When you think about Japanese cuisine, chances are your first thoughts will turn to sushi. Sushi is created by wrapping vinegar rice around fish or veggies. Usually seaweed or rice paper wrappers are used to hold the roll together. The popularity of sushi has grown around the world with sushi restaurants and sushi bars popping up everywhere! Traditionally, raw fish is used in the center of the roll, but if your family is new to sushi, you might want to start with vegetarian sushi recipe. Below is a basic sushi recipe, but it is just a starting point. Once you get the hang of it, the sky’s the limit.

Note about preparation: When making this recipe with children, do not try to multi-task. Each step requires attention. Make the rice first. When it is off the stove “resting”, make the vinegar sauce. While they are cooling, you can begin preparing the veggies. Have your table set up with everything you will need to roll the sushi, including a bowl of water for wetting your hands. Finally, the secret for attractive sushi is nice tight rolls. Wee hands will need guidance. Finally, I have learned from personal experience, if a roll goes all wonky on you and falls apart, get a spoon and scoop and munch. They will still taste yummy!

Veggie Sushi Recipe Ingredients and Supplies

• 2 cups sushi rice
• 2 cups water
• 4 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 1 teaspoons salt
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 medium avocado
• 1 red pepper
• 1 carrot
• 1 cucumber
• 1 package sushi seaweed wrappers or rice paper
• Optional for serving: Soy sauce, wasabi, and/or pickled ginger
• Bamboo sushi mat or plastic wrap

Substitutions:

• You must buy rice suitable for making sushi. It is much sticker than most rice found in American grocery stores. The rice can be short or medium grain, but look for rice packaging that says it is for sushi.
• You can use regular white vinegar if you do not want to buy a bottle of rice vinegar HOWEVER the rice vinegar has a lovely and subtle flavor that you will enjoy using in other recipes.
• If you are not familiar with sushi or the seaweed wrappers, they have a distinct, almost fishy taste to them. If you do not enjoy that, you can substitute edible rice paper, although that is harder to come by in most American grocery stores.
• If you think your will start making sushi, investing in a bamboo sushi mat. I couldn’t find mine and used plastic wrap and it worked fine.
• You can substitute any veggie you have on hand. Just cut them in thin, long pieces or chop into very small pieces. Obviously, you can also add fish if you like.

Making the Sushi Rice:
Rinse rice 2 or 3 times to remove extra starch. To do this place rice in a medium saucepan and cover with water. Gently rake the rice with your fingers to mix then pour off the starchy rice water being careful not to pour off the rice! Repeat until the rice water is less cloudy. (It won’t be totally clear.)

Add 2 cups water to the rice and bring to a boil. As soon as the rice boils, turn to low, cover and cook for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit with the lid on for an additional 10 minutes.

After the rice is cooked, turn out on a wooden cutting board or shallow bowl and fluff with a wooden spoon. Cover with a damp cloth to stop rice from drying out. Cool to room temperature. Fluff the rice once or twice while cooling.

Stir together vinegar, sugar and salt. Heat on the stove or in the microwave until sugar dissolves. I did mine in the microwave for 30 seconds on high. Let cool to room temperature.

When rice is cooled, drizzle vinegar over rice and gently fluff until all the rice is coated.

Preparing the Veggies:
Note: Although sushi traditionally has raw fish in the roll, you can also make vegetarian sushi. This is often more pleasing to children. You can add any vegetables to your roll, just keep pieces of veggies in long thin strips.

Peel carrot. Using the carrot peeler, peel off long slices of the carrot. You can also slice or grate the carrot.

Peel cucumber. Cut into quarters. Remove the seeds. Cut into long, thin slices.

Cut the red pepper in half and clean out seeds. Cut into long, thin slices.

Cut an avocado in half lengthwise. Remove the seed. Remove the outer peel and cut into thin slices.

Assembling the Sushi Rolls
Cover bamboo rolling mat with plastic wrap. This will keep your mat clean. If you do not have a bamboo rolling mat, no worries. I just used plastic wrap on a towel and it worked just fine.

Lay one seaweed wrapper on the covered bamboo rolling mat or plastic wrap on a towel.

Place 1 cup cooked rice on the seaweed wrapper.

Wet your hands. This will keep the very sticky rice from sticking to your fingers!

Using your fingers, press the rice to edges of the wrapper, leave 1/3 of the wrapper uncovered at the top.

Place a small amount of the veggies on the rice in a thin strip on the edge closest to you. Make sure the veggies reach both edges of the wrapper. You only want to cover about 2″ of the wrapper. Do not over fill or you will not be able to roll.

Using the bamboo mat or plastic wrap, roll up the wrapper keeping the rice and filling tight until the roll is completely rolled and secure. Note: If you are new to making sushi, make sure you do not roll the mat or plastic wrap INTO the sushi roll. The mat or plastic wrap rides over the top of the roll.

With a very sharp knife, cut the roll in half. Place the 2 pieces of the roll side by side. Going through both halves at the same time, cut into 8 pieces.

Repeat with the remainder of the ingredients to make additional rolls.

Traditionally, sushi is serve with soy sauce, wasabi, and pickled ginger.

Enjoy!