📋 Homemade Sushi Rolls

5 from 13 votes

📋 Homemade Sushi Rolls

Make homemade sushi rolls with my easy to follow, step-by-step guide and recipe video. Get my top tips and tricks and watch the video for making sushi at home. Including how to make sushi rice, maki sushi, California rolls, dragon rolls and nigiri sushi. Plus find out about the fantastic sushi kit I used to make this wonderful sushi platter.

The below will be enough to make a full platter (serves 4) of different sushi rolls or if you prefer a platter of one kind of sushi. See notes below for links to making a variety of homemade sushi rolls.

Course Appetizer, lunch, Snack, starter or main

Cuisine Japanese

Prep Time 2

Cook Time 15

Total Time 2 15

Servings people

Calories 479.9kcal

Author By: Debbie Jones

Ingredients

2 Packs of Nori sheets seaweed sheets
300 g uncooked Sushi rice Nishiki
400 ml tap water for cooking rice
2 tablespoon Rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoon Mirin rice wine
1 teaspoon Caster sugar
½ teaspoon Salt
Thinly sliced julienne sticks of your choice of fruits and vegetables plus avocado if desired (toss sliced avocado in lime juice to keep it fresh). - I used 1 cucumber, 1 red bell pepper, and 1 Avocado.
Black sesame seeds or black onion seeds for inside out rolls - meaning rice on the outside e.g. California rolls
Crab sticks or crab meat
Your choice of raw sushi grade fish For ease I highly recommend this Sashimi Kit from The Fish society, which includes a guaranteed 300g total weight of raw sushi grade fish, ready to slice into sashimi. Fish selection includes: frozen raw mackerel, black cod, maguro tuna, salmon belly and cooked, butterflied king prawns. Plus soy sauce sachets, wasabi sachets, pickled ginger sachets and chop sticks). I also bought crab sticks to add to this. The fish society also have individual fish options available for sashimi if you'd rather choose specific types of fish yourself.

Instructions

Rice that is specifically prepared for sushi is called Sumeshi. This means rice thats cooked for the right amount of time, in the right amount of water with the right amount of seasoning. It should be sticky but still al dente, shiny and not mashed together. To make perfect sushi rice follow the instructions in my how to make sushi rice guide.
Slice your chosen fruit and vegetable fillings into thin sticks, of a similar size (julienne).
If the fish is frozen, thoroughly defrost before use, either at room temperature for a few hours or overnight in the fridge. Next, slice the fish into thin sashimi pieces, going against the grain (lines in the fish). Store sliced fish in the fridge if you aren't ready to use it right away.
Place a nori seaweed sheet on the bamboo mat (shiny side down). Wet your hands then spread the rice over the seaweed leaving a 1-2 cm gap at the top (for sealing the roll). Use half a sheet of seaweed or a full sheet depending on how big you would like your sushi. Usually half a sheet is used to make maki sushi and a full sheet is used for California rolls and Dragon roll sushi.
Add your choice of veg and fish fillings. Line up the filling across the seaweed. If making a smaller roll with half a seaweed sheet then use just 2 fillings. If you are making a larger roll and using a full seaweed sheet then you can add 3 fillings. Image here shows smaller roll with 2 fillings of raw tuna and avocado.
Use the bamboo mat to roll up the sushi. Pick up the bottom end of the mat and start to fold it over. The first roll you should be aiming to get the nori and rice over the fillings. Then lift the end of the mat up again and roll and tighten. Continue to roll until the sushi comes out at the other side of the mat.
To finish slice the sushi roll using a wet knife. To wet your knife dip the tip of the blade into water then hold the knife up and allow the water to run down the length of the blade. Slice firmly through the sushi, moving the blade back and forth so to cut and not to squash. Wet the blade between each slice to prevent the blade from sticking to the rice and seaweed.
Repeat with the remaining seaweed, rice and fillings. Then serve up on a platter with your chosen toppings.
Different types of sushi can be made from the same ingredients. See notes below for a link to each type of sushi recipe.

Video

Notes

Fruit and veg filling ideas: cucumber, bell pepper, jalapeños, red cabbage, celery, spring onion, beetroot, radish, avocado, mango, pineapple, apple, pear

Sushi without raw fish: If you don't want to use raw fish other options you can try are cooked crab meat, crabsticks, tinned tuna, smoked salmon, or smoked mackerel

Sushi without fish: If you don't want to use fish at all just load up with fruit and veg. You could also try with cream cheese or tofu. Cream cheese, cucumber and chives is a great option.

Toppings: Once the rolls are made you can add extra flavour with toppings like pickled ginger, soy sauce, wasabi paste, sesame seeds, onion seeds, chia seeds, extra thin slices of avocado or fish (see dragon roll sushi recipe), butterflied king prawns (see nigiri sushi recipe) chopped mango, thinly sliced spring onion or salmon roe.

Different sushi rolls: For that real wow factor have a go at making a variety of homemade sushi rolls. The amounts of ingredients listed in this guide will be enough to make a platter with several different sushi rolls. This guide includes links to recipes for maki sushi, California rolls, dragon roll sushi and nigiri sushi. All together they make a fabulous looking platter.

Sushi rice: To create the right kind of flavour mix your sushi rice with rice wine vinegar and mirin rice wine, sugar and salt.

Bamboo mat: Get yourself a Bamboo Rolling Mat. The sushi making process is made so much easier if you have a mat to help you roll and tighten your sushi rolls. However, you don't have to use a bamboo mat. If you can't get hold of one you can use baking paper to roll your sushi.

Water: Have a bowl of water on hand to keep your hands wet when handling the sushi rice. Sushi rice is extremely sticky and if your hands are dry you'll find it sticks to you rather than the seaweed. Things can get very messy very quickly.

Sushi grade fish: Use fish that has been frozen to below the right temperature for the correct amount of time, which will be a lot safer to consume raw.

Sashimi kit: Buy a sashimi kit that comes with a selection of sushi grade, frozen, raw fish ready for slicing into thin pieces (sashimi) . I highly recommend the sashimi kit from the Fish Society, which is what I used to make this platter. And there was some fish left over from this, so it goes a long way. This kit comes with 4 different types of frozen, raw fish, plus cooked, butterflied king prawns. The Fish society guarantees a total weight of 300g of sushi grade fish. The kit also includes sachets of soy sauce, sachets of wasabi, sachets of pickled ginger and 2 sets of wooden chop sticks.

Vegetables: If using veg instead of, or as well as fish, go for bright colours that will look pretty against the white rice. Also choose veg that will last and not go limp. Obvious choices include cucumber, bell pepper, carrot, raw beetroot, radish and red cabbage. I also love to use avocado, which I toss in lime juice immediately after slicing to stop it oxidising and going brown.

Protect your mat: Wrap your bamboo mat with cling film to keep it clean, particularly when making California rolls when the rice is on the outside of the roll.

Try not to overfill the nori sheet with rice: Spread the rice as thinly as possible over your nori sheet and leave a 2cm gap at the top end of the nori to allow room for sealing.

Small rolls: Maki sushi are smaller rolls so halve your seaweed paper to make these.

Slicing: Use a long blade, sharp, non serrated knife for slicing your sushi. Before slicing dip the knife blade in water and allow the water to run down the length of the blade. This stops the blade from sticking to the rice and seaweed. When slicing sushi with rice on the outside (California rolls) place cling film over your finished rolls first. The cling film will help to keep the roll together and to keep its shape whilst you slice.

Wasabi: Use wasabi paste to help stick your butterflied prawns to your sushi balls when making nigiri sushi

Chill the sushi: Once your sushi are made, plate up then wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for at least an hour before serving. This will firstly keep the sushi nice and fresh but will also set the rice and make your sushi easier to handle and eat.

Serve with: soy sauce, pickle ginger and wasabi for that extra punch of flavour and touch of authenticity. Time: Give yourself plenty of time! Don't under estimate the mess this can make and the time it can take just to prepare your veg and fish alone.

Nutrition