Rainbow Sushi & California Roll

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Pillar of Nutrition Eat the Rainbow, All in for Whole Grains

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Rainbow Sushi & California Roll

We love this sushi recipe. It's a huge hit in our classes.

Ingredients

Rice

• 2 cups water
• 1 cup short grain brown rice
• 3 Tablespoons rice wine vinegar
• 1 Tablespoon organic cane sugar
• ½ teaspoon sea salt

Sushi

• 4 sheets nori (dried seaweed)
• 1 package surimi (imitation crab)
• ½ long cucumber, sliced into matchsticks
• 1 ripe avocado, peeled and sliced thinly
• Other veggies as desired (such as bell pepper, carrots, raw beets), sliced into matchsticks and/or baby spinach leaves

For serving, optional

• Soy sauce
• Pickled ginger
• Wasabi

Directions

Rice

1. Bring water to a boil in a medium saucepan, then add rice, swirl to coat, and lower heat to low and cover. Simmer until water is completely absorbed and rice is tender – about 18-25 minutes. Drain off any excess water if there is any.
2. Add vinegar, sugar and salt to a small saucepan and heat over medium heat stirring occasionally until sugar and salt are dissolved.
3. Add the cooled vinegar mixture to the rice when it is done cooking. Mix gently with a rubber spatula or fork (It should be sticky and wet so it will spread easily).

Sushi

1. Prep your veggies by chopping them into long, thin pieces.
2. Place a piece of nori on a sushi mat or towel or cutting board. Add ½ cup of sushi rice on top. Wet your hands and pat a very thin layer of rice all over the nori.
3. Arrange a row of your veggies or preferred filling in a line at the bottom of the rice closest to you. (California Roll = surimi, cucumber & avocado.)
4. Roll the nori and rice over with your fingers, and once the veggies are covered, roll the mat over to mold and compress the roll. Continue until it’s all the way rolled up.
5. Cut into slices and serve with pickled ginger, soy sauce, and wasabi.

Notes

• Safeway brand nori is about half the price of other brands.
• Cutting nori in half to hand roll was perfect. 
• Use ¼ cup rice per ½ sheet of nori
• Make sure the rice is at room temperature before rolling
• Make extra rice! 2 cups dry should be enough for 12 kids, but it leaves no buffer 
• Brown rice takes a long time to cook (45+ minutes) so for a 1-hour class, it will have to be prepared before the class time. 
• We added red carrot shreds for color. 
• If anyone wants to try inside-out rolls with the rice on the outside, flip the nori - on to a piece of cling wrap! - after the rice is spread 
• I made miso soup using TJs ginger miso broth and tofu. Garnished with scallions.
• I also used the condiment known as furikake from TJ’s to garnish the finished rolls. It’s a sprinkle of sesame seeds, nori and kelp powder.
• I made a miso Mayo with a little grating of ginger and a few drops of soy sauce to drizzle over everything. 
• They couldn’t really take home the wasabi and soy sauce in the paper containers ( it absorbs the soy sauce) so we mixed some together and drizzled it on top. 
• We had one table of kids who are vegetarian or have fish allergies who only used veggies (could provide a baked teriyaki tofu option for them?)

Variations to Try

• Try the rice on the outside of the nori
• Try other ingredients, such as a sweet sushi with mango, coconut flakes and sliced almonds

Something to Chew On

• From where does sushi originate?
• How does a mat help roll sushi? 
• Is seaweed nutritious? 
• What is wasabi?