The key to making easy sushi at home? Throw a hand roll party

All you need for a hand roll party at home is a big bowl of sushi rice, a tall stack of nori (dried sheets of seaweed) and any fillings and condiments you want. Fresh, crunchy vegetables are excellent with sushi rice, and so is leftover carne asada or potato salad — with soy sauce or salsa macha, or sprinkled with nuts, or topped with fruit. Really. I've learned that I don't have to be a traditionalist — or a perfectionist — when it comes to making hand rolls at home. Another plus: The only thing to cook is the rice.

Sushi chefs are revered for the precision with which they cut fish. The level of esteem for sushi rice is reflected in its name shari — it means "bones," a reference to the sacred enshrined bones of Buddha. And sushi lore says that if shaped properly, all the grains of rice for nigiri will face the same direction.

But I grew up eating homemade sushi. My mom made simple rolls — kappa maki, cucumber cut rolls. Or sometimes instead of cucumber, a tuna salad of canned Chicken of the Sea mixed with Kewpie mayonnaise. When she made sushi rice, I'd help fan the rice to cool it down as she mixed in vinegar, sugar and salt, using a shamoji, or wooden spatula.