Sushi is a great runner's food. It's nutritious with minerals from the nori (seaweed), protein from fish/eggs, healthy fats from avocado, energy-rich carbs from the rice, and vitamins from the veggies. It's a complete meal all rolled up in a neat package!
Making sushi at home isn't hard. It takes a while to prep all the ingredients and assemble each roll one by one, but once you get the hang of it, it's pretty simple and fun! This is a recipe for California rolls, the ubiquitous sushi roll, but following this tutorial, you can make any kind of sushi that you wish! Make it vegetarian by using pickled veggies, tofu, egg, sweet potato, or other veggies. If you can buy sashimi-grade fish, you can make your own sushi at home for a fraction of the price you'd pay at a restaurant.
You will need:
sushi mat
plastic wrap
2 cups cooked rice, room temp (sushi rice, or any kind of moderately sticky rice)
nori sheets
3 Tbsp sushi vinegar (or rice wine vinegar + 1 tsp sugar + pinch of salt)
1 small cucumber, julienned
1 carrot, julienned
1/2 avocado, sliced into strips
Crab stick
1) Season the rice with the vinegar to taste and mix. Add more or less depending on how you like the rice flavored.
2) Put a piece of plastic over the sushi mat for easy clean up. It also prevents sticking. Place a piece of nori on the mat, with the smooth and shiny side facing down. Spread enough rice on the bottom 2/3 of the nori to make a solid layer. Make sure to press down firmly; you don't want the rice to be all loose.
3) Arrange the veggies and crab stick carefully in the middle of the rice. This is important to be as neat as possible so it's easier to roll.
4) Starting from the bottom, fold the mat over to completely cover all the filling ingredients. Roll it as tightly as you can by pressing down firmly with even pressure.
5) Continue rolling the sushi as tightly as possible until you reach the end. Try to shape it into a round log, and be sure that you aren't rolling the plastic wrap into the sushi!
6) Now you have a tightly wrapped sushi roll, it's time to cut it into 8 pieces. Cut the roll in half...
then into fourths...
and finally into 8 pieces.
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7) Repeat with the rest of the ingredients. Enjoy with soy sauce and wasabi!
