I’m a self-confessed sushi addict and I’d almost go so far as to tell you it’s quite possibly the best food ever invented. In my opinion, sushi did for raw fish what Gene Kelly did for umbrellas - it’s become a phenomenon all over the world and everyone, myself included, just can’t get enough of the delicious bite-sized morsels. The only problem I have with sushi is the price – being a sushi lover can wreak havoc on your budget, especially when you have a deep love for salmon like I do!
So, because I’m STILL waiting for my ship full of money to come in (not sure what’s taking it so long!) I’ve been forced to curb my almost daily cravings for sushi, until now that is! Thanks to my awesome friend Colin I’ve just discovered a way to save myself tons of money and eat as much sushi as I want! We attended a rather awesome sushi making class at African Sushi in Edenvale recently and I learned how to make my very own restaurant-quality sushi.
Owners Carol and Dave are sushi lovers themselves and you can tell they love experimenting in the kitchen. They offer 3 classes for those wanting to learn the various skills to making excellent sushi. In the first class, a beginner class, you learn the basics of sushi making and how to make California rolls, Maki, and a Bamboo Roll. What I loved about this class is that you don’t use any fish (at all!) and instead your sushi is filled with all sorts of other meats that you wouldn’t dream of using otherwise.
We started off by learning how to make Maki, and Dave gave us little hints like, ‘always make sure you keep your hands wet when handling the rice’ and ‘always work with a wet knife when cutting your sushi.’ We filled the Maki with ham, chives, avocado and yellow and red pepper and then learned how to roll it into a perfectly round or square Maki roll. Once we were satisfied with our roll we learned how to cut the long solid strip of sushi roll into individual pieces.
We then moved onto the California roll – or inside out roll – and filled it with cream cheese, avo, chives, smoked chicken and bacon dust. This one was my favourite! Lastly, Dave showed us how to make a Bamboo Roll – a wonderfully decorative piece of sushi made from cucumber and filled with ham, rice, cream cheese and a few extra salad pieces. The roll is finished off with a dollop of mayo and a sprinkling of caviar – delicious!
When we were done with our sushi masterpieces we plated our sushi and sat down for a delicious sushi dinner with the rest of the class. We were encouraged to bring a bottle of wine or drinks to enjoy with our meal, so we opened a bottle and spent the rest of the night munching on our creations and marvelling at just how great it was.
African Sushi offers two other classes as well – an intermediate class where you learn how to make dessert sushi (that’s right - sushi filled with chocolate and all sorts of other sweet treats) and finally a Master class where you learn to make all sorts of sushi creations using fish.
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