For today’s recipe, I’ll show you how to make the best known and popular Japanese food, Sushi Rolls or Maki Sushi (巻き寿司)! Even though you might not have tried making sushi at home before, don’t worry. I will explain in detail with lots of good tips and advice as well as the video tutorial and step-by-step pictures on how to make these delicious rolls at home! You can put different ingredients inside but for today, we’ll be making tuna rolls, cucumber rolls, and natto rolls.
What are Sushi Rolls?
First of all, what’s sushi? Sushi is any dish made with vinegared rice (we call it “Sushi Rice“) combined with other ingredients like seafood and vegetables. Some people think sushi means raw fish, but that’s not entirely true. You can have sushi with or without raw fish. There are various types of sushi, and you can find variations here. When the sushi rice is wrapped in nori seaweed and rolled, it is a sushi roll. In Japan, we call it makizushi or maki sushi (巻き寿司). There are several types of sushi rolls:
Hosomaki (細巻き) – Thin rolls (1 inch in diameter) with nori on the outside, containing 1 ingredient Chumaki (中巻き) – Medium rolls (1–1.5 inches in diameter) with nori on outside, containing 2–3 ingredients Futomaki (太巻き) – Thick rolls (2–2.5 inches in diameter) with nori on the outside, containing 4–5 ingredients Uramaki (裏巻き) – “Inside-out” rolls with nori on the inside, like California Roll Temaki (手巻き) – Cone-shaped sushi hand rolls
Varieties of Sushi Rolls
1. Traditional Edo-style Sushi Rolls
These sushi rolls are hosomaki which consists of one main ingredient and is usually wrapped with nori on the outside. How many of these do you know or tried before?
tuna roll (tekka maki) – today’s recipe cucumber roll (kappa maki) – today’s recipe fermented soybean roll (natto maki) – today’s recipe dried gourd roll (kanpyo maki) pickled daikon roll (shiko maki) pickled plum & cucumber roll (umekyu) eel/sea eel & cucumber roll (unakyu or anakyu maki) tuna & scallion roll (negitoro maki) yellowtail & scallion roll (negihama maki)
2. Western-style Sushi Rolls
These sushi rolls consist of multiple ingredients and most of them are inside-out rolls (uramaki). A lot of restaurants create their own version of combinations and unique names, but here are some common ones.
California roll dragon roll spicy tuna roll rainbow roll caterpillar roll Alaska roll Boston roll Philadelphia roll dynamite roll spider roll
Ingredients and Equipment for Sushi Rolls
First, you need to prepare four key items to make sushi rolls: Sushi rice, the fillings of your choice, nori sheets, and a bamboo sushi mat.
1. Sushi Rice
One of the important ingredients to make sushi rolls is to have the right sushi rice. To cook the rice, you’ll need uncooked Japanese short-grain white rice, water, and kombu (dried kelp). To season the cooked rice, you’ll need rice vinegar, sugar, and Diamond Crystal kosher salt as described in my Sushi Rice recipe.
2. The Fillings
Today, we’ll make single-filling rolls with tuna, cucumber, or natto. Tuna and cucumber rolls are the most popular hosomaki and you have probably seen or eaten these at Japanese restaurants. Traditionally, the fillings for hosomaki are either (raw or cooked) seafood or vegetables. However, if you don’t eat raw fish, you can use other ingredients you like. Experiment with what food works for your preference. Here are some ideas:
Vegetable and fruit filling ideas: The traditional Japanese fillings include julienned cucumber, pickled daikon, dried gourd, bell pepper, or radish. You can use non-traditional Japanese ingredients such as avocado or mango, if you’d like. Sushi with raw fish: Sushi-grade salmon or tuna. See below for where to buy sushi-grade seafood. Sushi without raw fish: Imitation crab sticks, cooked crab meat, canned tuna with spicy mayo, smoked salmon, smoked mackerel, or natto (fermented soybean).
3. Nori Sheet (Roasted Seaweed)
There are many types of “seaweed” used in Japanese cooking, and for making sushi rolls, we need dried laver seaweed called nori (海苔). They are roasted and look like sheets of paper. We use a half sheet of nori for this recipe but depending on the type of roll, we use half, 3/4, or a whole sheet of nori. Please remember that nori gets stale easily. Therefore, once you open the package, store in an airtight container or a plastic bag (remove the air before closing) and keep in the refrigerator.
4. Bamboo Sushi Rolling Mat
A bamboo sushi mat or makisu (巻き簾) is made of bamboo and used to make sushi rolls and egg omelette like Tamagoyaki and Datemaki. The left sushi mat has a round and flat (green) side and each bamboo strip is wider and bigger round shape. The right sushi mat has narrower round bamboo strips with no flat side. For today’s sushi roll recipe, I highly recommend the sushi mat on the right because it is more flexible when you shape the sushi roll. If you don’t want to purchase a bamboo mat, you can use a thick, hard texture kitchen towel folded into a similar size as a bamboo sushi mat, or use a placemat similar to the bamboo mat.
How To Make Sushi Rolls
Traditional sushi rolls called hosomaki are much easier to roll than thick, fancy, Western-style sushi rolls. Consider today’s recipe as a practice run before you move on to bigger sushi rolls like California rolls and dragon rolls.
How To Cut and Serve a Sushi Roll
Where to Buy Sushi-grade Fish (Sashimi)
You can find sushi-grade fish in the sashimi section of your local Japanese grocery store. If you live in San Francisco, you can place an order from TrueFish for local delivery or pickup. I go to Suruki Supermarket in San Mateo for sashimi. They usually take orders in advance via email. If you are using it for hand rolls, ask for the hand roll cut (a stick shape rather than sashimi style).
More Sushi Recipes You’ll Love
Inari Sushi Futomaki Sushi Quick and Easy Chirashi Sushi Mosaic Sushi
Also, check out our Ultimate Sushi Guide: Sushi Types, Recipes & Etiquette. Wish to learn more about Japanese cooking? Sign up for our free newsletter to receive cooking tips & recipe updates! And stay in touch with me on Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, and Instagram.
