FOODIE WEEKEND - Easy and simple hand-rolled sushi

Hello, beautiful people!  Happy weekend! It's Foodie Weekend again!  Man, food always makes me feel at the top of the world.. proof are all those exclamation marks! See, another one there ;D

Once a week when we (me and Captain) take the boys out for lunch or dinner, we would normally ask where or what would they like to eat and the answer is usually "Japanese!" (if not the usual burgers or shawarma, a local delicacy here in Dubai)  So, since they like Japanese food, especially the hand rolled sushi, I figured I would give my hand a try at making one of these at home.

After much studying, research and consideration (wow, do I sound like a scientist now) I head towards the supermarket and bought myself the tool and ingredients needed and spent an afternoon messing up the kitchen and created these, my homemade, hand-rolled sushi!
Well, I have to say they are not hard to make so if you all have been following my blog a while you would understand this - if I can make these, anybody can!

HAND-ROLLED SUSHI

Ingredients (make about 40-50  pieces)

1 kg of pre-cooked Japanese rice (yup, I cheated)

1 bag of roasted seaweed sheets  

Some crab sticks

Some shredded cucumber and carrots

Bamboo sushi rolling mat

Soy sauce and wasabi for dipping

Method

First empty the pre-cooked rice in a container.  So, this is the tricky part.  Check the texture and consistency of the rice, it should  be sticky and soft, not grainy.  If it was, steam it for about 10 minutes or until you get the texture right.  The one I used was the hard grainy type so steaming did the job.

Once the rice has cooled down, place a sheet of seaweed on your rolling mat.  Spread a thin but even layer of rice leaving a cm on top and at the bottom of the sheet empty.  Since the rice is very sticky, wetting your hands with some water every now and then is highly recommended.

Then, put the filling of your choice, in my case shredded cucumber/carrots and crab sticks evenly

Now, moment of truth, the rolling.. Make sure you roll the sushi tightly, pulling in the filling as you do so.  For this to make sense I suggest watch this video 

Once you have reached the end of the rolling step, your sushi should look like this (above) a tight, firm tube.

Now using a moisten blade of knife, slice the sushi evenly.  Remember to re- moisten the knife every time.

Voila! And your sushi are ready to be served! 

Tips:

You can also place a layer of plastic cling on your bamboo mat before putting the seaweed sheet to avoid mess but I didn't.  I tried with and I ended up rolling the plastic sheet together and that was not pretty, so I decided to go without before any of us end up with indigestion of plastic wrap LOL!

You can fill up your sushi with anything you want like avocado, carrots, cucumber, crab sticks, smoked salmon.. anything!

Enjoy!