A Homemade Sushi Supper

I recently had one of my most memorable dining experiences to date- and I didn't even have to go to a restaurant! A friend of mine invited me over to make sushi and rice paper rolls. This is one of my favorite meals to make in the kitchen. Not only do I enjoy the teamwork aspect of making sushi, but it's so relaxing to roll up the ingredients and make such neat little parcels. The fact that, I seem to have an endless amount of stomach room for this stuff doesn't hurt either! And so, we opened our bag of veggie chips, poured a couple glasses of wine, and set to work creating our feast.

To make the Vietnamese Rice Paper Rolls you simply soften the rice paper wraps in hot water, fill with your selected ingredients, and roll 'em on up! Here they are unfilled, and pretty underwhelming at this point...

We filled our with a mixture of pork, basil, cucumber, carrot, Vietnamese rice noodles and Hoisin sauce. Not exactly beauties, I'm aware, but they tasted incredible. Hoisin sauce is a Chinese dipping sauce that creates a trinity of sweet, salty and sour. Made from soybeans, vinegar and hot chilies, this stuff created in a serious pork pairing - not to mention the lovely addition of the anise flavored basil. I'm unable to admit how many of these that I consumed. It's simply not appropriate.

Next we got to work on the sushi. We had gone to Pete's earlier to get some fresh fish. Although we were in the mood for salmon, this trout looked pretty appealing; bright pink and shiny, so we went beyond the norm and made trout rolls. We used the same veg as in the rice paper rolls, as well some shrimp.

My friend Maria took photos as I rolled up the sushi. I was pretty proud of my photog skills up until this point, but Maria truly has an eye to capture great movement in images.

The next time you want to challenge yourself in the kitchen, this is the way to go. The only equipment you need is a bamboo mat, which only cost about $3.00. Then you need some rice, and nori (seaweed sheets) and typically some wasabi and pickled ginger. Then, you can choose whatever fish or veg you like. A good vodka martini doesn't go astray either...! Try this the next time you have friends over- you'll eat well and laugh the whole time!