Hosting a Sushi Party

One of my favorite dinner parties we have had!

I have been dreaming up hosting a sushi party night at our house! Our close friends have hosted them a few times and it’s always been such a fun party with friends. While my bucket list is to one day have a sushi chef come cook for us, this was the next best thing – a group effort of making rolls! I asked each of my guest to bring ingredients for two rolls of their choice. I provided the rice and sushi paper along with appetizers, any sauces as well as a fully stocked bar 😉 I normally do not let anyone help me cook during a dinner party. Being in the kitchen is my happy place and cooking for people is my love language. However, for this sushi party I finally sat back in a chair and watched my friends have at it making the most delicious spread of rolls and sashimi. It was so much fun and SO fun to have an interactive dinner party for all the guests to participate.

For the Table Setting:

To be completely transparent we ended up moving all the place settings to be around our kitchen island because it made more sense to eat the rolls fresh instead of plating everything and waiting until everyone finished making their rolls to sit and eat. This honestly made it so much more fun – friends were taking turns coming up with other ideas for rolls with leftover ingredients! But. Of course I had to have a gorgeous table setting to start off the evening with – great inspiration for you if you hire a sushi chef! I love the simplicity of this table setting. The little wooden miso soup bowls were such a fun touch, along with the wooden chopsticks and black chopstick holders. I wanted the table setting to have a moody feeling and the black details were the perfect way to achieve that!

For the Menu:

As mentioned, I had each couple bring ingredients for two rolls of their choice. For example, one couple made a steak roll and a hot dog roll 😂 (don’t knock the hot dog roll until you try it). Another couple brought ingredients to make a dragon roll and spicy salmon roll and Jeremy and I made these fun crispy spam egg musubi (which were delicious!) and a spicy tuna roll. As hosts we provided additional appetizers such as sashimi and miso soup. I intended to also make edamame but completely forgot to grab it at the store – so highly recommend having that as well!

Setting the Vibes:

If you’re hosting this dinner party it’s all about making it an interactive dinner for your guests. Making rolls is a little complicated however once you get the hang of it it becomes super easy. Have fun with it and don’t stress if rolls don’t turn out! It’s all about laughing in the kitchen making a fun dinner together. A few tips I have for making rolls:

Follow the instructions to make the sushi rice – I prefer to make my rice on the stove top (which the bag goes through every step and it’s really simple. There is a 30 min waiting period for your rice to sit in water after it’s cleaned so I recommend cooking the rice well ahead of time. You also want the rice to be cooled (5 degrees celsius) so keep that in mind as well. I made my rice around noon and everyone came over at 6pm! This is the brand of rice I use.
When spreading the rice onto the sushi paper you really only want a thin layer. Using a spatula or back of a wooden spoon dollop some rice then press firmly to spread it. Water is your friend here! Frequently dip the spoon into water to help spread the rice. We had a bowl of water out for that. *the bowl of water comes in handy when you’re cutting the rolls as well – before you make a cut, dip your knife into the water.
Leave about an inch – 1 1/2 inches of the sushi paper without rice! This will be the end of the paper that you roll into. That was one of our biggest learning lessons. If you spread the rice to cover the entire sheet then you have a pinwheel of rice essentially!
Pre-chop all of your ingredients. This helps the sushi making process go quicker. I put all of the ingredients into tiny glass bowls and set out all of the sauce options. So then when someone was up to make their roll they have an array of ingredients to choose from. This also lead to coming up with different rolls beyond the ones planned which was so fun!
Lastly, again have fun with it. It’s all about the group effort to make this interactive dinner together! Have a bar area set up so people can pour cocktails at their leisure. We had a bottle of sake going around along with Lychee margaritas which was another fun detail!