My tips for making Sushi rolls

Sushi rolls are one of those recipes I make every now and again. I seem to get a craving for that seaweed flavour with the mayo and fillings.

My son LOVES sushi, and when I deliver it to his house, he delves straight in. It's one of those Mums' cooking things, and I hope it's one of the recipes he remembers me for. I am totes hoping that when he buys it somewhere else he thinks, it's not the same as Mums. In a good way. I would have never thought when he was a little boy, that one day, my favourite thing to drop off at his house food wise, would be sushi rolls! I even take a little tub of soy sauce, along with a lot of love.

I've been making sushi rolls for what seems like forever, but I think it's been about six or seven years. Long enough to not have a recipe written down anywhere. So when someone asks, I can't give them one. Just advice, from trial and error of making them myself.

When you buy sushi rice, or nori sheets(in my woolworths, both found in the pasta, rice, asian cooking aisle) there is a sushi roll recipe on the packet. 

I cook the rice according to the absorption method on the packet. Make sure you don't take the lid off to often, the simmer is at the lowest, and don't be afraid to add a little more water if needed. The rice really absorbs the water fast!

Two cups of uncooked rice will make about six rolls.

When the rice has cooled a bit, mix in the rice wine vinegar. I use a little less than the instructions say on the rice packet, the nori sheet packet says to use less, so find a balance that you like. Place in the fridge straight away and cool down. Don't use the rice to make your rolls if it is still hot.

My favourite protein fillings are seafood, whether that be smoked salmon(yum yum) or processed crab meat, or chicken.

The day I took these photos, I used left over meat from honey soy chicken wings, from the night before.

I made my own homemade mayo with grainy mustard. As an alternative to that, use whole egg mayo, or kewpie mayonnaise, with mustard or wasabi mixed in to flavour. 

Have all your ingredients and utensils ready and layed out around your rolling mat/teatowel before you start assembling. Have a plate ready to place your rolls on to go in the fridge before cutting into sections.

You really dont need a bamboo rolling mat, save your money and use a clean tea towel.

Place the nori sheet with the ridges facing up, and the shiny side facing down.

Spread the rice with wet fingers and a wet spoon as it can get a bit sticky, to a thickness of about 7mm, not quite one centimetre.

Make sure you leave about 3 cm at the top of the nori sheet with no rice.

Place a line of mayo, in a line across the rice, about half way.

Lay the meat over the mayo and add the other ingredients, like avocado, carrot or cucumber.

Start rolling the nori sheet, holding the filling in place as you roll. Not too tightly, as the nori sheet will split.

Just before you close that roll, brush some water at the end of the nori sheet. This will help the end of the roll seal.

When cutting the whole sushi rolls into 2-3 centimetre sections, use a chopping board and a sharp, wet knife to get a clean cut.

You will need to wipe down and re-wet the knife with cold water after a couple of cuts, as the rice will dirty the knife and the cuts will become less effective.

I hope this helps and gives you all a little more confidence to have a go at sushi rolls yourself :)

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