California Roll

Recipe: California Roll

Summary: A tasty yet sophisticated snack for the sushi noob.

HARDWARE:

Bamboo Roling Matt or Plastic Rap

SOFTWARE:

1 cup prepared sushi rice (see below)
½ avocado
4 crab sticks (or real king crab or jumbo lump crab meat for a luxury California roll)
½ cucumber (preferably a kirby)
1 sheet dried nori seaweed
2 tablespoons sesame seeds

Instructions:

Cut the peeled and pitted avocado and the peeled cucumber in quarters lengthwise.
Spread the sushi rice over the sheet of seaweed, and sprinkle the sesame seeds over the surface.
If you don’t have a bamboo rolling mat, place a sheet of plastic wrap on the worktop, and turn the layer of seaweed and sushi rice upside down flat on the the plastic wrap so that the seaweed ends up on top.
Place the avocado, cucumber and crab sticks evenly down the center. Roll the layer up from one edge, and slice the roll into 8 pieces.

SUSHI RICE:

To cook sushi rice, it is important to remember that the rice should be cooked with less water than usual, and vinegar added to it while hot. Here is how to cook the perfect sushi rice.

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups Japanese rice (short grain rice will do in a pinch)
2 ¾ cups water
½ cup rice wine vinegar
2 ½ tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt

PREPARATION:

Wash the rice and cook as normal.
Combine vinegar, sugar, and salt in heavy pot.
Place over high heat until sugar and salt dissolve.
When the rice is cooked, spread the hot rice in a flat-bottomed bowl or glass baking dish (the Japanese use a special wooden bowl called a sushi-oke).
Sprinkle the vinegar mixture over the rice and fold swiftly with a spatula.
Be careful not to mash the rice—just allow the vinegar mixture to come into contact with all of the grains.Move the spatula as if scooping the rice rather than blending it.
Cool the rice swiftly using a paper fan (I use a paper plate for this) and gently turn the rice with the spatula. Fanning the rice prevents it from becoming overly sticky, and also adds luster.
Use sushi rice immediately—don’t store it in the refrigerator.
over it with a damp cloth if you won’t be using it for 10 minutes or more, to prevent it from drying out.

Cooking time (minutes): 15