Make these heart-shaped sushi rolls to impress your soymate

If you’re looking to spice up your cooking repertoire or quit ordering so much takeout, trying creative spins on your most beloved recipes is a good place to start. This heart-shaped sushi recipe is not only a very simple and unique way to show your love at home, but it’s seriously delicious, too.

Heart-shaped sushi rolls are perfect to make if you’re looking to cook for someone special or even try a couple’s dinner-making night. You’ll be able to practice your knife skills and really feel the love in your kitchen. Try giving your favorite spicy tuna roll a new lewk and, of course, don’t forget the soy sauce.

Heart-shaped Sushi

Serves: 4 (serving size: 8 pieces [4 hearts])
Active: 30 min. Total 2 hours

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups water
1 cup uncooked sushi rice
2 Tbsp. rice vinegar
2 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1 Tbsp. granulated sugar
1 Tbsp. toasted sesame oil
2 tsp. soy sauce, plus more for serving
1 tsp. ichimi togarashi
2 Pacific sushi nori sheets, halved
8 oz. sushi-grade tuna, cut into 8 (4-in. long x 1/2-in. wide) slices
1 small English cucumber, cut into 8 (2-in. long x 1/4-in. wide) sticks
1 medium avocado, thinly sliced into 16 slices
2 Tbsp. black sesame seeds
Pink pickled ginger, wasabi paste, soy sauce, and Sriracha chile sauce, for serving

Directions

1. Rinse rice until water runs clear. Bring 1 1/2 cups water and rice to a boil in a medium saucepan over high. Reduce heat to medium; cook, covered, 20 minutes. Remove from heat; let stand, covered, 10 minutes. Using a wooden spoon, stir vinegar, salt, and sugar into rice. Let cool completely to room temperature, about 50 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. Chill 1 hour.

2. Whisk together sesame oil, soy sauce, and togarashi in a small bowl; set aside.

3. Using wet hands, spread about 1/3 cup of the chilled sushi rice in an even layer on a bamboo sushi rolling mat wrapped with plastic wrap. Place 1/2 of a nori sheet on rice, then place 2 tuna slices lengthwise across nori. Brush tuna with 1/4 of the sesame oil mixture. Place 2 cucumber sticks and 4 avocado slices lengthwise beside tuna slices. Using the bamboo roller, roll sushi into a sushi roll. Then, use hands to press rolled sushi into a teardrop-shaped roll. Repeat process with remaining ingredients to make 4 rolls total. Carefully transfer teardrop-shaped rolls to a cutting board. Sprinkle sushi rolls evenly with black sesame seeds; slice each roll into 8 slices.

4. Place 2 teardrop-shaped pieces together on a serving platter to form a heart; repeat with remaining pieces. Garnish platter with ginger and wasabi; serve with soy sauce and Sriracha.