Sushi felt like an intimidating thing to make, but once I experimented and did it a few times I realized it was one of the easiest and quickest meals to whip up (not to mention cheap)!
You can find all the stuff you need to make sushi in most grocery stores in the asian food aisle. The ingredients/tools you need are:
Sushi nori
Sushi rice (also called sticky rice)
Rice vinegar
Pickled ginger
Wasabi paste
Soy sauce
Sesame seeds (optional)
Fillings for your sushi (I like asparagus, carrot, cucumber, tofu and avocado. Shitake would be delicious too)
A bamboo sushi mat for rolling your sushi
A good sharp knife. I have a lovely Japanese carbon steel knife that my Dad brought me from Japan for Christmas, but if you don’t have the traditional knife just make sure you have a really sharp knife, otherwise you won’t be able to cut your sushi roll.
Cook your sushi rice according to the package directions. I usually make 3 cups of cooked rice, which makes about 4 sushi rolls. I use 1 cup dried rice and 1 2/3 cups of water. Make sure not to stir your rice while it’s cooking (it takes about 20 minutes). Make sure you let your rice cool to room temperature before making your sushi. Too hot and you will burn your fingers, but you also don’t want it to be chilled or it won’t stick and roll as nicely. When it is the right temperature, add one tbsp rice vinegar to the rice and mix well.
Prepare your veggies. Chop everything up into matchstick sized pieces (except asparagus, you can use that whole). Everything can be raw, but I usually like to steam my asparagus for about a minute to soften it a bit.
Make sure to press the water from your tofu for a few minutes. You can just use raw slices, I’ve tried marinating my tofu for sushi to see if it tastes better, but you can’t tell the difference.
4. Now you’re ready to assemble. Place a sheet of nori on the bamboo mat, shiny side down. Scoop a little less than 1 cup of rice into the middle of the nori. Wet your fingers in the bowl of water and flatten the rice on the sheet, leaving one inch of room at the top and bottom.
5. Lay the veggies vertically about 1/3 of the way up on the nori, making sure they are not too spread out.
6. Now you can start rolling. Roll the bottom part of the nori overtop of the veggies and press firmly down to seal them into the sushi.
7. Continue rolling a little bit at a time, pressing firmly down each time. When you have your sushi all rolled up, roll it back and forth a few times to seal in the end and make your roll circular. It’s ok if a few bits are sticking out the ends, they do this in restaurants too, it looks all artsy or whatever.
8. Now to chop. A tip to really get a good slice is to continually wet your knife, it will help slice through that nori.
And that’s it! Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve with as much pickled ginger, wasabi and soy sauce as you want! If you precook your rice, this meal takes about 10 minutes to assemble. What could be better than fresh, homemade, cheap and quick veggie sushi? Happy nomming!
Kimchi and Justice 