Maki Rolls

Let me explain to you how amazing these were. Wait, I can't. Hopefully the pictures will just do the explaining. A picture is worth 1,000 words, right? Maki Rolls, Sushi, Sashimi... any of it just makes me chuckle to myself. It is hands down one of my favorite dishes to gobble up these days. 1 year ago I wouldn't even touch any type of seafood unless it was shrimp. Now I'm eating raw tuna and salmon. Ashley from 2 years ago would say Who are you!?! I'd tell her, whatever you're just a scaredy muncher. Then she'd say, seriously, Who says scaredy muncher? (Side note: this term is what my boyfriend was called as a child if he wouldn't eat his food and I love it) Anyway, you probably think these look intimidating because in all honesty I have always been intimidated by maki rolls. Give them a try though! You will surprise yourself because it's much easier than you would think and you will feel like an artist by how pretty your food ends up looking. You might just think you're at an actual sushi place if you ONLY look at your plate.

Maki Rolls

1.5 cups rice
3 cups water
2 tablespoons rice vinegar

Nori seaweed paper
1/2 avocado, sliced
1/2 full carrot, julienned
1/2 cucumber, julienned
1 tuna steak ~6-8 ounces
1 salmon steak ~6-8 ounces

Mango Salsa
1 mango, diced
1 jalapeno
1 serrano pepper
dash of pepper

Prepare all of your ingredients first. Boil the rice and water together until cooked through. Add the rice vinegar and sit to cool some. Next julienne your carrot and cucumber and slice your avocado. Next slice your tuna and salmon steaks into strips about .5 cm thick. If you are making the mango salsa, dice up the mango, jalapeno, and serrano pepper. Mix them all in a bowl with a dash of pepper. Next to begin making maki rolls wrap your sushi bamboo mat in plastic wrap if you wish. Take a piece of nori paper and cover 2/3 of it with rice about .5-1 cm thick. Flip the paper over so the rice side is on the bottom facing away from you. The 1/3 of the paper without rice should be closest to you. In that 1/3 add your fillings; tuna, carrot, cucumber, avocado, any sauces you wish. Roll over the area with your fillings and use the mat to help tighten it up once you start rolling. Make sure you tuck the beginning edge in tightly so that once you do start rolling it up the fillings will stay inside. Once you have rolled the paper all the way, the region with the rice will cover just the outside of your roll. Then you are set and you can start slicing your roll into pieces. If you would like to make it fancy we put a layer of avocado and thin slices of tuna on the roll then placed it back on the mat and rolled it up so they would stay on. It gives it a nice look.