"

Sushi Basics, Ingredients and Making Sushi at Home

Making sushi at home is easier than it looks and harder than the videos suggest. Easier, because you need only three tools and a handful of ingredients. Harder, because the part that decides whether it tastes like sushi — the rice — is the part most beginners rush.

This guide takes you from the ingredients you need in a Hong Kong kitchen, through the techniques in the order you should learn them, to planning a sushi evening for friends. Each step links to the full method.

Learn it in this order. First the rice, until you can make it twice without thinking. Then temaki hand rolls, which need no equipment. Then maki rolls, which need a mat and a sharp knife. Then slicing sashimi, which needs good fish and practice. Nigiri comes last, because shaping it well takes the longest to learn.

Start with the rice

Sushi is defined by its rice, not its fish. You need Japanese short-grain rice, which is high in the starch that makes grains cling together; long-grain and jasmine rice will not bind, however carefully you cook them. In Hong Kong, Koshihikari from Niigata has run about HKD 180 to 280 for 5kg and HKD 340 to 500 for 10kg, while supermarket own-brand Japanese rice starts around HKD 70 to 90 for 2kg — perfectly good for practice. Yumepirika and Hitomebore are worth knowing too.

Buy 5kg rather than 10kg unless you cook often, and store it airtight: Hong Kong humidity flattens rice flavour faster than time does. The varieties, the retailers and how much to buy are in the best sushi rice brands and where to buy in Hong Kong.

The method itself is fixed and forgiving once you know the ratios: equal volumes of rice and water, and a seasoning of roughly 5 parts rice vinegar, 3 parts sugar and 1 part salt folded through while the rice is hot. Rinse gently until the water runs nearly clear, soak, cook, rest, then fold with a slicing motion rather than stirring. Never refrigerate finished rice; chilling hardens the starch and makes it crumbly. The step-by-step method, the common mistakes and the ratio variations used by different schools are in how to make sushi rice at home.

The tools you actually need

Three things: a bamboo rolling mat, a flat rice paddle, and a sharp knife with an 8 to 10 inch blade. Everything else is a refinement. A wooden rice tub cools and seasons rice beautifully but a wide non-metallic bowl does most of the same job, and a rice cooker removes a variable but a heavy pot with a tight lid works.

Spend money on the knife, and keep it sharp. A traditional single-bevel yanagiba is ideal for sashimi, but a well-maintained chef's knife produces perfectly good results for a beginner — a blunt expensive knife is worse than a sharp cheap one. Skip plastic rice moulds, novelty roll cutters and serrated blades, which tear nori. The full list, and what not to buy, is in sushi tools and knives for beginners.

The condiments: nori, wasabi, gari and soy sauce

These sit beside every piece of sushi and get almost no attention, yet they are the cheapest way to improve what you make. Good nori is dark, glossy and snaps cleanly; in Hong Kong's humidity it goes limp within minutes once opened, so buy small packs and store them sealed. Most wasabi is horseradish, mustard and green colouring; real grated wasabi loses its aroma within about 15 to 20 minutes. Naturally pickled gari is pale, and vivid pink means added colour. How to choose each is in nori, wasabi and gari: choosing quality basics.

Soy sauce deserves its own attention. Japan's standards define five types. The everyday koikuchi is roughly 16% salt; paler usukuchi is actually saltier at 18 to 19%; tamari, made mostly or entirely from soybean, is thick, intensely savoury and the usual recommendation for sashimi, as well as the gluten-free option. For a home kitchen, one bottle of koikuchi for cooking and one of tamari for dipping covers almost everything. The five types are explained in soy sauce types for sushi and sashimi, and how much to use in wasabi and soy sauce: how much to use.

Your first sushi: hand rolls

Temaki is the best entry point, because there is no mat, no cutting and no neatness requirement. You hold half a sheet of nori, add about 40 to 50g of loose rice and a few fillings laid diagonally, and roll it into a cone. The only rule that matters is to assemble and eat it within a minute, before the nori softens.

Chopped fish and offcuts work better here than in any other format, which makes temaki the sensible use for trimmings. It is also the best format for a party, because guests build their own at the table. The method, fillings and the party set-up are in how to make hand rolls and temaki at home.

Next: maki rolls

Maki is the easiest sushi to make and the hardest to make neatly, and two things decide the outcome. Use less rice than you think — about 80 to 100g on half a sheet for a thin hosomaki — and press it lightly rather than compacting it. Then cut with a genuinely sharp knife, wiped with a damp cloth between every couple of cuts, using a single pulling stroke rather than sawing.

Start with one filling, such as a cucumber baton, before moving to thick futomaki with three or four. Wet fillings turn nori soggy, cold rice will not bind, and rolling too hard crushes the grains into paste. The full technique for thin and thick rolls, and the five mistakes beginners make, is in how to make maki rolls at home.

Then: slicing sashimi

Slicing is where home sashimi succeeds or fails, and three rules cover almost everything. Find the grain — the fine white lines through the flesh — and cut across it. Pull the knife towards you in one long stroke from heel to tip, holding it at roughly 45 degrees. Never saw. For tuna and salmon, aim for slices of about 7 to 10mm; for firm white fish, cut thinner at a shallow angle.

Chill the fish well before you start, work in short sessions, and return the block to the fridge if it softens. The standard hira-zukuri cut, the thin cuts for white fish, and how to trim a fillet into a slicing block are in how to slice sashimi at home.

Buying fish for raw eating

This is the step that matters most for safety. Buy fish sold specifically for raw consumption, never fish intended for cooking. ""Sashimi grade"" is a commercial description rather than a regulated standard, so the supplier's freezing and cold-chain practice matters more than the label. city'super stocks sashimi-grade product, with a 300g salmon block reported around HKD 180, and specialist online suppliers sell frozen sashimi-grade shellfish with free delivery from about HKD 500 and a lead time of roughly three business days.

Supermarket sashimi trays are a legitimate shortcut: Don Don Donki's three-kind platters start near HKD 90, and buying ready-sliced fish while making your own rice beats badly cut fish every time. Suppliers, questions to ask and what the label does and does not mean are in where to buy sashimi grade fish in Hong Kong, and the retailers themselves are compared in supermarket sushi in Hong Kong compared and our Japanese grocery shopping guide.

Do not rely on your home freezer to make fish safe. The parasite-destruction benchmark used by suppliers is freezing at -20°C for seven days, or -35°C until solid and then held; domestic freezers frequently cannot hold those temperatures. Hong Kong's Centre for Food Safety classifies sushi and sashimi as high-risk foods and identifies 4°C to 60°C as the danger zone. Keep raw fish at 0°C to 4°C, use separate boards and knives for raw and ready-to-eat food, never defrost at room temperature, and do not keep leftovers overnight.

Keeping it safe at home

Home preparation is where most risk is introduced, so a few habits matter. Buy raw fish last and refrigerate it within thirty minutes. Store ready-to-eat items above raw seafood in the fridge, sealed so juices cannot drip. Use shari within a few hours rather than holding it warm all afternoon, and bring fish out of the fridge only at the moment you assemble.

People who are pregnant, elderly, immunocompromised or living with liver disease should avoid raw fish and use cooked fillings instead — tamago, cooked prawn, unagi, avocado and cucumber all work. The storage rules are in how to store sushi and sashimi safely, the parasite and mercury background in is it safe to eat raw fish, and cooked options in kid friendly sushi without raw fish.

Hosting a sushi party

Build the party around temaki rather than nigiri. Guests assemble their own, nothing needs cutting, and you avoid the two hardest skills. For six people, allow six to eight hand rolls each, which is about 900g of uncooked rice, plus a bought sashimi platter, two cooked items, two sides and chilled drinks. Budget roughly HKD 150 to 250 per person including fish.

Timing is the part people get wrong. Cook rice about ninety minutes before guests arrive, season and cool it under a damp cloth, keep fillings cold, bring fish out in two batches, and clear all raw fish after two hours. The menu, shopping list and timeline are in the home sushi party menu plan and shopping list, and the quantity arithmetic for larger groups is in how much sushi to order per person.

Taking a class

A class is the fastest way past rice technique and knife handling, both hard to learn from video. Hong Kong group workshops typically run HKD 420 to 880 per person in classes of six to eight, and a chef-led sushi session has been listed around HKD 800. The question to ask before booking is whether you make the rice yourself; a class where the rice is pre-made teaches assembly, not sushi. Options and what a good class should cover are in sushi making classes and workshops in Hong Kong.

Understanding what you are making

A little background makes every technique easier to follow. Sushi is any dish built on vinegared rice, which is why tamago and inari count and a plate of sliced fish does not; that and the main formats are explained in what is sushi: types and basic terms and nigiri versus maki versus gunkan. Why the rice cannot be substituted is in sushi rice versus regular rice, and the torch technique behind seared pieces is in what is aburi sushi.

For the fish, start with our sushi and sashimi fish guide and salmon versus salmon belly, since salmon is the most forgiving fish to learn with. And if you would rather taste professional sushi before trying to copy it, the best sushi restaurants in Hong Kong and standing sushi bars are the places to start.

Common questions

What is the hardest part of making sushi at home?

The rice. Rinsing, water ratio, seasoning while hot and folding without crushing matter more than anything else.

What is the easiest sushi to make first?

Temaki hand rolls. They need no mat, no cutting and no neatness.

Can I use normal rice?

For a rice bowl, yes. For rolls or nigiri, no — it will not hold together.

Is supermarket fish safe to eat raw?

Only if it is sold specifically for raw consumption. Fish sold for cooking has not necessarily been handled or frozen to that standard.

How much does it cost to start?

A bamboo mat and paddle cost very little, a 2kg bag of Japanese rice about HKD 70 to 90, and a decent chef's knife covers the rest. You can begin for roughly the price of a chain sushi meal.

Compiled by our editorial team from published chef-led sushi rice methods, Japanese technique and slicing references, JAS soy sauce classifications, published Hong Kong rice buying guides with retailer pricing, supermarket, supplier and cooking-class listings, US FDA parasite-destruction requirements as published in regulatory summaries, and Hong Kong Centre for Food Safety guidance. Last reviewed September 2026. Ratios and quantities are starting points that vary by rice variety; prices vary by retailer and change frequently. We have no commercial relationship with any retailer, supplier or class provider. General information only, not medical advice.

"