I've only made sushi a few times since I first started cooking and I have never done it like this until now, what’s wrong with me? It's so good! Clearly, I’m no professional at it (yet), but still, SUSHI! Granted, I did cheat a little and go with cooked meat over raw and I didn’t add anything crazy like turtle or alligator, sorry guys. Next time…….

I think this could be the beginning of me embracing being a technical adult and starting to make real adult food. Haha, just kidding!. I’m not really sure how you all perceive my level of expertise, but let me assure you that whatever amount of credit you give me is undeserved. I’m usually just making things up as I go along. If you could see the behind the scenes you’d know this. Seriously, the kitchen is more of my playground then my workplace and it’s always a mess. I’m telling you this to let you know that if I can make make sushi then so can you.

It’s not that hard to make at all, for real. Part of the reason I’ve only made it a few times before is that for a while I thought you had to have special sushi mats and completely authentic Japanese-sushi-rolling-skills or something. I know it probably works better with an actual bamboo sushi mat (plus said sushi skills), but I cheated again and used a plain old bamboo table place mat instead, and it totally worked. I’ll bet there are many things you could use to substitute if you don’t have a sushi mat either, but if you do happen to have one then that’s great too.

I feel like the entire world of sushi flavors is open to me now and I’m totally going to try other kinds soon. When I was taking pictures people in my family kept passing through the room and saying things like “Hey, when did we get sushi!” or “Did you buy that, Tori, where did you get it?”. Then I had the pleasure of revealing that I am now a maker, and future master, of sushi-ing to their disbelief and surprise! I can’t wait to make it for friends and be able to claim the title of sushi-er, YES! See how mature I am.

The key point is getting it tightly wrapped into a sushi shape, that’s what matters. I know the roll I did as a demo in my GIF is not the most perfect one ever, but my later ones started getting pretty good. Practice makes perfect here people, I know you can do it.( P.S. Soy sauce and wasabi are a must with sushi!)

Smoked Salmon Philadelphia Roll Sushi
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour
Yield: 4 rolls (6 - 8 servings)

Ingredients

Sushi Rice:
1 cup white sushi rice
2 cups water
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
6 ounces smoked salmon, cut into skinny strips
4 ounces cream cheese, cut lengthwise into 1/2 inch thick strips
1 large carrot, cut into matchsticks
2 toasted nori sheets (seaweed)
1 medium ripe avocado, cut into slices
white and black sesame seeds (optional)
wasabi paste, soy sauce, and pickled ginger for serving (optional)
Instructions

Pour rice into a bowl and cover with one inch of water, you'll notice that the water is cloudy. Drain and repeat until water is clear. Combine rice with 2 cups of water in a medium saucepan over high heat and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to a simmer and allow rice to cook for about 15 minutes the turn off heat, stir rice, and allow to sit covered for 15 minutes longer. Return pan to stovetop and place over medium heat. Stir in vinegar. sugar, and salt well then cover again, turn off heat, and allow rice to cool for about 25 minutes.
On a sushi mat (or a makeshift one) lay a square piece of plastic in the center and spoon about 3/4 cup of rice on top. Press rice down into an even layered square in the center then cut nori sheets in half and lay one half on top. Now layer ingredients for sushi lengthwise in the center of nori and line up ends. Gently gather the plastic corners and start to form into a roll. Wrap the mat around the sushi and use roll tightly around sushi to form a tight roll. If desired, roll sushi in sesame seeds to coat the outside. Cut into sushi pieces with a very sharp knife and serve immediately with soy, wasabi, and ginger, or refrigerate in a sealed container for up to 3 days until ready to serve.

For more great food ideas, please do not forget to look at my other recent food posts

1. Jamaican Jerk Chicken Plates + Mango Salsa
2. Chocolate Chunk Cookie Dough Protein Bars
3. Ricotta Lemon Pancakes+Whipped Honey Butter
4. Asparagus & Feta Puff Pastry Tarts
5. All The Chunks Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies - VIDEO
6. Lavender Vanilla Bean French Beignets
7. Super Moist Malted Milk Chocolate Chip Bunny Cake
8. Roasted Purple Potatoes & Cod Sheet Pan Dinner
9. Tropical Breeze Carrot Juice Smoothie
10. Toasted Peeps S’mores Skillet Brownie

ALL CONTENT IS MINE AND ORIGINAL! All of these food photos were taken with my Nikon D750 and my favorite Lens, the Nikon AF-S FX NIKKOR 50mm f/1.8G. You can find out more in my INTRO POST.

And, by the way, to all the minnows out there, my intro post did a huge $0.21. The key to success on Steemit is to be consistent and persistent. Click on the link below for some great tutorials on how you can also succeed on the steem blockchain:

Master Toolkit: Steemit Resource Guide Illustrated by @sndbox

Also, a huge shoutout to @rigaronib for designing my logo!

Do you want to learn more about me? Click here to see a recent @wadepaterson interview with me - 20 questions with @gringalicious

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