Valentine’s day is just around the corner. And here are very cute Valentine Sushi (Futomaki or 김밥). I made them in February last year for my blogspot. Love is everywhere. Enjoy <3

Valentine Sushi Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 bowl cooked short grain rice, at room temperature
• 2 dried seeweed sheets, Japanese Yakinori
• 2 slices cheddar cheese

For sushi rice sauce,

• 150ml water
• 25ml vinegar
• 1 teaspoon caster sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

For coloring,

• 1 teaspoon Korean red pepper paste
• Wasabi paste and/or green tea powder for green

For finish,

• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon sesame seeds

Directions

Make sushi rice sauce Pour water, salt, sugar, and rice vinegar into a sauce pan. On low heat dissolve the sugar. Then set aside; let cool.

Make sushi rice Set aside 1/3 bowl of rice and pour the rest rice into a serving bowl. Drizzle the sushi rice sauce on the rice and quickly mix with spatula. Don’t forget to cut into the rice not to crush it.

Coloring Next, for the red heart, mix 1/3 bowl of rice with red pepper paste. If you want more variation in color, use wasabi and/or green tea powder for green or say sauce for brown.

Make inner heart Prepare a rolling mat. Here I have silicon mat instead of typical bamboo mat. Cut off 1/3 of nori. Place a sheet of dried seaweed on top of the mat. Spread the now-red colored rice on nori evenly. Fill only the half of the nori with rice. Carefully roll the mat forward, slightly pressing the rice with hands. When the end of nori reaches the border of the rice spread, stop rolling. Push the bottom of the roll with fingers to make it pointy. And carefully push in near the end of nori sheet with a knife. This will make the rice stick out of the roll. Then measure how much nori you need to cover the roll completely and cut the nori with scissors. The two nori ends should meet exactly: there should not be an overlapping part. Make sure the roll is heart shaped.

Make outer layer On a rolling matt again, place a nori sheet. Spead the rice evenly to cover only 2/3 of the nori sheet. Cover the heart-shaped roll with two slices of cheese. Place the heart roll on the rice spread and delicately roll up not to break the heart-shape. When the roll reaches the end of the rice spread, cut off the excessive nori sheet. Brush with sesame oil and sprinkle sesame seeds on top. Now Valentine futomaki is ready.

To serve Place the roll on a cutting board. Wipe a knife with a wet cloth before slicing. It’s important to wet your knife before every cut for two reasons: 1) a wet knife cuts better the seaweed sheet. 2) it prevents the rice from sticking your knife. Cut the roll into bite-sized pieces. Serve with wasabi, pickles, kimchi, marinated little side dishes, and/or soy sauce.

Now we are ready to enjoy our Valentine futomaki.

Note

Practice makes perfect. It’s so true in making Valentine sushi. Bon courage! 🙂 

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