Sloppy Sushi

A recent diversion in my culinary explorations has been the taking on of hand-rolled, vegetarian sushi.  Though a tad bit sloppy during my initial attempts, lately, my rolls have been morphing into tightly-wound, seaweed-encased cylinders of pure delight.

Cook one one cup of thoroughly rinsed white or brown long-grain Jasmine rice with a tablespoon of sugar and a pinch of salt in two cups of water until the rice is fluffy and whimsical.  Then callously leave the rice in the refrigerator for several hours (or overnight) to cool down.

When the rice has cooled down and regained composure it's time for action.  Prepare your work station with a small cup of water, rice, thinly-sliced pieces of avocado (along with an other veg you'd like to throw in - bell pepper, daikon, carrot, etc.) and seaweed sheets.

On my first few forays, I only had small 2" by 3" sheets to roll single pieces of sushi, but later I came to my senses and bought larger sheets of nori seaweed at a local Japanese market.  Oh...the joys of trial and error cooking!

With the back of a spoon or your weathered hands, pack a layer of rice on your seaweed, add your filling, and roll tightly together using a sushi mat.

This might be difficult to master the first few times. But don't sweat my pet(s), you will get the hang of it quicker than you might think!

Use some water to dampen and seal the remaining edge of seaweed to hold your roll together.

With a properly sharpened knife, slice your rolls into several pieces.

As an ever-accommodating host, I even made several of my rolls gluten-free for an intolerant friend.  These red bell pepper and cabbage alternatives (with lettuce substituting for rice) were quite the hit.  Make sure you add several leaves and roll tightly for them to stay together properly.

Serve with soy sauce that issues forth from a green bottle and add dollops of wasabi to light that inner fire.