California Roll

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Hi Everyone! One of my many New Year's Resolutions (I have like 15...) is to cook twice a week. It's a great way to save money, eat healthier and keep the bf happy. I decided to try something new and make California Rolls! I am obsessed with sushi and figured I should learn to make my own. Using raw fish at home still makes me nervous, so I'm going to stick to imitation crab for a while.

Making the rolls is very easy. The prep work is what takes the most time. I used Just One Cookbook's tutorial as my guide and switched it up a little. It's an amazingly helpful post!

Ingredients:
9 cups prepared Sushi Rice (3 cups uncooked Japanese rice)
1 pack of Imitation Crab (around 15 sticks)
2 Tbsp. Mayonnaise
1 sliced (length-wise) English Cucumber
2 sliced Avocados
9 Nori (seaweed) sheets
Toasted Sesame Seeds

Sushi Rice:
1/3 cup rice vinegar
4 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. salt

Tools:
Bamboo Mat
Plastic Wrap

Don't forget Tobiko (flying fish roe), Pickled Sushi Ginger and Wasabi for garnish.
I never knew you had to season the rice, but it makes it taste awesome!

1. Mix together rice vinegar, sugar and salt.

2. Pour the rice vinegar mixture onto freshly cooked rice and mix well. Let it cool.

3. Mix mayonnaise with the imitation crab. I could have used more to get a creamier consistency, but I wanted to keep it healthier. I think I'll omit it completely next time because it wasn't that noticeable.

4. Wrap bamboo mat with plastic wrap.
5. Place nori sheet shiny side down and spread a thin layer of sushi rice.

6. Add rows of cucumber, avocados and crab on the bottom of the nori.
7. Lightly sprinkle toasted sesame seeds all over the rice and ingredients.

7. Roll slowly but firmly starting from the end with the ingredients. Stop every third of the way to compress the roll to ensure it's packed tightly.

8. Run your knife under water and slice into thin pieces. 

California rolls are easy to make and can feed a lot of people for little money. With this being my first attempt, I learned a lot! I cut the pieces too big, bought too much imitation crab, didn't add enough sugar, etc. So don't worry if your rolls don't look like something from a restaurant. Still tastes delicious! I was able to find everything at my local Korean store (H Mart). Enjoy!