Can’t Stop, I’m on a Sushi Roll

I have started making my own sushi lately. Now, I don’t make it with raw fish–and I don’t think I’ll ever be comfortable doing that (we’ll see though)–I just make veggie sushi. A friend recommended using smoked salmon, the stuff you find in vacuumed sealed packages in the supermarket (and aren’t refrigerated), which I might give a try in the near future.

This was inspired by a recipe for “Rice Triangles” in the cookbook that came with my Laptop Lunch bento box. I figured, “Hey, that’s just sushi without the fish, I’ll give it a try.” Well, the first few I made weren’t that pretty and were difficult (based on the directions in the recipe), so I said the heck with it and just started doing my own little sushi rolls. I laid the seaweed paper out, spread out the rice and started laying veggies on top. It took a few times to get the hang of it, but I’m glad I decided to experiment (which is what I like most about cooking, just trying whatever I want).

I had a lot of fun! I love cooking and this was certainly a new, fun way to cook. Plus it lets me make healthy stuff for my daily lunches I take to work. My veggie rolls are a neat way to eat some raw veggies, and they are fun to make.

I decided to make more today, so I headed off to the East Lansing Farmer’s Market and picked up a cucumber and a zucchini (and a pint of super yummy blue berries).

Came home, made the rice (making only half of what I had made last week, because it was way too much for just me), added the sushi vinegar (have a bottle of stuff ready to go I got at the store), and the sesame seeds. Then the fun began.

This one has carrot, spinach and zucchini. I think I seasoned it with cilantro, can’t remember (some were seasoned, some weren’t, like I said: I experiment).

I switched some things up with each batch, but they all had some mix of veggies.

This one was spinach, cucumber and zucchini. I also seasoned it with cilantro as well as Two Sisters Gourmet Outrageous Garlic seasoning (dried garlic, onion, etc).

I might pick up some soy meat/tofu to try out next time as well, so I can have some protein in there.

I’m happy with how these turned out. Still need to get the bamboo mat-rolling thing, but I will soon. And I’ll tell ya, they ain’t kidding when they call it ‘sticky rice,’ it is a pain to get off my hands, but that’s part of the fun.