Vegetable Sushi Rolls

Yum Yum! I am kind of in love with this japanese delicacy. Its so simple and tasty, yet so flavourful and very easy to make.And surprisingly DH "R" is also liking it. He is not a great fan of the seaweed or the smeel or Rice vinegar yet.. he gulped down a good amount of these little cuties (sushis).

Firstly I wanna appologise to all my dear readers for dissappearing from the blogosphere without any warning sign or post. There were so many things going on in my life that my little blog took the back seat in my journey through life. Now that things seem better I am back again to cook and blog about it. In this gap that I had.. I cooked many delicious recipes....some my own creation and some from fellow bloggers. I even took loads of snap... but just couldnt blog about it. Hopefully I can share with u all the lovely trial, failures and learning experience I had in my cooking world.

Anyways coming back to my sushi recipe. I have been wanting to try this (eating as well as making) from the time I saw this in a local food store about 3.5 yrs back, but never could as I wanst sure if they r pure vegetarian. Few years back I had seen this recipe of the vegetarian Sushi somewhere on youtube and was eager to try it out. It turned out pretty good and it was so easy to make as well..(provided u watch some youtube videos which will teach u how to roll the sushis well :) Like i did )

Source : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgw0ODfWSOs

I made changes according to my taste.


Ingredients for rice:
Sushi rice : 1 cup
Sugar - 1 tbsp
Rice vine vinegar - 2 tbsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp

Method : Making this rice properly is the most important part of sushi making. Clean the rice well under cold tap water until water runs clear. Dont over rinse the rice.Spread the rice on the sieve or colander and leave it there for 30 mins until dry.

Place the rice and 1.5 cups of water in a rice cooker and cook well.

While the rice is cooking mix the vinegar, salt and sugar together and heat in the microwave for 25 sec or less. See that the mixture should boil or overflow.Set aside and alow to cool.

Once the rice is cooked. Remove it to a big bowl (wide one preferably) Spread the rice gently in the bowl. Dont throw ur rice cooker insert in the sink yet... its work is not over yet. Dont over mix or break the grain or even mash the rice. "Be gentle" is the key. Drizzle the dressing on te rice and slash the rice with the edge of ur laddle...(sort of like cutting the rice) mix well so that rice is coated well with the dressing and has a gloss.

put ur rice back into ur rice cooker and keep it on warm...until ur ready to roll ur sushi.


Ingredients for the sushi :

Roasted Nori sheets - 1 pack (mine had 10 sheets. If u don't get roasted one, u can always buy a regular one and then roast it on a griddle or on direct flame.)
Avacado - 1 sliced
cucumber - 1 small julliened*
carrot - 1 small julliened*
Wasabi - 2 tsp (or any other condiments - horseradish, pickled ginger etc)
1/4 cup Rice Vinegar

(* Julliened - cut into think long strips)

Tools :

" Bamboo sushi mat " this is an essetial tool for making sushi. This makes it easy to roll the sushi into those beautiful tight rolls.This is very inexpensive and easily available in asian store. I got mine from Ikea.

"Sushi rolling video" How much ever I explain to u how to roll it, it will be advisable to watch a sushi rolling video for better understanding.

Method :

Cut ur Vegetables in strips and keep this covered in the refrigerator.

Place ur sushi mat on a flat work surface. Your dining table will do. Place the nori sheet -shiny side down on the mat with the lines on the nori aligned with that on the bamboo mat.

Dip ur fingertip in the bowl of rice vinegar and then take around a handful of sushi rice and place it on the lower end of the nori sheet(closest to u). spread it evenly on the lower half of the nori sheet, leaving a margin of an inch on the top.Using ur hand. lightly press it to stick the rice to the nori. Dont put too much pressure.

Spread a small strip of wasabi to the centre of the rice. Place the veggies on the rice as shown in the video above. You can use any combination of veggies u like. Tofu, red pepper, tempeh, mushroom anything u like.

Now roll the Nori sheet to form a cylindrical roll (refer the video for the technique).
Cut the roll into slices and serve along with soy sauce or tamari sauce.

This awesome delicacy is ready to be relished with ur family. Enjoy !