Sushi - California Roll and Spicy Tuna Roll

Mmmm sushi. I haven't always liked sushi. In fact, the first time I tried it I wasn't a big fan. But I slowly started branching out into new flavors and textures which ultimately had me trying sushi again. Fast forward awhile and now I love it!

I made a trip to the Asian market the other day for squid because I wanted to attempt calamari. While I was there, I decided that I also wanted to attempt sushi. So I picked up some necessary items and I was on a mission!


Ingredients:

• FOR THE RICE:
• 2 cups sushi rice
• 2 cups water
• 2 TBSP rice vinegar
• 2 TBSP sugar
• 1 TBSP kosher salt
• FOR THE SUSHI:
• 6 oz Ahi Tuna steak
• Imitation crab legs
• Nori (dried seaweed)
• 1 TBSP chili puree/paste
• 3 TBSP mayo
• Cucumber, sliced very thin
• Avocado, sliced thin

Directions:

• FOR RICE:
• Rinse rice. Place rice in a medium sauce pan and add water. Bring to a boil.
• Once boiling, reduce heat until low and cover for 15 minutes
• Remove from heat and leave covered for an additional 10 minutes
• Allow rice to cool completely. While rice is cooling, mix vinegar, sugar and salt in a bowl. Place in the microwave for 30 - 45 seconds. Stir.
• Fold the vinegar mix into the cooled rice so that all of the rice is covered with the mixture.
• FOR SUSHI:
• Take one sheet of nori and fold in half. This should leave you with two halves (you will only use one half for each roll).
• Gently cover the nori with the sushi rice. Once covered, flip over so that rice is underneath.
• Place crab, avocado and cucumber in a line across the nori. Begin to roll up with your bamboo rolling mat (I'm sorry, I should have taken pictures. I will update with photos when I make this again!)
• Now you should have a roll. Gently slice and serve.
• For ahi rolls, I first marinated the tuna steak in 1 TBSP soy sauce, 1/2 TBSP lime and 1 tsp chopped ginger. Then I lightly seared it for a minute on each side so that it was still rare on the inside
• 
• Mix chili puree with mayo to form a spicy sauce. Add a thick layer of this sauce to the nori (after you have added the rice as above).
• Then layer the tuna, avocado and cucumber as above.

Now you will have a sushi roll! Just cut and serve. For my first attempt, I was very impressed. The flavors were fabulous. I apologize for the poor photo, I had them in tupperware so I could take to my coworkers (my boss and our marketing analyst are quite foodies... I wanted it to pass their test!). They both approved!