Sushi Rolls

For any of the sushi rolls, you’ll need to start by making the sushi rice. Just follow the directions on the box for the amount of water to add and how long to cook on the stove top.

Once the rice is fully cooked, scoop the rice into a medium sized bowl. Add the rice wine vinegar to the rice.

The key to making sushi rice is a team effort. The lucky partner must constantly fan the rice in order to help it cool quickly. As my arms got tired, I asked the chef if we could just put it in fridge, and he said that no – putting the rice in the fridge will make it dry and hard.

While the first person fans the rice, the other one should stir the rice gently by making a slicing motion with a wooden spoon. Rotate the bowl slightly and slice through again. It turns out that stirring in a circular motion can break apart the sushi and make it mushy. So stir gently so that you get lovely tender rice.

Once the rice is cool, set it aside.

Sweet Potato Roll Filling:

We love sweet potatoes in our house, so we started by making these sweet sushi rolls. Preheat the oven to 450. Peel and slice the sweet potatoes.

Toss them in flour so that they’re evening coated.

Stir the eggs in a small bowl. Dredge the sweet potatoes through the egg and then dump into a bowl of the Panko break crumbs.

Place the fries onto a baking sheet and bake until gold and crispy. This took us about 20 minutes.

Spicy Crab Roll Filling: My all time favorite sushi is spicy tuna. We did a tasty variation on this with imitation crab meat. You can obviously use real cooked crab if you want to spurge a little bit.

Ever wonder what imitation crab meat is made of? It turns out this is made from pollock fish meat and a mixture of natural and artificial flavorings. The chef also told me that McD’s fish fillets are also made from pollock.

Begin by shredding the imitation crab meat with a fork.

Gather together your mayo and siracha. In a medium size bowl, mix together the meat, mayo, and siracha.

California Roll Filling: Prepare the other filling ingredients. Slice the carrots, cucumbers, and radishes into match stick sizes. We also cut an avocado in half and sliced that into slices as well. We used real crab meat for the California rolls, since they weren’t being mixed with any sauces like the spicy crab rolls. It was fun to see the crab coming out of its shell…

Rolling the Sushi! Place your bamboo mat on a work table. We covered ours with plastic wrap for easy cleanup and to take good care of the bamboo. Place a piece of seaweed on the middle of the mat. Fill a small bowl with water. Wet your hands in the water bowl. This helps keep the rice from sticking to your hands, so you’ll keep dipping your hands in here throughout the process.

Grab a small ball of prepared sushi rice.

Gently press the rice onto the seaweed. You want to make sure the entire piece is covered, and take care not to mash the rice too much.

Add your filling! Be creative and make something tasty. Here’s the spicy crab meat and vegetables:

For the sweet potato rolls, take a baked sweet potato and dip in soy sauce. Place on top of the rice. Add whatever vegetables you like, such as carrots and cucumber.

Once you’ve placed your filling on the roll, you’re ready to let the good times roll! Grab the edge of the sushi mat where your filling ingredients are and start rolling the sushi. Once the edges of the seaweed touch, you can press it together a little bit and make sure the shape is round.

It should look like this when you’re finished.

Transfer the sushi roll from the mat to a cutting board. Slice the roll into 6-8 equal pieces. Serve with a dipping cup of soy sauce and wasabi if you like it spicy.

Advanced Sushi Roll: Once you’re feeling confident, try rolling a sushi roll with the rice on the outside! Start out the same way, by pressing rice onto a piece of seaweed. For added color, sprinkle some black sesame seeds.

Then pick up the seaweed and rice and flip it over on the sushi mat so that the rice is facing the bamboo.

Place your fillings on top of seaweed and roll it up!

Yummm, look at those beautiful rolls!