Shadowing Practice: Best Way To Make Sushi At Home - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Today, I'm gonna show you how to make the three most popular types of sushi. Nigiri, hand roll and maki. We'll begin by making our sushi rice.

When some people think about sushi, they just think about the fish. But the rice is equally important. If you plan on making sushi, you do specifically wanna buy sushi rice.

The reason being, it's got a higher starch content that will make it naturally stickier as it cooks. As with making any rice, I'm gonna start off by giving it a nice rinse. Normally I'd do this over the sink, but I'm doing it this way right now so I can demonstrate easier. We're doing this to rinse off all the excess dust and starch from the rice. We want it sticky, but not gummy.

Once I've given it a nice first rinse, I'm gonna go ahead and bring it back to the sink. And now we'll just repeat this exact same process twice more, or until the water runs clear.

This is what your clean rice should look like.

The easiest way to make your rice will be with a rice cooker. For this, we'll add in our rice and then cover it with water along with a piece of kombu.

This is a Japanese seaweed that's gonna give our sushi rice a hint of this incredible umami flavor. Before we cook, we're gonna let this rest for 20 minutes.

And while we wait, I'll feed my fish.

And now that he's happy, here's our soaked rice.

We'll cook our rice with the kombu still in there, using the sushi rice setting on our rice cooker. While our sushi rice cooks, let's prepare our rice seasoning. In a small pot over low heat, we'll add some rice vinegar, sugar, and a sprinkle of salt.

Mix until the salt and sugar are both fully dissolved and once the liquid is clear, shift it off the heat and immediately add in some kombu.

We'll let this sit now until our rice is done, while we prepare the rest of our ingredients. When it comes to choosing your fish, pick whatever you like best.

Part of what makes sushi so special is that sushi chefs are using special particular cuts from each fillet of fish.

So very quickly, in case you ever end up with a sushi grade fillet of fish like this, I'm gonna show you how to cut these nice portions out of it. For this, all we do is find that center line that runs down the center of the fillet and make a nice clean cut all the way down. The next step is to remove the skin.

You can do this part yourself, or, usually, you can ask the person at the fish shop to do this for you.

And now we're left with a nice, clean, beautiful fillet which we can trim the ends off of. And once you've cleaned that up, it'll look something like this.

Here we have three beautiful cuts, including salmon, hamachi and tuna, that in just a few moments, we'll use to make three different types of sushi. Now we're gonna prepare our vegetables. We'll begin by chopping off both ends, and then using our nori sheet as a guide. We wanna cut pieces of cucumber that are about half the size of it.

So, right about here. And we're gonna do that exact same thing with the rest of our ingredients. That way they fit well inside the roll.

With this piece here, I'll trim it right in half, then flip each piece face down to cut it into quarters. We'll wanna trim out the softer part on the inside so it looks something like this. Then if you wanna make them really nice and crisp, trim off the edges and then cut them into 2 or 3 pieces each, depending on the size of your cucumber. With that, our cucumber slices are done.

So let's move on to our pepper.

For this, we'll trim off the top and bottom, then slice right through the middle, and then carefully slice out the middle to get two pieces like this.

Then all we do now is slice into even strips and our pepper is ready too.

As for our scallions, we'll trim off the top and bottoms to clean them up, and then we'll cut somewhere in between where the white and the green parts meet, and then we'll line them up evenly like this.

Chop these into nice, even thin rings.

And then, if you wanna be really professional, put them in a bowl of ice water, which will give them a better texture. These are just a few examples of how to prep certain vegetables, but you can and should use whatever ones you want. For now, let's clear these off to the side so we can finish our sushi rice, and get to making our sushi.

This is called a 'hangiri'.

It's what you use to make sushi rice. But, obviously, I don't expect any of you to have this at home. You can do this with the biggest bowl you have. To finish our sushi rice, we'll remove our kombu and then add it to our bowl, or whatever container you're using. And then we'll pour our vinegar mixture over our sushi rice, while we wave a spoon or paddle underneath to spread it all out evenly.

We'll use that same spoon to cut through the rice and break up any clumps, with the goal being that each grain of rice is gonna get coated in that vinegar mixture. Once you feel your rice has been fully coated, go ahead and spread it out in a nice even layer, and then wipe down all the sides with a damp kitchen towel. It should look nice and clean like this.

If you wanna look like a true sushi chef, go ahead and fan down your rice, as well. Since it should still be quite warm at this stage, this will help to cool it down and make the rice easier to work with, in just a few moments. I'm gonna show you how to make three common types of sushi.

The first one being nigiri, which we're gonna use this tuna for.

To trim your fish for nigiri, start by trimming off the end to get a nice flat face, and then try to get nice, even slices using a clean, consistent motion that runs the entire length of your knife's blade. At the very end of each cut, you also wanna turn that knife blade down to create a ridge on each piece of fish.

For our nigiri, we're also gonna prep some wasabi.

And believe it or not, most times you thought you were having wasabi, it was probably horseradish. But this is the real deal.

To shape the nigiri, wet both hands with some water.

Grab a little bit of sushi rice, about the size of a large cherry, and then place the rice in your dominant hand and grab the fish with your other hand. That ridge we created earlier should be facing down.

Grab a small amount of wasabi, if you even want it, and spread it right into the middle of your fish.

Now place down your rice, create a small little dimple using your thumb to create air within the rice, and then flip the whole thing over.

Use a combination of these three fingers, at once, to shape the fish over the rice.

And then once you've done that, place your thumb over the top and wrap these fingers around the fish and press just like this.

It's almost like when you're trying to catch an egg and to make sure it doesn't break, you step back to catch it. You're doing that same sort of motion with your hand and the nigiri.

After this, repeat those same two motions back and forth until you feel you have a nicely shaped nigiri. Moving on, we're gonna make had rolls, using this yellowtail, also known as hamachi.

This is basically the sushi equivalent of an ice cream cone. For hand rolls, we're gonna cut our fish in that exact same way, except then we're gonna cut it into nice thin strips like this.

Now we'll take half a seaweed sheet.

Then, once again, grab some rice, but a little bit more this time, and then find the midpoint of your seaweed sheet and place the rice down to the left of that imaginary line. Now spread that rice out to form a triangle that moves to the lower left corner of your seaweed sheet and then lay down your fish, making sure to get all the way to that bottom corner here, in the opposite direction of the way that rice triangle goes.

To finish, cover your fish with whatever topping you want, and then fold it all the way around into an ice cream cone shape like this.

But, try not to lose anything inside, like I did, while you do it.

And this is your beautiful hand roll.

For our third and final sushi, we'll make Maki. The good old classic roll, that we all know and love. For this one, we'll use our salmon.

I'll use one of my toppings from earlier to measure out a nice slice, and then I'll cut this into nice long strips, each of which I'm then gonna cut into smaller strips like this.

They're gonna look somewhat like thick cut fish French fries.

To make maki, you will need a bamboo roller like this one, and you're gonna wanna wrap it up in plastic wrap so it's non-stick. We'll add one half a sheet of seaweed towards the lower part of our roller. Then we'll grab a ball of rice about the size of a clementine.

And then starting from the top left of our nori, we'll shape it out in a log like this.

Now, using your hand as a guide, begin spreading the rice down the nori.

We don't wanna mash the rice when we do this. You wanna be gentle.

And the goal is to get that rice all the way down with a small little strip of seaweed here at the end. Next, sprinkle on a few sesame seeds, then flip it over, and add your fish right in the middle, as well as any additional toppings you want. Then lift up your bamboo roller, holding all the fillings in place.

Roll it most of the way over and lift the edge so that you can finish the motion all the way through. To finish, pinch your fingers at the very bottom and place your fingers on top.

Then slide with even pressure all the way out.

And before you cut it, place it on your work surface and then give it one last push on either side, to clean it up. To make sure the roll doesn't stick, you should also lightly wet the top of your work surface like this, and then place it down to cut.

To cut your roll, find the midpoint and then slice, wipe your knife on a damp towel, then stack the rolls.

Cut through the middle again, wipe your knife, and repeat the same thing with both halves.

And congratulations, you just made maki!

If you wanna get real fancy, you can even add things like salmon eggs on top. And that's how you make sushi at home.

Would it be messed up to let my fish try the sushi?

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “Best Way To Make Sushi At Home”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: rice, sushi, cut, fish, roll. This video has 63 sentences and 1936 words to shadow. The speech runs for 7:26. 84% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.

Key vocabulary in this video

The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
sushi noun	/ˈsuːʃi/	A Japanese dish made of small portions of sticky white rice flavored with vinegar, usually wrapped in seaweed and filled or topped with fish, vegetables or…
trim verb	/ˈtɹɪm/	To reduce slightly; to cut; especially, to remove excess.
nigiri noun		Regular sushi: a piece of raw fish (or other topping) on top of a small oblong brick of sticky white rice.
slice noun	/slaɪs/	That which is thin and broad.
seaweed noun	/ˈsiwid/	Any of numerous marine algae, such as a kelp.
fillet noun	/fɪˈleɪ/	A thin strip of any material, in various technical uses.
kombu noun	/ˈkɒmbuː/	Edible kelp (“a type of brown seaweed”) (from the class Phaeophyceae) used in East Asian cuisine.
maki noun	/ˈmɑːki/	A ring-tailed lemur (Lemur catta).
cucumber noun	/ˈkjuˌkʌmbɚ/	A vine in the gourd family, Cucumis sativus.
nori noun		A type of seaweed, a red alga, laver (genus Pyropia, including species P. yezoensis and P. tenera).
rinse verb	/ɹɛns/	To wash (something) quickly using water and no soap.
wasabi noun	/wəˈsɑːbi/	A plant of the species Eutrema japonicum, cultivated for its edible root.
vinegar noun	/ˈvɪnəɡɚ/	A sour liquid formed by the fermentation of alcohol used as a condiment or preservative; a dilute solution of acetic acid.
roller noun	/ˈɹoʊlɚ/	Any rotating cylindrical device that is part of a machine, especially one used to apply or reduce pressure.
wipe verb	/waɪp/	To move an object over, maintaining contact, with the intention of removing some substance from the surface. (Compare rub.)

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
go ahead verb	/ˌɡoʊ əˈhɛd/	To proceed with; to begin.
cut through verb		To take a shortcut through.
break up verb		To break or separate into pieces.
face down verb		To confront; to abash by stern looks.
lie down verb		To assume a horizontal position.
lift up verb		To elevate to a higher position.
run down verb		To hit someone with a car or other vehicle and injure or kill them.
start off verb		To begin.

Sentences worth repeating

Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:

We'll begin by making our sushi rice.
It's what you use to make sushi rice.
For our nigiri, we're also gonna prep some wasabi.
For this one, we'll use our salmon.
Would it be messed up to let my fish try the sushi?

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	I've given · you've cleaned · has been
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	is called · be messed
Advice with “should” should + verb — saying what is a good idea	should look · should use · should be
Superlatives the -est / the most … — the top or bottom of a group	The easiest · the biggest

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 86 contractions and reduced forms, such as we'll, gonna, wanna. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: thumb /ˈθʌm/, underneath /ˌʌndɚˈniθ/
The “sh” and “zh” sounds: sushi /ˈsuːʃi/, preposition /ˌpɹɛpəˈzɪʃən/, chef /ʃɛf/, horseradish /ˈhɔɹsɹædɪʃ/, mash /mæʃ/
Long words — get the stress right: preposition /ˌpɹɛpəˈzɪʃən/, ingredient /ɪnˈɡɹiːdi.ənt/, imaginary /ɪˈmæd͡ʒɪˌn(ɛ)ɹi/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like sushi, trim, nigiri.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: Best Way To Make Sushi At Home - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

Key vocabulary in this video

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Sentences worth repeating

Grammar in this video

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?