In search of the perfect macaroni and cheese: Making sushi

     Yesterday, for the third time in my life, I made sushi. Only this time it was at home and all on my own (with Scott's help, of course). Sushi is one of my favorite foods in the whole world. However, with its high cost, it is a food that I enjoy quite rarely. Last night, making it at home and including the raw cost of the equipment needed, I calculated that it only cost us about $12 a plate to eat as much sushi as we could desire. How, you may ask? Well, let me tell you, it is quite easy indeed.
     To start out with, you need the right type of rice. Sushi rice is short grained and sticky enough to stick to the nori and itself when rolling out the sushi. Scott and I didn't read the instructions far enough in advance to do the "proper" technique with the soaking of the rice for an hour or so so we used the "cheater" recipe on the back for Lundberg Sushi rice (Lundberg being the brand). Here it is.

Lundberg Sushi Rice

Ingredients:

2 cups Lundberg California sushi rice, rinsed and drained well
3 cups water
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt

Procedure:

Bring water and rice to a boil in 2 quart saucepan with a tight-fitting lid. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until all liquid is absorbed, about 20 minutes (we used a rice cooker). Place vinegar, sugar, and salt in a small sauce pan. Heat slowly until salt and syrup dissolves. Place hot, cooked rice in a wide, shallow glass bowl (not metal).   Toss (do not stir) rice gently with vinegar mixture using a plastic spoon. The sushi rice is now ready for use in your favorite sushi rolls.

     Once that was made, the rest was pretty easy. Lacking a glass bowl, I used a glass pie pin. And used chopsticks instead of a plastic spoon. The effect was the same, although I perhaps could have mixed it together a bit more as I got some clumps of slight sweetness. The rest of the sushi making was assembling the materials. Here is what I used:

Ingredients for sushi

Nori sheets
Sashimi/sushi grade tuna (We bought ours at Staff of Life. I would recommend definitely getting it from a store you know that you can trust!).
Carrots, peeled and cut into thin long strips
Cucumber, cut into thin long strips
Green onion and avocado, same as above
Rice vinegar
Bamboo rolling mat

Procedure:

1) Put nori sheet down on rolling mat, rough side up.  Handle with dry hands
2) Place a thin layer of rice all over the nori except for one edge. Wet hands work best to prevent the rice from sticking to your hands.
3) Layer a line of your ingredients across the rice.
4) Roll using the rolling mat, putting a thin layer of rice vinegar at the edge to keep the rolls stuck together.
5) Cut into bite-sized pieces using the sharpest knife you have, rubbing the knife with rice vinegar between each cut to prevent it from sticking to the nori.
6) Enjoy!