By Emily Buehler, Weaver Street Market Website Coordinator
With fair trade avocados from Equal Exchange in stores, now is the perfect time to make sushi. Making sushi is not hard, and you don’t need fancy equipment. The hardest part is gathering up the ingredients. This recipe makes about 30 sushi rolls.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup sushi rice (available in the bulk bins; its short size makes it sticky when cooked)
- 1 ½ cups water
- 2 Tbsp sushi vinegar (rice vinegar with salt and sugar added—look for it near the seaweed)
- 5-6 sheets toasted sushi nori (look for it in the international aisle)
- 2 avocados
- (for dipping) soy sauce, wasabi, pickled ginger
You will also need…
- medium-size cooking pot
- mixing bowl
- work surface/cutting board
- large spoon
- several plates
- a serrated knife (like a bread knife)
Directions:
- First, cook the rice by bringing the rice and water to a boil and then reducing the heat. Mix it periodically and keep it covered. Sushi rice cooks faster than other kinds; if it is still crunchy when the water is gone, add more water and keep cooking. While it cooks, peel the avocado and cut it into strips.
- Transfer the rice to the mixing bowl and add the sushi vinegar. (The bottle calls for more than 2 Tbsp, but I think it’s too strong.) Mix the rice to distribute the vinegar. Let it cool a little—you want the rice to be warm and pliable, but if it is hot it will rip the nori.
- Place a piece of nori on the work surface with the shinier side down. Use the backside of the spoon to smear sticky rice onto the nori. The nori will begin to soften and rip, so it’s important not to overdo this part. Work with little spoonfuls of rice. Also, you don’t need a solid layer of rice; too much rice will make very fat sushi rolls that can’t easily be popped into an open mouth. The rice layer should be thin. Missing spots are okay.
- Once the nori is spread with rice, lay avocado in a line across one wide end. Begin rolling the nori/rice around this line, and roll it all the way up; press the seam shut. Then use the serrated knife to cut the tube into 6 or 7 pieces. (Placing the seam down and using quick cuts works best.)
Voila! Sushi rolls! Serve them with soy sauce for dipping (or just dribble on soy sauce) and optional spicy wasabi and pickled ginger.