Sushi Hand Rolls....by Jessica

I used to think that sushi hand rolls {temaki} would be too complicated to make at home. Come to find out, it's easy! Here how it's done.

First: Make 3 cups sticky white rice. However you do it. I know no other way except in a rice cooker.

While rice is cooking: julienne carrots & cucumbers {or whatever veggie you'd like - daikon works very well too!}. In a large saucepan heat together about 1/3 cup rice wine vinegar, 1/3 cup white sugar, red chile paste {to your preferred heat} until all sugar is dissolved and comes to a boil. Immediately take off the heat and add your veggies. Toss until coated and set aside to cool and marinate.

Also: prepare the rest of your fillings. My kids like California rolls so I usually slice some avocado and make the crab {or shrimp} filling by adding a little mayonnaise, sesame oil, salt, pepper, finely sliced green onions and just a tad of sriracha.

Next: In a small saucepan heat 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar and 1/4 cup white sugar together until sugar is dissolved.

When rice is done: scoop into large mixing bowl and drizzle vinegar/sugar mixture while tossing until rice is completely coated with vinegar/sugar and rice has slightly cooled.

The nori that can be purchased at specialty or Asian marts is too large for your temaki roll, so you need to cut them in half. It's kinda messy when you cut it so I lay down a towel.

Assemble all your ingredients in an organized fashion, grab your nori sheet, spread rice on the left hand side of the sheet, put in your desired ingredients and roll, starting with the corner to create a cone.

That didn't make sense, did it?

Watch this smilebox video

The only difference is I don't add the fish on the top at the end, I just include it before rolling. I've also played around with the rolling and have had to adjust the amount of filling, how I roll etc. to make it work - it's not something I can really describe - you're just going to have to play with it and find your way.

The most tedious part of this for me is that if I make a bunch of them and let them sit on a platter until there is enough for all of us to eat at once, the nori gets soggy and I don't like it. So we typically get all ready and I roll and hand them off as they're ready. By the time person #3 has gotten their first handroll, person #1 is ready for their second - so I make a second go around and then make mine last so I can eat it with the nori perfectly dry and crunchy.

This post seems long and complicated, but if you have any questions that I haven't covered, please ask!