I love sushi, and have been thinking for a long time now about learning to make it at home. I finally took the time this weekend to give it a try, and boy, am I excited – this has opened so many possibilities. Once you purchase a bamboo sushi mat (I bought mine on Amazon), and learn a few basics, sushi does not seem so intimidating anymore. Of course, any sushi expert will easily see that I’m just a novice, and that my sushi is far from being perfect. But it tastes great, so who cares.

I wanted to make sushi that my kids would be able to enjoy, and I don’t feel confident enough to deal with raw fish anyway, so I decided to focus on making simple vegetarian maki sushi with avocado, cucumber and carrots. It’s very tasty, and I love the way the avocado adds creaminess (and lots of flavor, of course) while the cucumber and carrot add crunch.

To make brown rice sushi, I simply add 2 tablespoons of water to whatever amount of water the package directions call for, then cook the rice 5 extra minutes on very low heat. This produces rice that is sticky enough to use as sushi rice, but still pleasant and somewhat fluffy.

This is obviously a very healthy dish, with the exception of its high sodium content. The sodium here comes mainly from the soy sauce (even though it’s reduced-sodium), without it you’re looking at 350 mg of sodium per serving. This is entirely up to you of course, but you could use less soy sauce, or just half a teaspoon kosher salt in the rice. I chose not to, because I didn’t want to mess with the flavor.
Click for the recipe