Making sushi is a time consuming process with lots of little steps along the way. There is also alot of different ingredients required. But when you have the finished product in front of you it is totally worth it! The following is a step by step guide for making California Rolls...
First step is the rice! You need short grain sushi rice, regular rice will NOT work! The short grain rice will become very sticky when it is cooked.
In my opinion a rice cooker is essential and a good solid investment. I use this bad boy ALL the time! Just add rice and water and turn it on and the rice cooker does all the work for you.
Steve's sushi rice recipe is 1 Cup rice to 1 1/2 Cups Water
While the rice is cooking you can gather the other supplies you will need and make the wasabi.
Wasabi comes powdered in a cute little tin.
Avoid eye contact!
Mix powder with water adding as needed until a play-doh like consistency is obtained.
When the rice is done cooking empty it out into another bowl for it to cool. Cool for about 20-25 minutes. You can mix it around a little bit while it is cooling, but don't mix it too much or it might get mushy! When rice is cooled down add 2-3 Tbsp. rice vinegar.
Here's some of the supplies you will need! From left to right: small dishes for soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame seeds, sushi rolling mats, flat wooden spoon for rice spreading, plastic wrap, sriracha sauce, soy sauce
For California Rolls you need: cucumber cut into matchsticks, imitation crab meat, and avacado.
The seaweed aka nori comes in sheets. To make bite size sushi I use half a sheet.
Fold in half to create a crease and then carefully cut in half
Lay out a sheet of plastic wrap on your sushi mat. Place sushi shiny side up.
Using wooden spoon carefully spread rice onto seaweed. The rice will be very sticky so it is helpful to have a bowl of water nearby to dip the spoon into. When rice is evenly spread in a thin layer sprinkle on the sesame seeds.
Ok. Then you carefully lift up the rice coated seaweed and flip it upside down so the rice is now face on the plastic wrap. Arrange ingredients in a strip in the center.
Then using the sushi mat, start rolling the sushi up. This part is the hardest to explain! It usually takes a few trys before getting it right the first time you attempt this. Usually you fold it over into itself once, squeeze it, lift mat and plastic wrap and then fold it over again.
Then with the sushi still rolled up in the plastic, use a sharp knife to cut the roll into pieces.
Remove plastic and place sushi on serving plate.
Soon you will have a plate full of delicious, fresh sushi!
Serve with soy sauce, wasabi and sriracha.
