Homemade Sushi

I have made homemade sushi in the past but only with the help of my mom. I wanted to make a spicy tuna, avocado, and cucumber roll. Looking back I would have loved if I had some sesame seeds in there too. I went to a local gourmet grocery store and bought my ingredients. Although seemingly very difficult, the hardest part is the rolling of the sushi.

You need:
-rice cooker
-sushi mat
-sharp knife

Sushi Ingredients:
1/2 lb of raw tuna
4-5 nori (dried seaweed) sheets
1 cucumber
1 avocado
Sriracha hot sauce

Ingredients for rice:
-3 cups japanese sushi rice (short grain rice not long grain)
-3 1/4 cups cold water
1/3 cup rice vinegar
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt

For the rice, put rice and water in the rice cooker to cook while you prepare the vinegar mix and other ingredients. For the vinegar mix that goes over the rice after it is done cooking, combine vinegar, salt and sugar in a small bowl or cup. Stir until dissolved. While your rice is still cooking you can start to cut up the ingredients that will go into the roll. Slice tuna into thick strips wile cutting cucumber into thinner strips and avocado into slices.

After the rice is done drizzle the vinegar mixture over the rice while slowly mixing it in. Let the rice sit until it is cooler, preferably room temperature. Now you have to prepare your work space for rolling. I like to wrap my sushi mat in plastic wrap so that the rice does not stick to it and make a mess. (ewww.) Place nori sheet on wrapped sushi mat making sure the shiny side is face down and the lines (creases) in the sheet are running up and down. Have a small bowl of water set to the side to dampen hands to spread sushi rice. Work the sushi rice over the sheet until there is a thin layer being sure to go all the way to the edges. Place your ingredients in a line at one end of the rice. (you can maybe see it in this picture)

Rolling sushi is the hardest thing ever!!!! I really can not give you too many tips on it because I suck at it. But I will try and explain my horrible process. Where to start.....let's see...ok I just rolled it as tight as I could. No other explanation needed

Once rolled you need to slice the rolls. Wet your knife and cut it once down the center. Place the two halves side by side and then cut those halves into thirds for a total of 6 rolls. I had trouble with this because of my super dull knife    -______-   meh it sucked!

 

You get the idea. Well I have no pictures of my completed project, because I literally ate them all as I made them. The rolls never touched a plate because as soon as I would cut one I would eat it. Although it might seem expensive and tedious at first it will become less expensive the more you do it. The initial cost of some one time ingredients like nori and rice vinegar become minimal because next time you make it you will have these items left over from your first time. The tuna was only $7 and the rice and veggies wee fairly cheap as well. So, the only stuff you might have to restock up on next time you make sushi is rice, fish, veggies, and the nori. That would probably come out to be around $12 dollars. That is not bad and it makes about 4 rolls. Lesson learned: homemade sushi, although difficult at first, repays you by being easy on your budget. Arigato<3