Sushi-rama

I had purchased a bunch of sushi-making stuff two weeks ago and tonight I finally got around to trying my hand at sushi.

I was really hoping that this nori would be good. I have had homemade sushi that used seaweed wrap that tasted like they had picked it up off a hot beach. NASTY!!

The rice wasn't too complicated. Rinse one cup rice. Add one cup water and simmer in a tightly covered pot until all the water is absorbed.

Add some sushi vinegar to the rice and fluff in.

While the rice was cooling I made a sushi omelet (tamago). That's just egg whipped with a little water and sugar cooked like a crepe. I put the heat REALLY low and let the egg cook slowly. It is really hard to flip, but it doesn't need to look perfect. There. I said it.

I got a phone call while making the rice and omelet so they probably didn't turn out exactly right.

The rice was VERY sticky and hard to spread out on the nori. I found that using a fork worked pretty well at getting it to spread out. Spread out the rice leaving ~1" clear at on end.

A couple of sites suggested using plastic wrap on the sushi mat to keep rice from squishing into the crevasses, so I heeded their advice.

I cut the omelet into 1" wide strips. I also sliced up an avocado, a cucumber, and baby carrots into strips. I placed a small amount of each on the layer of rice opposite the rice free end.

Use the nori straight out of the package.


Rolling was pretty self-explanatory. Roll toward the rice-free end. I moistened the rice-free end a little once rolled to get it to stick down on the roll. You need to roll a couple before you get the hang of getting the roll real tight.

This roll was my first one.
Not bad, huh?

Then it is just a matter of slicing the roll into uniform sized pieces.

Here is a plate of my finished sushi pieces. The middle ones are my first ones, the fatter outer rolls are my later ones. If you look close you can see a difference in the density of the rice and the neatness of the roll.

The nori was delicious! It was mild and nutty. There was no fishy flavor at all. I would highly recommend this brand.

I didn't find the sushi much more difficult to make than tacos. I will definitely consider having this in our quick-meal rotation! It was fabulous!

By the way, for those of you not in the know - BEWARE THE WASABI!!!
I love spicy, so wasabi and I are good friends, but when you aren't expecting it, it can be very painful. A minute amount goes a long way for those who aren't spice-fiends.