This weekend my husband was out of town on a business trip.  So, I thought that Friday I would make myself some homemade sushi. I thought that I’d save some money (note, in the end I think I was a bit incorrect on this one) and I’d have something to snack on all weekend (note that this also, turned out to be a bit incorrect).

I used to make these when I was working in an office, and I’d take it for lunch.  However, I used to always make it with the nori (toasted seaweed sheets) on the outside instead of how you see this often in restaurants or stores, with the rice on the outside.  I can now verify, there is a reason I’m not a sushi chef – because doing it this way was not simple.  So, I’d encourage you, if it’s your first time, to start with the nori sheet on the bottom.

Friday I stopped at a local Asian market for a bamboo rolling mat, nori sheets, and some tobiko.  I’m a huge tobiko fan, but it’s not a necessary ingredient.  I also bought imitation crab sticks, an English cucumber (the long kind with less seeds that often come wrapped in plastic at your grocery store), and an avocado.  I had brown rice on hand, as well as vinegar, sugar, and salt.

I started off making the rice.  I steamed it in my rice cooker, then I added the following seasoning to make the “seasoned sushi rice” according to my Japanese cookbook that my parents bought for me in 1997.  The page with the recipe is all stained from the many times I’ve used it.

Sushi Rice

For 3 cups rice, heat 1/3 c plus 2 tbsp vinegar with 2 tsp to 1 tbsp (depending on preference) of salt and 2 to 3 tbsp sugar (I used 2) to dissolve.  If you boil this, the flavor of the vinegar will be lost, so just heat.

Add the mixture to the luke warm rice.  (If the rice is colder, it becomes more difficult to mold)

Mr. Messy (aka Caelan) then “helped” me lay out my chopped ingredients in preparation.

I laid out plastic wrap onto my bamboo mat (not necessary if nori is on the bottom), spread rice onto it, and topped it with nori.  I cut the nori (not shown in the picture) a bit shorter than the rice.  I laid out a strip of imitation crab, then avocado, then thin strips of cucumber.

Next I carefully (very carefully) rolled the mixture from the bottom up, holding and pressing the fillings in as I rolled up so they would end up in the center.  In the end, the plastic wrap was around the roll, and it resembled a log.

I then unrolled the plastic wrap and spread the tobiko on the outside.  I rolled it back up in the wrap until ready to cut.

I’d like to say that I simply cut it, laid it out, and ta-dah… food art at its finest!

Unfortunately the following picture shows the only pieces out of about 4 big rolls that looked very good.  Ah yes, rice on the outside is not easy to cut.  So next time, nori on the outside, or I’ll leave it to the experts and order from my favorite sushi spot!

Well, Sayonara for now!

~M