Making Sushi can be a wonderful family project. There are several steps and, to some, unusual ingredients. Make the shopping trip an educational experience since you’ll need to seek out the sushi rice, rice wine vinegar, the nori (seaweed sheets) and the sushi rolling mats either in a large supermarket’s ethnic food section or in an Asian market. You’ll find tempeh in the refrigerated ethnic foods section. Tempeh is a “cake” made from fermented soybeans with a mushroom-like flavor.
Ingredients 1 cup sushi rice or short grain rice
2 cups water
Pinch salt
3 tablespoons seasoned rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
2 sheets nori *
1 package baked tempeh
1 avocado
Soy sauce
Chives
1 bamboo rolling mat for sushi
Instructions Measure rice into a strainer. Hold strainer under cold running water and rinse rice for several minutes. Put rice into a rice cooker or medium saucepan. Pour in the 2 cups water. Add a pinch of salt. Cover and cook according to cooker directions or until rice is just tender, about 20 minutes.
While rice is cooking, measure vinegar and sugar into a 1-cup glass measure and microwave on HIGH for 10 seconds. Stir to dissolve the sugarSpread the cooked rice in a 9x13x2-inch or other flat pan
Add the vinegar mixture and stir to mix with the rice and to cool the rice..With a sharp knife on a cutting board (with adult supervision) cut the tempeh into slices ¼ inch thick.
Wash the knife and cutting board and cut the avocado in half. With a spoon, scoop out the pit. Use the spoon to scoop the avocado out of the peel, or pull the peel off with fingers or a knife. Slice avocado into strips.
Wash and rinse the cutting board. Put the rolling mat on the cutting board. Put one of the pieces of nori on the mat. Wet your fingers with cold water, to keep the rice from sticking. For each roll, take a handful of rice and pat it over ¾ of the nori, to about 1/4 inch thickness, leaving one of the narrow ends of the nori uncovered..Arrange half of the tempeh and avocado strips crosswise on the rice on the nori, starting at the covered end.
Using the mat to help you get the roll started, lift the mat and fold it over the temper and avocado. Push down gently but firmly to hold the nori in place. Using the mat to help (but not rolling it in with the nori) roll up the sushi.
Dip your fingers in water and moisten the very end of the uncovered nori to help seal the roll.
Repeat with remaining nori, rice and fillings.
With a sharp knife, slice each roll into 6 pieces.
Serve on plate with the cut sides of the roll up. Serve soy sauce in a dipping bowl.
Notes Makes 4 snack servings
By Andrew & Ruby Mayne, Stanford University, Catering