Homemade Sushi

I absolutely love sushi. Absolutely love it. I often go for sushi, or buy it from the cooler at the grocery store. I have even gone for sushi myself at the place in a gas station near my parents' house when I was really craving some and no one else wanted to go. I think perhaps the best sushi I ever had was in Munich with my sister, my (now engaged!) friend, Elke, and our amazing 3D light-show whiz friend from Germany, Markos. Maybe I will post about that another time, as it probably deserves a whole post.

Anyway, last week as I was working later and later at the University, putting in hours towards a (now almost-finished) term paper, all I could think about was sushi. I guess that's how my mind works. Often when I'm working on things, my mind wanders, and that night it was on sushi. Anyway, by the time I was on my bus home, I had decided to make some. Which I did immediately upon entering the house. 

I hadn't made homemade sushi in years, because I had once arbitrarily decided that restaurant sushi was better than my own. Turns out, I was wrong. Anyone can make good sushi. At least Regina-good. (Not promising you could beat Munich's or Japan's). The problem was, I hadn't paid enough attention to what one must put in sushi to make it taste good. Because yes, if you made a sushi with rice and boiled shrimp, chances are it's going to taste a little bland. (Not that I ever did that.) So, with an avocado in the fridge, and shrimp in the freezer, I arrived home prepared to make much better sushi than in my past.

I filled my sushi with matchsticked carrots and cucumber, sliced avocado, baby shrimp, and cream cheese. They were fantastic, and just what I had been fantasizing about while gazing into the never ending snow which is Saskatchewan in March. I hope you also try defeating the snow by making recipes that remind you of warmer places, be that Germany, Japan or otherwise. I think anywhere's warmer than Regina right now. This sushi is so easy to make, the hardest part is literally boiling the rice. You pour the rice and the water in the pot, bring it to a boil, and simmer, covered for 20 min. Literally, so simple. And you can fill it with whatever you want, and put the leftovers in the fridge for lunch. So go ahead, have some sushi!

Ingredients for 6-8 rolls: 

• 2 cups SUSHI rice (not plain rice- sushi rice is sticky)
• Nori (Seaweed papers for making sushi)
• Fillings of your choice, I used
• 2 large carrots, matchsticked 
• 1/2 cucumber, seeded and matchsticked
• 450g steamed baby shrimp
• 2 avocados, sliced
• 3-5 tbsp Philadelphia cream cheese
• Soya sauce
• Wasabi 
• Pickled Ginger
• Optional: Siracha Sauce mixted with Mayonnaise makes great hot sauce to drizzle over your prepared rolls, or to dunk the shrimp in before rolling the sushi

Directions:

1. Prepare the rice according to package directions. Rule of thumb is, for 2 cups of sushi rice, pour it in a pot with 2 1/2 cups water, bring to a boil, and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes, stirring once or twice during the process to unstick the rice from the bottom of the pot.
2. While the rice is boiling, prepare all of your fillings: cook the shrimp, cut the veggies, and get out your nori. 
• Side note: while I know most people feel you need a bamboo mat when making sushi, I never use one. The first time I made sushi, my friend and I started using the mat and after about 2 rolls, found it was much simpler to roll the sushi without it. It may be useful when making the rice on the outside sushi, but if you are just doing the simpler rolling, I wouldn't bother getting a mat, it really doesn't do anything.
3. To roll the sushi, put a piece of nori on a clean surface: clean table top or a cutting board (I used a cutting board). Spread a thin layer of rice over the nori, making sure to spread it right to the edges. (See picture above.) Lay your ingredients in a line towards the top (farther side) of the nori, and roll the nori towards you, continually pressing it together with both hands to make the rice stick to the nori. (The rice is what keeps the roll together). 
4. Gently cut the sushi into slices using a sharp, serrated knife, and using long strokes back and forth. in order not to squish the sushi.

And that's it! You can experiment with whatever ingredients in the rolls that you like. I am sure smoked salmon would be delectable. A good plan would be to go to a sushi restaurant & copy the menu onto your arm or your phone, and then you can make their rolls at home. And then you get to eat sushi at least twice in the process.

Enjoy! Feel free to let me know in a comment if you have any questions about the recipe!