Tuesday: DIY Restaurant Style Sushi Made at Home

What's more American than hot dogs or hamburgers? Many things, as neither originated in America. America, however, is great at incorporating items into its own culture. In that case, what's more American than sushi? It's about as integrated into our society today as a fancy burger joint- though much pricier! So, here is a step-by-step (focusing mostly on methodology) on how to make sushi at home- for about $1 a roll.

1st- Assemble your ingredients. We'll start with what you need for a basic California roll.
-Botan rice
-Avocado
-Cucumber
-Imitation crab meat
-Rice vinegar
-1/2 sheets of dried seaweed (or full sheets, cut in half)
-1 cup cold water in a bowl
(My pictures show additional salmon and shrimp for other rolls I assembled later)

A- Cook your rice (2 1/2 cups will make about 5 rolls of sushi)
    ***Add 1/8 cup rice vinegar after rice is cooked
    ***Allow rice to cool, mixing every 5-10 minutes until cooled.










B-While the rice is cooling, prep your ingredients!

Let's get started!

***Cut the seeds from your cucumber and slice even, 2-2 1/2 inch long segments
***Slice open your avocado (since it is such a soft fruit, there is no need to prepare slices until right before you add it to your roll)
***Slice, then separate your krab meat
***Use plastic wrap to cover your bamboo rolling mat

And the other side

Adding plastic wrap on one side

C- Assembling the roll
***Wet hands and place the shiny side of the seaweed down on your bamboo mat. Sprinkle a small amount of water on each of the ends of the seaweed.

***Place a line of cucumbers in the middle, then add a sprinkling of krab meat and a row of sliced avocados.

***Next Part- tough- ROLL the half sheet. The most important thing to know in rolling is to GET IT ROLLED TIGHTLY! To do this, make sure each end of the seaweed is slightly dampened, then use the bamboo mat to roll the seaweed over until the two sides touch. Once this is done, pull it tight!

Pull tightly by following the directions of these arrows.

D. This will give you a small, thin, green roll. Place it aside temporarily and wet your bamboo mat thoroughly.

***Moisten your hands in water as well and then take your vinegar-rice and sprinkle (not press) it over the mat until it covers approximately 2/3rds of the mat.

***Next, place your thin, green roll in the middle of this rice

*** Squeeze the rice together to cover the roll and roll together with the same motion you used when making your seaweed middle

***If,  upon unwrapping, you see places where the rice has not fully covered the center












***Simply sprinkle rice to cover the holes, and re-roll it tightly

E. Finishing Up!

***Get ready to slice your roll! If you don't have a sushi knife, sharpen your best blade and put it to work. (If you are having trouble slicing the sushi, make sure that your blade's surface is free of any sticky rice, wet the blade, and slice again)

***Assemble your roll in 6-8 pieces on a clean plate and get ready to serve!

This is my finished California roll-





Good luck to you in your sushi making! It's an acquired skill- don't give up if you don't get it perfect the first time!


Here are a few more rolls I  made in this same batch.

Spicy Veggie Roll

Shrimp Roll

Cucumber Dragon Roll

*** If you are interested in the how-to for the more complicated rolls or the recipes for your own eel-sauce or spicy mayo for your own sushi creations, just let me know.