Salmon Rolls

Of all my favorite ethnic foods, sushi is my go-to.  I have no qualms with grabbing a roll at the grocery store.  If I want to celebrate a successful day at work, at the sushi bar I sit.  When anyone in my immediate family is having a birthday, the local sushi restaurant is our go-to establishment.

Given all of these sushi-centric eating decisions, it's a little sad that I have not attempted to make sushi at home.  This sadness is only amplified by the fact that I own a sushi rolling mat and a special spoon for tossing the sushi rice.  That's right...I own a sushi rice spoon.  Now I really feel like the big girl on campus.

The mat and spoon were actually a gift...well, sort of a gift.  It was more like a "I'm cleaning out my cabinets and you seemed liked someone who would want this" kind of situation.  Which is exactly how it went down.  I was in grad school, in another life, and one of my classmates was packing up for a move.  He realized he needed to make some serious decisions about what he kept and what he tossed and since I'm a serious kitchen gadget hoarder, I benefited greatly from his downsizing.

I decided to use smoked salmon in my first ever sushi rolls.  Maybe one day I'll have a fish guy that I'll trust enough to buy raw fish from and make sushi out of it.  For now, I'll stick with food I'm 97.3% positive will not give me some sort of weird stomach worm.  For my salmon companion, I went with mango in one roll and avocado in the other.  In my opinion, these are pairings that will have everyone going back for more rolls.

Salmon Rolls

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c. sushi rice

3 c. water

1/2 c. rice vinegar

1 Tbsp vegetable oil

1/4 c. sugar

1 tsp. salt

8 Nori Toasted Seaweed Sheets

8 oz smoked salmon

8 avocado slices

8 mango slices

Soy sauce for dipping

Directions:

In a medium sauce pan, combine water and rice and bring to a slow boil.  Reduce heat to low, cover, and let simmer for about 20 minutes or until all water is absorbed and rice is completely cooked.

In a medium sauce pan combine the vinegar, oil, sugar, and salt.  Heat on medium and stir until the sugar dissolves.  This should only take a few minutes.

Combine the rice and the liquid in a large bowl.  Mix until the rice is well coated.  Let cool completely before working with it.

Once the rice is cooled, lay out your bamboo rolling mat and place a seaweed sheet in the center.

Carefully create a thin layer of rice on the seaweed.  The seaweed is not overly delicate, but it will rip easily so you do not want to get all Incredible Hulk when spreading out the rice.  You also want to be sure your rice layer is thin.  

Bad layering

You'll know you added too much rice once you've rolled it and you get a lot of rice and tiny bit of filling.

Once you have your rice layer, add your filling along the top edge of the rice.  Roll one had an ounce of smoked salmon and 2 slices of avocado.

Good layering

Roll two had salmon and mango.

Using the mat, roll up your sushi.

You may need to use your fingers to keep the filling in place as you fold the top edge over.

The seaweed might slip around a bit as you are rolling so apply consistent pressure, as if you were rolling and shaping bread dough.

Even a sushi novice, such as myself, can get a decent roll on the first try.  Repeat the process until you have all of your rolls and then cut and serve.

I really enjoyed both rolls, but I think my favorite was the salmon and mango.  The salty, smoky flavor from the salmon paired amazingly with the sweetness of the mango.  Two rolls made the perfect weekend lunch.  Enjoy!