Sushi

Damn straight, we made sushi. and by "we," I mean "mostly Mirna." Because she is awesome like that.

For 6 rolls:
2 cups sushi rice
2 cups water (+ rinsing water)
1/4 c rice vinegar
2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
6 sheets of nori (seaweed paper)
Fillings: totally up to you. We used:
salmon (make sure you buy sushi grade for any raw fish)
cream cheese
avocado
cucumber
asparagus
green onion
Sriracha hot sauce

Utensils: they are actually very important here
glass baking dishes for cooling the rice (metal will change the flavor)
wooden or plastic rice paddle/spoon
small bowl of water for dipping your hands

To cook the rice:
soak the sushi rice in cold water for 5 minutes, rinse it a few times, and let it sit in a drainer for a few minutes to get the extra water out. Using equal parts water and rice, cook the rice as you would normal rice. Okay, fine: bring the water and rice to a boil in a pot on the stove, then cover with a tight fitting lid and turn down the temp to a low simmer (med? depends on your stove). Cook for about 10 minutes, until you no longer see water in the holes that form in the rice (you'll see it, don't worry). Turn off the heat, remove the pot from the stove, and let it sit, covered, for another 10 minutes steaming itself. Fluff.

While cooking the rice, combine the vinegar, salt and sugar in a small pot and heat, stirring constantly, just until the salt and sugar dissolve. Remove from heat.

The rice needs to be mixed with the vinegar mixture and brought to room temperature before making the sushi. To do so, spread the rice out in the glass baking sheets and stir in the vinegar mixture, fanning the rice all the while. Sounds complicated, I know. I am of the belief that there is room for error in this step, but you might prove me wrong.

Once the rice has cooled, spread saran wrap over your bamboo mat for easy clean up (or dont) and place one nori sheet on top, rough side up. This is important. The rice will only stick to the rough side!!!

In terms of placement, make sure the lines of the bamboo mat are parallel to the side of your counter. Lay your ingredients in this same parallel line. This seems common sensical, but just in case...

Cut your ingredients, whatever they may be, into long thin strips.

Wetting your hands first, pat down enough rice to cover all but a couple inches at the top edge of the nori. Add your ingredients in one long line at the side nearest you, parallel to the lines of your bamboo sheet. Using your fingers, wet the exposed top section of the nori.

This part is the trick to good sushi: the roll needs to be tight. Using the bamboo mat, pulling up from the edge closest to you, roll the first 360 degrees of the nori together, and pull it tightly back toward you, using your fingers to keep the ingredients inside. Continue to pull tightly back toward you with the bamboo as you finish rolling the sushi. The last bit of exposed seaweed paper that you wet should stick to the roll, sealing it.

Yay! Sushi roll! Using a VERY sharp knife, start by cutting the roll in half, then cut slices off of each remaining log. The pieces hold together better that way, says Mirna.

Enjoy! Next time, we are going to try spicy mayo from scratch... ballerrrrr