Vegetarian Sushi

I had always heard a lot about Sushi. I had the impression that Sushi had raw fish (which by the way as far as I have seen is true for the most part) so never even thought of ever eating it. This one time, soon after we got married and I came to the US, hubby and I went to a wedding ceremony of one of his colleagues. Sadly they did not have much food. Only some light snacks and drinks. So after the ceremony on our way back we decided to get lunch. He said he knew a Thai-Japanese place that was pretty good. At the restaurant we saw they had vegetarian sushi on the menu. I got all excited about it and we ordered it. When it arrived, it looked really pretty. Got me even more excited to try it out. Hated it. I almost spit it out in my napkin. I kid you not. To my surprise thought, hubby seemed to like it. Well anyway that was end of Sushi for me for a very long time. Recently we went to another Thai restaurant where I got brave (you guys probably noticed by now I do get brave occasionally) and tried it again. This time I liked it a little better and figured may be if I made it using my own components, it would work for me. So went out and got all the ingredients with my choice of veggies and tried it at home. It was not the easiest thing I had done but following closely a few online videos and the package instructions of the sushi rice, it worked. To give credit where its due, let me tell you for the life of me, I could not roll and cut the sushi. So hubby was tasked to do it :) and he was a Man about it, no pun intended. Look at the pictures can't you tell :D

For a little general knowledge, if you are not aware of what Sushi is, here's a little excerpt from Wikipedia.
Sushi s a Japanese dish consisting of cooked vinegary rice which is commonly topped with other ingredients, such as fish or other seafood or put into rolls. There are different kinds as nigirzushi, sasimi, inarizushi etc. Sushi that is served rolled inside or around dried and pressed sheets of seaweed or nori is makizushi. Sushi is made with white, short-grained, Japanese rice mixed with a dressing made of vinegar and salt. The black seaweed wrappers are called nori. Nori is a type of algae, traditionally cultivated in the harbors of Japan.



Ingredients: makes 4 rolls

For the rolls-
  
Sushi rice  ......................................... 1 1/2 cup
Rice vinegar....................................... 2 1/2 tsp
Sugar ............................................... 3/4 tsp
Salt ................................................. 1/2 tsp
Nori sheets ........................................ 4 (I used roasted ones)
Assorted cold vegetables, cut into long, thin strips: red pepper,  carrots, cucumber, Alfalfa sprouts, avocado, etc.
Wasabi Paste as needed
Toasted sesame seeds


Dipping sauce-


Low Sodium Soy sauce ......................... 2 tbsp
Rice vinegar ...................................... 1/4 cup
Red chilli-garlic sauce ........................... 1 tsp or to taste (I used Sriracha sauce)
Sugar ............................................... 1/2 tsp
Sesame seeds ..................................... 1/4 tsp
Wasabi paste ..................................... 1/2 tsp
Bamboo roller to roll the sushi.

Method:

1. Rinse the rice under cold running water for 4-5 times. Drain in a colander.

2. Put the rice in a pot with exactly 2 cups of water and cook uncovered over high heat until it starts to boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover and cook until tender and all the water gets absorbed, about 15 -20 minutes. Turn off the heat, stir once gently and allow the rice to steam for 5-10 minutes. Place in a glass bowl and add in the vinegar, salt and sugar. Mix gently and cool to room temperature.

3. To prepare the sushi, place a bamboo sushi roller flat on a table with the bamboo reeds horizontal to you. Place one nori sheet over it, smooth side down. With damp hands, press and spread 1 cup rice flat on top of the nori, leaving 1/2-inch edges on all sides, but pressing all the way to the sides. Make sure the rice is pressed even and smooth.

4. Spread 1/4 teaspoon of wasabi paste in a horizontal stripe near the lower edge of the rice. Over the wasabi, place strips of carrots in a horizontal stripe, continue with avocados, pepper and sprouts.

5. To roll the sushi, pick up the near edge of the bamboo roller and hold it with the nori, then pull them up and over the vegetable bundle until the nori reaches the rice on the other side.

6. Press the roller to make a round bundle, then roll the bundle to the far edge of the nori and press again to make a round bundle.

7. Repeat the process with the remaining ingredients. Keep the rolls under a damp towel and refrigerate until ready to serve. To serve, slice off the ends with a very sharp knife dipped in water and slice each roll into 6-8 equal pieces. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds.

8. For the sushi dipping sauce, combine all the ingredients and mix. Serve the sushi at room temperature with the dipping sauce. ENJOY!

Notes:


1. You may want to cover the bamboo sushi roller with plastic wrap. This will help prevent the roll from sticking to the roller.


2. Cannot stress this enough. Sushi rice can be tricky to cook so please closely follow your package instructions in case they are different from how I have detailed in the method above.

3. Feel free to use your own combination of veggies and obviously seafood if you like.

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