So tommorrow I will be making sushi for the first time (really excited) and I have all of this stuff...

Sushi Rice (White Short Grain)
Nori Sheets
A wooden rice paddle
Rolling Mat
Rice Cooker
Pre-seasoned Rice Vinegar (No sugar or salt adding necessary)
Carrots (Whole)
1 Avocado
1 Red Bell Pepper
Celery (I dunno...)
Sesame Seeds which I will roast later

So I'm gonna need some pretty detailed instructions on how to do this. I know how to roll it and chop up the fillings and where to add them etc., the problem is I need to know exactly how much of each of these to use since I will be making sushi for 3 tommorrow as a lunch and I do NOT want any leftovers (unless somebody doesn't eat all of theirs). How much of each of these should I use for serving 3 people, and how much Rice Vinegar do I use to season however much rice I will be using (just give a simple ratio)?

You have a pretty good list of stuff there :-)

To make enough per person without leftovers, plan on 1-2 rolls per person (6-12 pieces).

The water to rice ratio is 1:1.  That said, when short grain white rice is done it's like the loaves and the fishes--you'll usually have more when it's finished than you thought you needed.  When I worked at Sushi Nabe in Chattanooga, TN, Nabe-san would pour the vinegar in for one second for each cup of rice that he used, plus one more second.  He was a kooky fellow, but it worked.

Regarding seaweed, look at the shiny side closely (there is a glossy side and a grainy side).  On the shiny side you'll see lines going across.  These lines are important, as when you roll your sushi you don't want to roll across these lines (you can easily break the nori that way).  They are also important because you'll need to fold the sheets in half as follows to make rectangles:

ORIGINAL SEAWEED:

  __________
  |--------------|
_ |--------------| _
  |--------------|
  |--------------|  Let's pretend that's a square.  Fold it halfway, at the _s beside my pathetic ASCII nori sheet.  It'll break and usually it won't break in a pretty manner but that's alright.  We'll get into that later.  The reason we're breaking it is that we don't want your sushi to taste like this:

"Wow, this is mighty good SEAWEED with a nice hint of red pepper."

Once broken, there will still be a smooth side to each of your two new pieces of nori.  This smooth side will be the bottom of each of your artistic workings from here on out.

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Veggie preparation

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To make your life easier with veggie preparation, the quick answer is to julienne 'em.  This doesn't work with avocados, of course.  They're trickier.  Quarter it and discard the pit.  If you wish, you can give it a final farewell salute, such as "BEGONE YE PIT" or something to that effect.

Shed the peel from each quarter.  Again, you may give it a "BEGONE YE PEEL" if you so desire.  If you compost, so much the better.

Now you have an oddly shaped concave green slimy tasty wonder in your hand.  The trick now is to cut it in a somewhat even manner.  To accomplish this, have the outside of the avocado facing up in your non-dominant hand, and cut wedges toward the center.  BE CAREFUL.  Holding the avocado will not always let you know where the hollow center is but the knife can figure it out right away, and it'll be sure to relay the message to your hand given half the chance.  Blood in sushi's not vegan. :p

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Seaweed on the outside

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If you're making a traditional Japanese maki (rolled sushi), the seaweed will be on the outside.  I recommend this for starters, as it's a bit easier than the rice on the outside, which I'll get to in a minute.

TRICK:  Spreading rice.  TIP:  The sushi chef giveth rice, but the sushi chef will encounter tremendous difficulty removing it.  Start off using too little rice so you can add to it if necessary.

Make sure that your hands are wet when handling the rice, but not wet enough to make the rice fall apart.  You also do NOT want the seaweed to get wet.  That's kind of ironic...

Start with the nori's grainy side up.  You'll apply rice to this side so when you roll it the shiny, pretty side will be showing.

Spreading the rice is hard to explain, but I'll give it my best shot.  Rice is no longer a thousand of something--it is a single amorphous blob of tasty awesomeness.  You'll need about a handful of it.  Leave about a fourth of your seaweed uncovered, and remember the top of it is where you ripped it apart earlier:

^_^-v^-v--^
|---nori--------|
|---rice--------|
|---rice--------|

Pinch the rice at the top (between "nori" and "rice" in my second pathetic ASCII diagram).  Make the Great Wall of Gohan all across the nori sheet.  Then place your desired veggies directly at the foot of the mountain.  You don't want to overfill this--remember, you're rolling it and you want it to be contained in the roll.  When the insides of a sushi roll cannot be contained, the Japanese call this "panku," and I thought my boss was calling me a punk when I screwed up.  You want a couple thin slices of vegetables, which is why the quick answer for veggie preparation outlined above is to julienne 'em.  This is true for carrots, cucumbers, etc.  You will have extra veggies--it can't be avoided.  This is usually okay though, or at least it was for me--it meant salad.  Fufu eventually got sick of green bell peppers and kale, and she's coming back around to the kale.

Once that's done, align the bottom of the seaweed roll with the bottom of your rolling mat.  Roll so the bottom of the nori follows Daniel Boone across the mountain and squashes him until he is quite dead.  Then extract him from your roll, because eating Daniel Boone is also not vegan.

You'll have something that looks like this from the side:

O_

At this point it'll stay though.  Unroll the rolling mat, hold the roll in, and finish rollin' it up.  When you do this, press in lightly but firmly on the top, front, and back to make, essentially, a rectangular prism.  This will help you because when cutting it you don't want it to roll away.

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Rice on the outside

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For the rice on the outside, start with the nori shiny side up.  Lay the rice out as detailed above.  If you just want rice on the outside, leave it--if you want a fun (and pretty) variation, lay something on the outside that'll conform to the rolled shape of the maki such as avocado or sesame seeds.

Now cover it with plastic wrap.  Ancient Japanese secret--Saran Wrap.  You want the top of your plastic wrap to be pretty much level with the top of your nori sheet.  When you're done, slap it to the rice to make sure it'll stick.  That's fun.

Flip it now so that the the plastic is on the table.  Rotate 180 degrees so the excess plastic is at the top.  Now put the veggies you want inside the roll directly on the seaweed in the middle.

Align the bottom of the ensemble with the bottom of your rolling mat.  Roll the bottom of the nori just across the veggies, and unroll.  Now unroll it, and take enough plastic off of the roll to make sure you won't be eating it later.

Finish rolling it, and leave the finished roll in the plastic.  This way when you cut it, the rice won't get away from you and you won't have a middle-aged balding sushi roll.

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Cutting it

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The traditional Japanese cut for sushi is six pieces.  There are a couple tricks to cutting.

1.  Use a non-serrated knife.
2.  Use the entire length of said non-serrated knife, and let the weight of the knife do the cutting.  Pressing into the roll to hurry up and cut the thing is going to make it look awkward and caved-in.
3.  The bottom of the roll is where you finished rolling it.  It'll look like a seam made with rice and seaweed.  Trust me, you'll know.
4.  As outlined above, be sure to make a rectangular prism out of your sushi roll.  This will keep it from moving around on you.
5.  Most importantly, make sure that the knife is wet.  Dip the end of the knife in a bowl of water and run the water down the length of the blade.

First, cut the entire roll in half.

Now, put one half underneath the other.  The ends should be at the same side.

Now cut both of these into thirds, and you should have six pieces.  Flip the pieces up so that the insides are proudly displayed.

If you have any other questions shoot me an email at eval(unescape('%64%6f%63%75%6d%65%6e%74%2e%77%72%69%74%65%28%27%3c%61%20%68%72%65%66%3d%22%6d%61%69%6c%74%6f%3a%61%72%6e%73%64%6f%72%66%6d%40%67%6d%61%69%6c%2e%63%6f%6d%22%3e%61%72%6e%73%64%6f%72%66%6d%40%67%6d%61%69%6c%2e%63%6f%6d%3c%2f%61%3e%27%29%3b')) and I'll get back when I can :)

You're done :-)

Here's my video of vegan sushi making: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcvwJbVh18E

Hope it helps! :-)

1 roll per person. If you've got 3-4 people, make an extra roll. If you've got 5-10 make an extra 2 or 3 rolls. Sushi is a lot of fun!

1 roll per person. If you've got 3-4 people, make an extra roll. If you've got 5-10 make an extra 2 or 3 rolls. Sushi is a lot of fun!

1 roll?  hmm.  michael and i must be pigs.  we eat about 3 or 4 rolls.  each.  but then again our idea of a good meal is a whole entire quiche. 

how did your sushi endeavors go?  my first time making sushi was awful!!! its so tough to do the first time, so i hope yours turned out well.  : )