Sushi Saturday!

Lately I've been on a major sushi kick... I can't get enough of it!! There's a new sushi place in the food court at White Marsh Mall that I've been hitting up to help ease my cravings, but it's a little pricey (crack might be a cheaper habit!) so I decided to try to make some myself at home. Earlier in the week I went out in search of the supplies: seaweed sheets, sushi rice, rice wine vinegar, sesame seeds, imitation crab meat, avocado, cucumber, pickled ginger, wasabi, soy sauce and a bamboo sushi mat. I researched different recipes and techniques and even watched some how-to videos. Today, I decided to execute my plan!

First, I washed and rinsed the rice several times. Then I put it in the rice cooker and waited for it to work it's perfect rice cooking magic! Next I shredded the imitation crab and rinsed it in some cold water. I sliced up the avocado and cucumber and then assembled the rest of my supplies. I read that it would be much easier if I covered my bamboo sushi mat with plastic wrap so I got that all ready to go. By then, my rice was finished cooking so I drizzled some rice wine vinegar on it and stired it around until each grain was covered. I placed my seaweed sheets shiny side down, grabbed a ball of rice and spread it out. Once the whole sheet was covered with rice, I sprinkled some sesame seeds on top of the rice and flipped the whole sheet over to the "dull" side. In the middle, I spread out some sliced avocado... then the shredded imitation crab meat... then some sliced cucumber. I took one side of the rice covered sheet and folded it over the filling in the middle... then I sorta tucked it underneath and continued to roll until I had a sushi log. Then I used my plastic wrap covered bamboo sushi mat to squeeze the roll until it felt a little tighter. After I sliced the sushi into pieces and plated them, I added a side of pickled ginger and a mountain of wasabi... plus some soy sauce on the side for dipping!

I learned a few lessons about what will work better next time but I don't think this was too bad for my first time! What do YOU think??