Professional sushi makers will roll their eyes, but I don’t care.  The only thing I’m interested in rolling are the sushi rolls. These are the easy do-it-yourself sushi rolls – not fancy, but easy to make and good to eat.

I don’t care for the idea of eating raw fish, but I’m told that when it is used, it has been frozen  enough to kill anything that would make me nervous. Still, I prefer to use cold-smoked salmon (which has also been frozen, but is also salted and cured).

The ingredients you’ll need are dried seaweed sheets (sushi nori), mayonnaise, sticky rice (I prefer Kokuho Rose, but you can use regular rice by soaking it in warm water for half an hour before cooking it), and your choice of fillers. I like to use cold-smoked salmon, carrots, and asparagus, but you can substitute all sorts of things.

I pre-cook the carrot strips and the asparagus just slightly – a minute or two in the microwave in a dish with a bit of water. Drain and cool those before using.

The rice, cooked earlier, should be chilled. I have a bowl of water handy to dip my fingers in, so I can press the rice onto the seawood sheets without too much rice sticking on my hands.

On the cluttery photo below you can see the things you’ll need. I had already made one roll, and then decided to cram all the things I was using into one picture to show you.

First, spread some mayo to coat the dull side of the seaweed sheet. I’m sure yours will look neater than mine did. Then put on a handful of rice and spread it  as evenly as possible so the seaweed is covered except for the last half inch that is farthest away from  you. This is where you will stick the last part of the roll to itself.

Make a little ditch in the rice and place your filling ingredients into it as shown in the photo below.

Begin to roll the sushi away from you, using the bamboo mat to help make the first roll evenly and press it down before continuing to roll toward the farther end of the seaweed sheet. You might want to push any stray rice grains into the roll before pressing it closed.

For this next step you need a very sharp knife. Cut the roll in half, then cut each half in half again, and repeat that until you have eight pieces. The photo shows some the progress of cutting the pieces.

Place all the pieces on a platter, cover with plastic wrap and place in a cool place to chill before serving.

The condiments you may want to use with the sushi are pickled ginger root, soya sauce, wasabi (powdered horseradish with water added – or you can sometimes buy it already mixed in a tube), and some toasted sesame seeds. Have a small dish to place your sushi on, and add the condiments to it as you eat the sushi pieces one by one.

A platter of sushi like the one below took five sheets of seaweed and I used one cup of rice (two cups of water). You end up with 40 pieces of sushi (5 rolls of 8 pieces each).

Enjoy!