Homemade Vegan Sushi

Let me dispel some myths for you, quickly. First off, vegetarians & vegans can totally eat delicious sushi. Second, rolling your own sushi at home is actually not that difficult! Once you get everything chopped & ready, you can make a bunch of rolls quickly & easily. Before last night, I had never made my own sushi, but my friend was having a sushi party (which is an amazing idea, by the way) and it really got me out of my comfort zone. We all brought tons of ingredients (veggies, fruits, crushed wasabi peas, fish, tofu, cream cheese, etc.) and went at it! Below is a really simple recipe to get you through your first roll. Once you do that, go crazy & see what kind of new sushi recipe you can come up with! Enjoy!

Prep Time: 10-20 minutes
Cook Time: none

Ingredients
One (1) nori sheet (seaweed sheet)
1/2 cup of sushi rice -- cook this according to its package. If it turns out really sticky, you did it correctly.
Filling for the roll -- Whatever you put into the roll, it must be cut into thin strips! You only need a  few strips of whatever you're adding to the roll.
Small cup of rice vinegar



Directions
Make sure that you have a sushi mat and that it is covered in cellophane before we start. I don't know if this is necessary, but it will make your life a million times easier.

Place your nori sheet on the mat so that the tiny lines are parallel to the mat's lines.
Spoon your rice onto the sheet and smooth it out very thinly. It should cover all but the top 1/2 inch of the nori.

Next, place all of your fillings - in strips - at the bottom of the nori sheet.

Once everything is ready to be rolled, slowly move the mat around the sushi and roll it up.

Here's a video in case you need a bit of help with that.

Right before you finish the roll, lightly brush some rice vinegar over that top 1/2 inch to help the roll stick.

Now that you have a full roll, place it on a cutting board (you do not want to cut on your mat!).

Take a very sharp knife and slowly saw the roll into about one-inch pieces. Using a sawing motion is super-important or you will end up making a mess.
Place these pieces on a plate and enjoy with soy sauce, sriracha, or whatever you choose to top it with.

Enjoy and bask in the glory that you made your own sushi!