:
- Prepare your fillings and garnishes as above
- Place a single Nori sheet on a clean tea towel
- Spread thinly, but not too thin, prepared sushi rice on the third of the sheet nearest you. Keep it even and go right up to the edges.
- Place your fillings lengthwise along the middle of the rice, as in our video.
- Carefully roll into a maki roll, starting at the point nearest you and rolling away from you using the tea towel to form the shape and apply pressure. As you finish the roll leave the loose end under the finished roll and leave to sit for a few minutes, moisture from the rice will “glue” together.
- Cut into six equal pieces. An adult should do this, trim the ends first, then cut in half with a sharp, long knife, then cut each half into equal thirds. You now have your maki rolls!
- The task then for the children is to arrange the maki rolls with selected garnishes in as creative and attractive way as possible, they can choose any garnish they like, we have one rule only. Each dish must have wasabi and ginger on it so as to remain authentic! just remember these ingredients are very strongly flavoured.
- Take photos to remember because the kids love to eat their creations, make sure you have some soy sauce available for dipping and watch they don’t put too much wasabi or ginger in their mouths!
Regional fish for our sushi activity
Our region is famous for the Müritz lake and it’s associated National Park. The lake itself and many of the surrounding lakes form part of a unique commercial freshwater fishery. The fishery is managed carefully to maintain a healthy balance of native fish species in the local waters but also produces superb fish and fish specialities for eating. Our local favourites and perfect for use in sushi are caviar from various fish including trout and pike and smoked fish, once again with trout but our favourite is smoked eel, a delicacy that fetches high prices in the restaurants of London and Paris.
Note: We do not recommend using raw fish from supermarkets to make sushi, raw fish should be obtained from specialist suppliers. If you want to include fish in your sushi, smoked and cured fish are perfectly acceptable and authentic.
Here’s a selection of sushi art form one of our groups, which is your favourite?
How to cook Sushi Rice:
- 250 grams sushi rice (or pudding rice)
- 300 ml water
- 50ml rice or white vinegar
- 50 grams white sugar
- salt to taste
- Wash rice in a strainer under a tap until water runs clear, allow to stand until dry.
- Bring to boil in a rice cooker or pot with tight fitting lid. Simmer very getly for a 20 minutes.
- let stand off the heat for 15 minutes
- While rice is cooking, heat vinegar sugar and salt in a small saucepan
- Place rice in a large open bowl and run a wooden spatula through it in a slicing side to side action, whilst slowly adding cooled vinegar mix. Continue with this gentle action until the rice is room temperature and ready! Do not refrigerate or keep longer than one or two hours before use.
How to make home-made sushi ginger and red onion garnish:
If you can’t find sushi ginger, you can make at home easily the day before you make your sushi. Simply peal some fresh raw ginger then slice as thinly as you can, paper thin if you are able, then marinade overnight in enough white vinegar to cover the ginger, a pinch of salt and enough white sugar to sweeten the marinade.
You can see the beautiful bright pink garnish in our photos, the method is similar to the ginger, again peel and slice red onions as thinly as you can then simply marinade overnight in lemon juice and salt.
