Alina's Eclectic Sushi Rolls

This was the first time that cooking for this blog actually made me quiver in my boots a little. I've never made sushi before and it just seems so intimidating. Good news... it's not actually that scary! Now that I've made it once I could do it again easily.

I wasn't ready to take the plunge into raw fish yet, partially because Adam hates fish (actually he doesn't really care for sushi either, so this whole post is a bit of a stretch for him), so I can't imagine he would touch raw fish with a ten thousand foot pole. I made five types of sushi, and I'll post them all. I pulled my inspiration for the buffalo sushi from this article.

Experimenting with food is fun! I encourage you to play with your food this week and cook something bold and new. :)



Ingredients and supplies every roll required:

• 1 1/3 cups uncooked sushi rice (don't use regular rice because the extra sticky texture of this rice helps holds the roll together)
• 5 sheets of nori (that's the seaweed)
• 3 tbsp Sushi vinegar
• Sushi mat
• Plastic wrap

Prep Steps every roll required:
Prepare the rice according to the package. This took me about 35 minutes. Make sure you run the rice under cold water and gently scrub it (almost as if you were trying to polish it) before cooking it. I just cooked it on the stovetop but if you have a rice cooker you could probably use that too.
I read that once the rice is done you should let it cool before uncovering it and then you mix the sushi vinegar in. At this point you want to "fan" it, because you want it to cool down as fast as possible. I decided to use my blowdryer on the cool setting to help with this, so as I was fluffing the rice and mixing in the vinegar, Adam was blowdrying it! This worked really well, and because our hands were tied up we didn't get any pictures.

I was prepping the other ingredients while the rice cooked. Kenny enjoyed this part...

After the rice has cooked, lay out your sushi mat. Think about the way you lay it down. You want the lines to be running horizontal to your body so that you can easily roll it away from you. I found a cheap one for about $2 in the oriental food aisle of my grocery store. Cover that with plastic wrap. Lay a sheet of nori on that. It should look like this:

Now you're ready to roll your sushi! Fill a small bowl with cold water and wet your fingers. Transfer the rice to the mat (about 1/2 cup per roll). Use your wet fingers to smoosh it around but leave an edge uncovered.

When you add your toppings, add them on one end, then roll. I used this video from allrecipes.com to teach me how to roll the sushi. Right before you finish rolling, dab some of that cold water on the edge of the nori to help seal it shut. Use the mat that's wrapped around it to squeeze it together. Sushi!!

Cucumber Avocado Sushi (Cucumber strips and avocado sauce):

Adam's taste rating: 1 ladles

Brad's taste rating: 4 ladles

Healthy rating: 5 ladles

Ease of prep rating: 3 ladles

Overall average: 3.25 ladles

Wild Buffalo Tempeh Sushi (Tempeh marinated in tabasco sauce then lightly fried, strips of carrot, strips of celery, and tabasco sauce):

Adam's taste rating: 2 ladles

Brad's taste rating: 4 ladles

Healthy rating: 4 ladles

Ease of prep rating: 4 ladles

Overall average: 3.5 ladles

Gentle Buffalo Tempeh Sushi (Tempeh marinated in tabasco sauce then lightly fried, mashed avocado, and a little horseradish sauce):

Adam's taste rating: 3 ladles

Brad's taste rating: 4 ladles

Healthy rating: 4 ladles

Ease of prep rating: 4 ladles

Overall average: 3.75 ladles

Cucumber Horseradish Sushi (just cucumber strips and horseradish sauce):

Adam's taste rating: 3 ladles

Brad's taste rating: 4 ladles

Healthy rating: 4 ladles

Ease of prep rating: 4 ladles

Overall average:  3.75 ladles

Pineapple Hawaaiin Sushi (halved pineapple chunks, cucumber slivers, and mashed avodaco)

Adam's taste rating: 3 ladles

Brad's taste rating: 4 ladles

Healthy rating: 5 ladles

Ease of prep rating: 4 ladles

Overall average:  4 ladles

We had fun making these, and in the end they were pretty good. Sushi will never be our favorite food, but we enjoy it on occasion, and they were really fun to make.