More Cheese More Chocolate: Sushi Night

Friday night was the first of what will hopefully be several sushi nights. It involved me and two South Dakota boys rolling and rolling and rolling and then eating and eating and eating. Yes, South Dakota boys like sushi. These aren't small town South Dakota boys, though. They come from the 4th largest city in the state! Population: 20,000. Not that I can judge, considering I'm from small town Iowa, but my hometown boasts 2 sushi joints and 7,000 more people.

My mom and I took a sushi-making class about 4 years ago, and I think I've actually made it once since then. My skills are a little rusty, but that's of little importance. It requires minimal skills to make edible sushi, and that's all we were going for.

The possible fillings for sushi are endless. I wandered around two grocery stores for way too long contemplating what to get, and here's what I ended up with:

Shrimp

Cucumber

Avocado

Asparagus

Jalepeno

Kohlrabi

Cream cheese

Other things you'll need:

Sushi rice

Rice vinegar

Sugar

Salt

Nori

Wasabi

Soy sauce

Rolling mats

Bowls of water

First things first: the rice. Make sure you buy sushi rice. It's shorter than standard white rice, which makes it starchier and ultimately stickier. If you're lucky enough to have a rice cooker, good for you. If you're like me and only have a lowly little hand-me-down saucepan, that will work as well. I've found that when I make rice in a saucepan I never need to cook it as long as it suggests on the package. I don't know if it's my gas stove or if that's just what happens in the absence of a rice cooker.

Cook the rice according to the directions on the package, then add a little rice vinegar, sugar, and salt. I started with 2 cups of rice and added 1/3 cup vinegar, 2 tbsp sugar, and 2 tbsp salt.

Like humans, shrimp like to spoon. Awwwwww.

Like tanning addicted humans, shrimp like to cook.

Like humans who cut themselves, cucumbers like to be sliced. Too far? Peel the cucumber, cut out some of the seeds, and slice it length-wise.

Place a sheet of nori on a rolling mat, and grab a handful of rice.

Spread the rice over the nori, leaving the top and bottom edges uncovered.

We had all of our ingredients lined up and ready to go. And some brown bananas and sweet potatoes gather around to watch the show.

Place the fillings in the middle of the roll, and don't go too crazy with it. Less is more. This one had cucumber, kohlrabi, jalepeno, and shrimp.

Here's Matt carefully slicing a roll. It helps if the knife is a little wet.

I think this one has cucumber, jalepeno, avocado, and cream cheese.

A whole roll.

Nate loves the sushi party.

Note the bowl of water sitting on the counter. As Nate says, "Water is a sushi-maker's best friend." It keeps the rice from sticking to your hands and keeps the knife wet when it's slicing time.