Cooking Cute: Maki Sushi Tutorial

Sushi is the best fingerfood ever. Fresh and healthy! You can put in whatever fillings you like – fish, eel, veggies, etc., and the ingredients can be raw or cooked (a.k.a. Korean kim bap). Instructions on how to make perfect sushi rice are here. You can use short-grain brown rice as well (as I've done below).

The next time I make inside-out rolls (ingredients and nori in the middle, rice on the outside), I'll snap some photos and add them to this tutorial.

(Click pictures to enlarge)

	My workspace ready to go: ingredients cut into strips (the salmon was in a small chunk to begin with or I would have made the slices longer), seasoned brown rice, mini-rice paddle, cutting board, etc.
	Lay out a sheet of nori, shiny side facing down, on a bamboo rolling mat.
	Spread a thin layer of rice onto the nori, leaving at least a 1" border at the far end. You should almost be able to see the nori through the rice (about 1/4"-thick). I've found that the mini-rice paddle does a great job of spreading the rice around. You can also use your fingers (but wet them first so that the rice doesn't stick to you).
	Line up your chosen ingredients across the rice on the side closest to you. A single layer is fine, as you'll be rolling everything up. You can add more ingredients than what I've shown here – your roll will just be fatter.
	Lift up the end of the rolling mat to begin the rolling process.
	Applying even pressure across the bamboo mat, roll the sushi away from you until the edge of the sushi mat almost touches the other side. If you kept rolling at this point, you'd roll the mat right into your sushi roll (bad idea).
	While continuing to apply even pressure, fold back the edge of the mat to make more room to continue rolling the sushi. Keep rolling away from yourself, while folding the mat back towards you as needed, until you run out of nori..
	The completed sushi roll on the bamboo rolling mat. The edge of the nori can be moistened as needed so that it will stick to itself.
	A typical sushi roll is cut into 8 pieces. To make the most even pieces, cut the sushi roll in half, then each half in half, then each quarter in half again. I have an awesome MAC sushi knife that slices through raw fish and sushi rolls like butter. Love it!
	Finished sushi pieces ready to be devoured.