SUSHI

I usually buy Sushi at the grocery store because my girls like them a lot.  Last few weeks, they just did not look fresh in the grocery store.  My friend Emel makes her own.  She encouraged me to try making them at home.  I did and decided we are never going to buy them again.  They are easy to make and since they are so very fresh, they simply taste better.  I made different types of filling.

Seaweed sheets (I used Nori)

1/2 cup sushi rice

1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoon rice vinegar

Filling for Tuna filling:

1 can solid Tuna (drained and chopped)

1 or 2 tablespoons mayonnaise

wasabi or other spicy sauce to your liking

For the veggies in this one: graded carrots, avocado and cucumber

California roll:

Crab legs (thinly sliced)

1 or 2 tablespoon mayonnaise

Sesame seeds (goes on the rice before all the other ingredients)

Cucumber

For Shrimp filling:

Precooked and chopped shrimp

Avocado

Wasabi sauce to your liking

• Rice is one of the key parts of this recipe.  I bought special sushi rice because this was the first time I was making it but any short grain rice will work.  Cook it to package instructions with salt after washing it and letting it rest for 20 minutes to cool.
• Prepare the filling you want to use
• Add rice vinegar.  This actually doesn't add any flavor to your cooking but makes the rice a bit shiny.  It is a "pretty" dish, so it is important to make the rice look shiny
• Put your sea weed down flat.  All recipes say the shiny part down but I had a hard time figuring out which side was shiny.  My sea weed had visible lines on one side, I used this side to put rice on.
• Spread the rice to one end to the other.  Not right to the end though.  I left about 1 cm to start to help roll it over on both sides.  See the pictures below.  Make sure the rice is thinly spread otherwise they end up too big
• Place the filling on top of the rice but only to one side and roll the seaweed over the filling into a "log".  People recommend the use of a bamboo mat to roll it.  I bought one but I found it harder than just use my hands.  Maybe it is because I am used to making stuffed grape leaves that I found it easier.
• Roll over like a log and wet the very end to have the seaweed stick at the end
• Cut into bite size pieces
• Let it rest in the fridge 2 - 3 hours
• Serve with soya and wasabi sauces