Lynne has a delicious blog over at And Then I Do the Dishes. I have to say, that phrase applies in my house, too ;)! But what if we prepare a dinner that doesn’t require dirtying many dishes? Then everyone wins, and that’s definitely how everyone will feel if you serve sushi for dinner — just remember to follow Lynne’s tutorial. The photos will get your mouth watering, it’s a good thing her California Rolls don’t take too long too prepare! This is also the ideal warm-weather meal — it has summer and spring written all over it.

California Rolls or Beginner Sushi

Sushi is one of those things that when you start making it yourself, you’ll never stop thinking about it. You’ll think about all the variations you can make like imitation crab, spicy shrimp, smoked salmon, vegetarian… You can also use a variety of ingredients to decorate the finished rolls like fish roe, capers, grated veggies of all sorts, etc. Raw fish is absolutely optional, especially if you’re just starting to enjoy sushi.

Sushi making doesn’t require a lot of fancy equipment either, just a bamboo rolling mat, some plastic wrap, chopsticks, if you like, and a pot to cook your rice in. Some nice plates for serving your sushi are totally optional but having an excuse to buy new dishes is never a bad thing.

These days you don’t really need to go to a specialty store to get ingredients for your sushi. Most supermarkets even have little sushi shops where you can buy the rolls already made or ask the sushi chef for tips and tricks. I’ve found that they’re always happy to help, even if they do seem to find it a little odd that you’d want to make sushi yourself when you can buy it right then and there. Imagine if I had tried to bring my camera and take pictures in the supermarket, that would have gotten me a few weird looks!

Please remember that I am by no means an expert, and there are a lot of more experienced sushi makers out there with how-to posts you can check out too. But I had fun making these and I’ll try to show you how I made my sushi and maybe you’ll be intrigued and try to make some too. If I could do it, anyone can!

What you’ll need for each roll:
1 sheet of nori
1 cup of cooked sushi rice*
Black sesame seeds, or regular sesame seeds, roasted
Grated carrots
Cucumber, sliced lengthwise into thin strips
Avocado, sliced thinly
Your choice of smoked salmon, shrimp or imitation crab
Cream cheese, if you’re using smoked salmon
Fried egg roll wrappers, crushed (adds a little crunch)

You can make things easier on yourself by having all of your ingredients ready and close-by, because once you start you don’t want to have to run around looking for this and that. Also, a good trick is to wrap your bamboo rolling mat with plastic wrap before you start, it’ll make it a lot easier to clean. Oh, and have a bowl of water near by so you can wet your hands from time to time, otherwise you’ll end up with sticky rice everywhere.

Place a sheet of nori on your bamboo mat (shiny side down) and spread 1 cup of rice on top of it, leaving a 1 inch space at the end. Sprinkle some black sesame seeds onto the rice. Arrange your choice of ingredients into a strip and start rolling at the edge closest to you. Use the bamboo mat to roll the sushi firmly. You can use a few drops of water at the seem to help the seaweed to stick at the end of the roll.

Use a sharp knife to cut the roll into about 8 pieces. It’s easier if you cut the roll in half and then cut the ends into equal pieces. Serve the sushi with soy sauce, wasabi and pickled ginger.

The variations for the rolls are endless. You can make a shrimp salad using a little bit of hot sauce and mayonnaise and adding it to chopped shrimp. You can spread a little cream cheese onto the rice before adding the smoked salmon. You can do all veggies and use red bell pepper for even more color and crunch. Use your imagination and have fun!

* For the sushi rice:
You absolutely have to use short grained rice. Use specialty sushi (or Japanese) rice. It’s a lot like Arborio rice, the kind used for risotto. In a saucepan, add 1 1/4 cup of water and 1 cup of sushi rice. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and cook for 15 minutes, without stirring, until rice is tender and still shiny. Now here’s where it gets interesting. To the cooked rice you can add 3 tablespoons of rice vinegar and 1 teaspoon of sifted confectioner’s sugar. I didn’t add the vinegar or the sugar as I wasn’t sure I would like it but I might try it next time. You can then place the rice in a bowl or spread it on a baking sheet and let it cool to room temperature.