sushi night at home

so i've been craving sushi for a while, but it seemed too cold to eat sushi. today started off as a humid day, and it stayed warm all day. i guess we could have gone to our nearby conveyor belt sushi joint, but we had some yummy kewpie (japanese mayo) that's been staring at me every time i open the fridge. aaaand, the mister made rice last night that we ended up not even touching. thus, sushi night at home commenced. i'll be honest, i was a little nervous. it was my first time and i don't have one of those bamboo sushi rolling mats, but it seemed to work out pretty well. i made california rolls and spicy ahi rolls. i added imitation crab to the spicy ahi, which isn't the norm, but i like a little more texture with my raw fish, and i also wanted a little something extra in there. 

first i started by making my sushi rice. i used alton brown's recipe, except my rice was made in a rice cooker...i'm guessing much easier than on the stovetop. 

sushi rice:

2 cups short grain rice (cooked)

2 tbs rice vinegar

2 tbs sugar

1 tbs kosher salt

microwave the vinegar, sugar, and salt for 30-45 seconds and mix until most of the salt and sugar dissolve. put the cooked / hot rice in a large bowl and gently mix in the vinegar mixture. let it cool at room temp. 

california rolls:

sushi rice

avocado (thinly sliced)

6 pieces imitation crab

cucumber (sliced into sticks - 6 needed)

kewpie (or other mayo)

3 sheets nori

spicy ahi rolls:

sushi rice

~1/4 lb spicy ahi poke (bought at the market, gently minced)

kewpie

4 pieces imitation crab

4 slices cucumber
2 sheets nori

place a sheet of nori on a cutting board. wet your hands and spread some rice onto the nori; spread it to the side edges, but about an inch away from the top and bottom so you can seal the rolls. spread the kewpie on the rice. closer to the bottom, place your ingredients lengthwise across the rice: california rolls - 2 slices of imitation crab, 2 slices of cucumber, ~3 slices of avocado. ahi rolls - spicy ahi, 2 slices of imitation crab, 2 slices of cucumber. roll the bottom end of the nori over the fillings and tightly roll away from you. wet the top end of nori with your finger to seal it. with the seam side down, use a sharp knife to slowly cut the roll in half; cut into a total of 8 pieces. i ended up with 2 rolls of spicy ahi (16 pieces) and 3 california rolls (24 pieces). enjoy!