— starvingchef.com

Ready, set, roll! This was the first time I made sushi and it turned out to be a hit. This time I filled them with tuna, sweet potato and avocado; and wrapped them in nori. But I already know I will be making shrimp rolls this weekend with cucumber and some California roll is also in my plans. Don’t get scared by the looks. It is so much easier to make them than it looks; I was ready in just 30 minutes. If you want to impress your dinner guests or craving some sushi on a week night then start rolling these lovely morsels and I guarantee you it will be an addiction for life! Bonus recipe: Pickled Ginger

Ingredients:

2½ cups Japanese short-grain rice (like Koshihikari rice)

2½ cups cold water

4 tablespoons rice vinegar

2 tablespoons superfine (caster) sugar

6 sheets nori

Japanese soy sauce

Pickled ginger (gari)

Wasabi paste

Rolling mat

Piece of tuna, slice thinly

1 sweet potato, sliced thinly lengthwise

1 avocado

1 ripe mango

Method:

Start by rinsing the rice thoroughly under the tap. Place the rice into a medium saucepan, add water and bring to boil. Let it cook for about 15 minutes, do not lift the lid. Turn off the heat and let it steam for another 10 minutes. In the meantime mix sugar and vinegar together until sugar dissolves. Drizzle it over the rice, make sure it’s well covered. Let it cool.

Set your rolling mat and place 1 sheet of nori on it. Begin to spread the sushi rice over the nori about 1/4″ thick, leaving about 1″ of the nori without rice on the furthest side from you. This part will be used to seal the roll. Spread the sushi rice over the nori using your wet finger tips. Don’t try to make all of these nori and rice planks at once, the longer the rice sits on the nori, the more soggy the nori will get and the more paste-like the rice will get. Make them as you go.

Next, place the tuna slices, sweet potato and avocado horizontally across the nori near the center on top of the rice. It is advised to place larger items on the bottom and smaller ones on the top. Grab the bamboo rolling mat and slowly begin rolling the plank over onto itself. Keep the roll tight as you bring the roll around to the point where the end you grabbed is now touching the rest of the plank.

On the cutting board, cut the tuna roll in half. Then take the two halves, place them side by side, and cut the in half again. Cut all pieces in half again, this should leave you with 8 pieces.

Maki rolls take practice to figure out the placement of the filling ingredients, how much of the filling ingredients to use and to perfect the rolling technique. I was very happy with the result but I will keep experimenting with the next batch this weekend.

Pickled ginger

Peel and slice a big piece of ginger thinly. In a small saucepan bring 1 cup rice vinegar and ½ cup sugar to boil. Once it boiled up and sugar dissolved pour it over the ginger and let it sit for about 3 days before use it. To color it you can use a piece of beet.