Babe on a Budget: Make your own sushi!

Winter finally arrived in Arlington today.

An early dismissal from work and a cancelled RPM class meant one thing: I had the evening off.  I already went to BODYPUMP this morning, so I decided to finally break out something I recently bought but hadn’t had a chance to use.  My own at home sushi kit.

I picked up the nori and the bamboo mat and paddle on a recent trip to Wegman’s and the total cost of the two products combined was less than $10.  I took a look at the directions and decided they looked fairly easy.  Line up, fill, roll, slice.  I think I got it!

I rolled up my sleeves and got started.  I already had some drained and pressed tofu in the fridge just asking to be cooked, so I sliced it up into strips and cooked it in about 1/2T of olive oil.  Oh, so crispy. 

I cooked about a half cup of rice and then learned that in order to make it “sticky”, you have to add a little vinegar, sugar and salt.  

For the 1/2 C of rice (uncooked measurement), I used about 3T of white vinegar and 1 1/2 teaspoon of sugar and a sprinkle of salt.  I warmed the vinegar over low heat until the salt & sugar were melted.  I spooned the vinegar mixture over the cooked rice until it just moistened it.  Not all of the vinegar was used.

I’m out of veggies and the weather wasn’t conducive to a quick grocery run,

So I kept it simple.

I added a little bit of light cream cheese because philadelphia roll (cream cheese and smoked salmon) is one of my favorite sushi rolls.  And if I had it, I would have added cucumber, avocado, and carrot for that light fresh flavor.

And I added a couple dots of sriracha for good measure.

Verdict?  Very fun and tasty! 

Cost?  Pennies on the dollar for sushi carry out.

Unknown ingredients?  None. 

Fully customizable?  Totally.

New favorite quick-fix dinner? Quite possibly.