Sushi rolls

I always remind myself that making sushi rolls is a lot of work but I can't resist making them (mostly because I want them for myself). I am now serving 50 people for lunch by myself but I still decided to make spicy tuna rolls, California rolls, and soba noodles...yup ambitious I am. 

California Rolls

Cooking time: 1 hour

Yield: 4 servings (1 roll per serving)

Ingredients

6 cups prepared sushi rice (recipe below)

1 avocado, sliced

1 small cucumber, thinly sliced, seeds removed

4 sticks imitation crab

4 nori sheets

wasabi for serving

soy sauce for serving

Directions

1. Cover a bamboo rolling mat with plastic wrap. Lay a sheet of the nori on the mat, the shiny down. Evenly spread about 1 1/2 cups of the seasoned sushi rice on the entire side of the nori. Flip the nori over. Lay one stick of the imitation crab, 2 slices avocado, and sliced cucumber toward the bottom of the nori. Grab the mat from the end closest to you and tightly roll the nori, keeping the filling in place with your fingers. Use the mat to roll the nori into a cylinder shape. Set aside and repeat with the remaining nori, rice, and fillings. Cover the rolls with a damp cloth while preparing the other rolls.
2. Using a clean, sharp knife, slice the rolls into 8pieces. Serve with wasabi and soy sauce.

Nutritional Analysis:
per serving (one roll): 255 calories, 7g  fat, 38g carbohydrates, 9g protein

Spicy Tuna Rolls

Cooking time: 1 hour

Yield: 4 servings (1 roll per serving)

Ingredients

6 cups prepared sushi rice (recipe below)

1/2 lb yellowfin (ahi) saku tuna loin, chopped

2 tbsp mayonnaise 

1 tsp sriracha

1 tsp sambal olek

1 bunch radish sprouts

1 small cucumber, thinly sliced, seeds removed

4 nori sheets

wasabi for serving

soy sauce for serving

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, combine the mayonnaise with the sriracha and sambal olek. Add the chopped tuna to the mayo sauce and mix well.
2. Cover a bamboo rolling mat with plastic wrap. Lay a sheet of the nori on the mat, the shiny down. Evenly spread about 1 1/2 cups of the seasoned sushi rice on the entire side of the nori. Flip the nori over. Lay about 1/3 cup of the tuna, radish sprouts, and sliced cucumber toward the bottom of the nori. Grab the mat from the end closest to you and tightly roll the nori, keeping the filling in place with your fingers. Use the mat to roll the nori into a cylinder shape. Set aside and repeat with the remaining nori, rice, and fillings. Cover the rolls with a damp cloth while preparing the other rolls.
3. Using a clean, sharp knife, slice the rolls into 8pieces. Serve with wasabi and soy sauce.

Nutritional Analysis:
per serving (one roll): 336 calories, 16g  fat, 48g carbohydrates, 12g protein

Sushi Rice

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Yield: 6 cups

Ingredients

3 cups uncooked white short grain rice

4 1/2 cups water

6 tbsp seasoned rice vinegar

2 tbsp sesame seeds

2 tbsp black sesame seeds

2.5 ounces sesame oil

Directions

1. Rinse the rice until the water is no longer cloudy. Drain as much of the cloudy water as possible. Cover the rice with clean water and let it sit for 1 hour. Drain the rice for 30 minutes after. 
2. Cook the rice in a rice cooker or on the stove top with the 4 1/2 cups water. If cooking on the stove top, cook on high heat, uncovered, Once the water begins to boil, cover the pot and reduce the heat to low. Cook for 15 minutes undisturbed or until the grains are tender.
3. Combine the cooked rice with the rice vinegar, sesame seeds, black sesame seeds, and sesame oil. 

**Helpful tips and common mistakes

In my household, the rice only soaks in the water for 30 minutes. However, I was instructed by my previous executive chef that the proper way to cook rice was to rinse, soak for 1 hour, than drain for 30 minutes.  

I never measure the water amount for rice; a trick that always works is to pour enough water so that when you put your hand on top of the rice, the water should come up to your knuckles. I always get perfectly cooked rice with this rule of thumb. 

It is important to season the rice for sushi to give flavor and to give you sticky rice that will adhere to the nori. If you do not have black sesame seeds, you can substitute for the brown sesame seeds.

Have all of your ingredients ready before making your rolls. To prevent the avocado from browning, squeeze a little lemon juice on top.

California rolls are usually inside out rolls where the rice is surrounding the outside; therefore, you want to flip over the nori after covering one side with the rice. Lay the cucumber, avocado, and crab, and start to roll!

As you can see, the rice is the most visible part of the roll so if you missed a spot of rice, it would be very obvious!

For the spicy tuna rolls, chop up your tuna into small pieces since it will be stuffed inside the rolls. The best choice for tuna is to got to the fish markets early in the morning and ask for the scraps of tuna that the fisherman have left on the bones. The tuna is o so fresh and dirt cheap since the fisherman can't utilize the scraps. However, since this can be inconvenient, you can purchase ahi saku tuna loin at your market. 

Radish sprouts are an optional ingredient for the spicy tuna roll and can be replaced with sliced avocado, if preferred. Radish sprouts are very delicate and are sold attached to a sponge-like substance. Remember to carefully cut off all of the sponge before washing and using. 

Getting ready for the spicy tuna rolls...

The procedure for these rolls is the same as the California rolls, just with a different filling.

For today's lunch I made about 30 rolls of each the spicy tuna and California roll, and served a bowl of cold soba noodles! Now that's a lot of rolls! 

Now that you know the basics of making rolls, be creative and make your own fillings!