At some point in my future I will get a paycheck. That’s right! We are quickly nearing the point in my adulthood when I will no longer hemorrhage money on my education. Instead someone will be PAYING ME to use the knowledge I have spent 20-something years accumulating. And what will I be doing with this money? Buying sushi of course! I mean, what else should I be doing with that money? Oh right…paying back my loans. Well I guess I’ll do that too. Until that point, I guess I’ll keep making sushi for myself. I’ll admit that I’m a little wary when it comes to using raw fish…okay that’s a lie, I’m really just too cheap to buy sushi grade raw fish. But if you’re feeling up to it, there are plenty of great places to buy sushi grade fish (be sure to check out the selection at West Side Market).
What you need:
- Sticky Rice (see recipe below)
- Bamboo rolling mat (these cost about $1 at the Asian grocery store)
- Nori Sheets (costs $2-$3 for 20+ sheets at the Asian grocery store)
- Avocado, cucumber, etc. (I usually use 3-5 avocados depending on the size, and 1-2 cucumbers for the amount of rice listed below)
Rice:
- 3 cups uncooked Japanese short grain rice (Short grain rice is required to make sticky rice. I used a Madagascar pink rice in these pictures, because that’s what I had lying around, but it’s A LOT harder to work with.)
- 3 1/4 cup water
- 1/3 cup rice vinegar
- 3 tbs sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- Steam the rice in the 3 1/4 cup water.
- While the rice is cooking, heat the rice vinegar, salt, and sugar over medium heat until the salt and sugar dissolve (fyi, this makes some pretty vicious fumes).
- Once dissolved, cool the mixture in the fridge until the rice is done cooking.
- Combine the cooked rice and vinegar mixture. You’re supposed to do this in front of a fan in order to cool it down and remove the excess moisture, but I never do this because I’m too lazy to go find a fan…but it’s worth a shot if you’ve one lying around!
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Slice veggies into small strips
- Spread a thin layer of rice over the nori, leaving the top 1 inch free of rice.
- Arrange the veggies over the bottom fifth of the rice covered nori.
- Holding the nori mat between your thumb and forefinger and begin rolling the nori around the veggies, stabilizing the veggies and end of the nori with the other fingers.
- Once the edge of the nori meets up with the rice and forms a complete circle (I know that sounds weird, but I can’t think of any other way to describe it), be sure to guide the nori so it folds over onto itself as you continue to pull forward on the bamboo mat.
- Continue pulling the bamboo mat forward until the nori forms a complete roll, and finish up by gently compressing the roll (see above).
- Secure the “free edge” of the roll with a little bit of water (see above).
- Slice the roll in half with a sharp knife (wetting the knife makes this easier).
- Line two halves up and slice into thirds, leaving you with 6 totals pieces.
