How to make sushi

Over the holiday weekend, Matt and I got a chance to celebrate our Valentines together and put to use my gift to him...a Japanese cooking class for two! We sipped sake and made a general mess of the class kitchen. I was especially surprised to see how easy it was to make sushi! The instructor let us go at it with the sushi ingredients...mine ended up being an inside-out roll stuffed with shrimp and veggies {aren't those mushrooms so cute??} and Matt made salmon rolls with spicy mayo. The best part is we got to take home the recipes so we can be making our own sushi rolls at home! {friends and family beware!}

INSIDE-OUT SHRIMP CALIFORNIA ROLL

Makes: 4 inside-out rolls {24 pieces}

1/4 English cucumber, peeled and sliced thinly

1 oz sprouts, such as radish sprouts

1 avocado, sliced into thin strips

8 shrimp {size 30-40}, cooked and split in half lengthwise

4 sheets nori

4 cups prepared sushi rice {see below}

8 tsp white sesame seeds

Soy sauce

Prepared wasabi

Pickled ginger

SUSHI RICE

1 1/2 cup sushi rice {such as Nishiki brand rice}

2 cups water

2 tsp kelp granules or sea salt

Vinegar dressing:

2 tbsp unsweetened Japanese rice vinegar

1 tbsp superfine sugar

1/4 tsp sea salt

Special tools: Bamboo mat wrapped with plastic wrap; Chef's knife

1. Bring water to a boil then add rice, simmering in a covered saucepan for 20 minutes, or until all the water is absorbed.
2. Remove rice from the heat and let rest, covered, for an additional 10 minutes. While the rice is resting, whisk the vinegar, sugar and salt in a small bowl until the salt and sugar have dissolved completely.
3. Turn the rice into a non-reactive {plastic or wooden} bowl. Pour the vinegar dressing over the rice. Using a wooden spoon, blend the dressing into the rice with short slicing strokes. Once mixed, spread rice on a baking sheet to cool. Set aside until the rice reaches room temperature. Once the rice is cool, transfer back into the bowl and keep it moist with a damp cotton tea towel on top of the rice.
4. Next, cut a 3-inch wide strip off each sheet of nori, making them into 5x7 sheets and set aside. Lay a plastic wrapped bamboo mat into front of you, with its slats parallel to the edge of the countertop. Press one cup of prepared sushi rice evenly over the nori sheet. Sprinkle 2 teaspoons of sesame seeds over the rice.
5. Carefully turn over the nori and rice
6. Fill the length of the nori with radish sprouts, letting some of the leaves poke out of the ends. Lay one-fourth of the avocado and one-fourth of the cucumber as close as possible. Top with shrimp halves or sliced salmon.
7. Lift the edge of the mat closest to you with both hands and roll and mat and its contents until the edge of the mat touches the nori, enclosing the filings completely. Lift up the edge of the mat you're holding, and continue rolling the roll away from you until it is sealed. {You can place a little water on the farthest edge of the nori to help}
8. Cut the roll into 6 equal pieces, wiping your knife with a damp towel before each slice. Make 3 more rolls, following steps above. Serve with soy sauce, wasabi, and pickled ginger.

Recipe courtesy Linda Wyner of Pans on Fire