Sushi! If you've never had it then you should try it- you'll never know unless you give it a shot at least once. An important thing to remember is that there's lots of kinds of sushi and they're not all made with 'raw fish'. So if you're afraid of it because of that you no longer have any excuse!!

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The real beauty of sushi is; you can use anything you want for filling! Fruits, vegetables, cooked or uncooked fish, a variety of seafoods, different fresh herbs (like cilantro, parsley, etc)... anything at all. (Yellowfin tuna, scallion, snow pea, shitake, and sesame seed in these rolls)

Please forgive the messy plate - I'd been re-using the same plate and serving a variety of rolls and nigiri.


Before I get to the "recipe" (you can put whatever you want in sushi! Sushi is what the rice is named - not the filling), some hints:

Have large and VERY sharp knife handy
Cutting board
Wrap your bamboo roller in plastic wrap so the rolls don't get it all messy
Keep a large bowl of warm water and a hand towel handy to keep your hands and knife clean - this is crucial!
When handling the prepared rice, wet your hands well to keep the rice from sticking to you
DO NOT wet the roller, unless your want your nori to be a permanent part of it
Use a short-grain rice like jasmine or other polished-grain rice (there's stuff out there meant specifically for sushi, as well)
It's important that your cooked rice be cooled as quickly as possible after adding the seasoning - you'll need to fan it with something... even a small desk fan will do!

Here's how you do it:

- 2 cups short-grain rice, dry
- 3Tbsp rice wine vinegar
- 1Tbsp granulated sugar
- 1tsp salt

Wash the rice in cold water to remove any excess starch used in packaging, by placing it in a large mixing bowl or casserole dish and running cold water into it until it overflows. Using your hands, stir the rice around, while continuing to overflow the bowl with cold water. When the water runs clear or very close to it, it's clean. Drain the rice and cook according to the instructions on the package. A rice cooker works best, but it can be done easily enough in a large, lidded stock pot.

Heat the vinegar in a small saucepan and add the salt and sugar - be careful not to boil it! Set it aside.

Once the rice is done, dump it into a large wooden or plastic bowl - don't use a metal bowl for this! Spread it out as evenly as you can and gently chop it with a wooden stir-fry spatula, breaking it apart. Don't use too much force, as you do not want to damage the individual grains.

Once this is done, spread the rice evenly and sprinkle a small amount of the seasoning vinegar/salt/sugar solution over it. Fold it over and mix, again being careful not to break any of the grains (some breakage is unavoidable, however). Repeat until the vinegar solution is used up.

Spread the rice again, and fan it to cool it off. Fold, mix, spread again, until the rice has cooled to room temperature. By now, the rice should have taken on a glossy appearance and be sticking to itself (and your spatula) very well.



That's the hard part!

For the fish and veggies:

Use whatever you want to in them! There's lots of good recipes for things like spicy tuna filling, omelet strips, etc - Google is your friend here.

Always use sushi-grade fish, if you can get it. If you cannot, freeze your fish overnight, thaw, and then cut it for making rolls - this will kill any bacteria which may be present.

When cutting your fish, cut perpendicular to the grain and trim any excess fat off. Generally, slice it into strips about 1/4"x1/2", about three inches long. Vegetables should be cut to about the same length, but julienned to 1/4" sticks.

For the rolls:
- Nori (sheets of roasted seaweed)
- Sushi roller
- Plastic-wrap (to cover the roller)
- Cutting board
- Sharp knife
- Warm water and towel (to keep your knife and hands clean)

Place the rolling mat on something hard and flat (counter, cutting board, whatever). Center one sheet of nori on it, wide side to you and shiny side down. Cover with sushi rice, leaving a 1/2"-wide strip of the nori exposed on the side furthest from you - cover to about the thickness of your pinky finger, making sure it's nice and even and flat-ish. Remember to keep your hands wetted to keep the rice from sticking to you!

Place your filling on the rice, a bit closer to you than the center. Using your fingers to hold the nori and rice to the roller mat, carefully fold the edge closest to you over the filling. Then, using the roller, continue to roll the nori, rice, and filling, pressing firmly as you go. Before you get to the bare edge of the nori sheet, use your finger to wet the edge of it with warm water. Finish rolling it! It helps to completely wrap your roll with the mat, squeezing it gently, to straighten it out and make sure it's sticking together well.

Remove your roll from the mat, and set the mat aside. I like using my knife to flatten both open ends of the roll... but it's not necessary. Cut the roll into six or eight pieces, beginning in the center - wet the knife before the first cut, wipe it after with your towel, and wet it again for every successive cut. Try not to 'saw' through the roll, but make the cut in one smooth motion.

Garnishes include:
- Spicy mayonnaise
- Roe (fish eggs)
- Toasted sesame seed
- Sweet chili sauce
- More fish (rainbow makizushi roll, caterpillar roll, etc)
- Hell... almost anything

Serve it with wasabi paste, soy sauce, and pickled ginger (gari). Enjoy!

Allergy warning – recipe contains fish soy products