California Nori Rolls

[Guest guest]

California Nori Rolls

 

Ingredients:

 

5 1/4 cups sushi rice (or any short-grain, sticky rice)

1 cup rice vinegar

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon salt

1 package (ten sheets) nori (a type of seaweed)

vegetables of your choice: cucumbers, carrots, avocado...

optional: soy sauce substitute, pickled ginger, wasabi (japanese

horseradish)

Directions:

 

(Admin note: some people have suggested using about 1 more cup of

water than indicated in this recipe for cooking the rice. They've

also suggested significantly less vinegar and sugar.)

 

Combine rice with 5 1/2 cups water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat

and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes or until water is absorbed. Let

cool for at least 10 minutes. In a non-reactive bowl, combine the

vinegar, sugar, and salt. Mix until the sugar and salt are dissolved.

Drizzle over the rice and gently mix. (You may have to experiment

with the amount of vinegar, sugar, and salt that you like.)

 

Slice the vegetables in long thin strips. I usually use cucumbers,

carrots, celery, avocado, red or green peppers and/or green onion.

Its nice to have several different colors.

 

Now you are ready to roll! If you want to, you can use a bamboo mat

(available at your local asian grocery) to help you roll, but I have

found its fairly easy without one. Lay a sheet of nori out on a large

plate or cutting board. Then spread on about 1 1/2 cups rice,

pressing firmly until the rice is evenly distributed across the

sheet. Leave the edge farthest from you uncovered. Lay the vegetables

in a line from left to right across the center of the rice. Now

starting with the edge nearest to you, roll up and over enclosing the

vegetables. Wetting the far edge helps seal the roll. You should end

up with a long roll, with the nori on the outside and the rice and

vegetables in the middle. The idea is to get the vegetables in the

very center, but I don't worry too much about it. (In Japan,

presentation is very important, but I don't have as high of

standards.) Repeat with the remaining nine sheets.

 

To serve, slice crosswise into about eight pieces. I usually eat them

with soy sauce with a little wasabi mixed in. Wasabi comes in paste

or powdered form, is light green and very hot. Its really good, but

be careful at first. My mom likes to eat nori rolls with pickled

ginger, which is not as hot, but very tasty.

 

I usually make a half a recipe, since I'm only feeding two people.

The amount you make depends on the number of people and whether

you're going to eat the rolls as an appetizer or main course. These

rolls are great to bring to parties, as everyone with be impressed

with how beautiful and yummy they are. They are also very lowfat. I

haven't tried it, but using brown rice would make it more nutritous.