California Roll

I love an outing to a buffet once in a while. The variety of foods that buffets offer amaze me and I love getting a little bit of everything and finishing off the meal with some fruit and ice cream. I found a great buffet in Roanoke and I've been there twice in the past few months. The price is a great deal (especially with coupons) and the food is great. I love that they have a whole booth dedicated to seafood so I get to eat as much cuttlefish, clams, and mussels as my stomach can fit. It's also impressive that they have sushi at the buffet. It's limited to just rolls but it's still pretty good. Of course, it inspired me to make homemade sushi.

It's actually pretty easy to make, but rolling it sure is an art. I tried my best to explain how to roll in the instructions below, but videos or picture are more helpful. I'm sure you can find a good instructional video on YouTube. Thankfully, my boyfriend was accepting of the not-so-perfect rolls. I guess I technically made Calidelphia or Philornia rolls since there was cream cheese in these but no salmon and imitation crab instead.



Do you like the dish I used? No real fish in these rolls but it was the fanciest dish I had in my cabinets. No pickled ginger though. Make this for a date-night dinner. Two people working at it together will make the process go quickly. I was even able to take step-by-step pictures for this recipe! Enjoy.

California Rolls

2 cups uncooked sushi rice
2 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp salt
Cream cheese, cut into 1/4-inch sticks
Imitation crab sticks, cut in half lengthwise
Avocado, cut into 1/4-inch sticks
Nori sheets, cut in half

In a medium pot, place the uncooked rice and 4 cups water and bring to a boil. Cover and let simmer until done, 30 minutes or so. Or use your rice cooker. Fluff and let cool.

Once cool enough to touch, place cooked rice in a large mixing bowl. Add rice vinegar, sugar, and salt and mix well. Set aside. Prepare the cream cheese, crab sticks, and avocados and set aside.

To make the rolls, have a cup of cold water available to wet your fingers. It will help keep the rice off you and stay on the rolls instead. Place bamboo roll on counter. Place a piece of plastic wrap over the roll. Place a half sheet of nori on lower half of roll. Wet fingers and grab a handful of rice. Spread out the rice to create a single layer.



Since California Rolls have the rice on the outside, we need to flip this. Take the upper half of the bamboo roll and plastic wrap and fold over the lower half. Flip over and turn so that the nori and rice are on the lower half of the bamboo roll again. Now the rice is on the outside!



Place the cream cheese, crab stick, and avocado in a line on the lower third of the nori sheet. Now, time to roll. Hold the plastic wrap and bamboo roll with your thumb and index finger and use your other fingers to hold onto the filings. That way, you can make sure that they stay inside when you start rolling instead of slipping out. Once you get the rice and nori over the fillings, squeeze along the seam so that it sticks together. Then grab the plastic wrap and bamboo with one hand and roll the rest of the way with your other hand.



Once you reach the end, wrap the whole thing in the bamboo roll and squeeze all around evenly. Release and behold! Your beautiful sushi roll.



To cut, place the roll on a cutting board. Wet your hands and your knife every time you cut a slice. If not, the rice will stick on your hands and it will come off. Wetting the knife will also make sure you make a clean cut each time. Place on serving dish and serve with a blob of wasabi and a side dish of soy sauce. I like mixing a little wasabi into the soy sauce for dipping.