Homemade sushi and rolls are quite profitable at cost, although at first glance the opposite seems. Most ingredients are sold in large packages and have long shelf life. If you purchase rice, nori, rice vinegar, and sauce, they can remain suitable in your pantry for a long time. As a result, you get 4-6 Japanese-style dinners for the price of one trip to the restaurant. In addition, cooking rolls at home can be really fun.
What is needed first?
So how to make rolls at home? First of all, you need to buy basic basic ingredients. These include:
- rice for sushi;
- bamboo mat;
- plastic film;
- nori (seaweed sheets);
- soy sauce;
- toasted sesame seeds and / or chia seeds;
- sriracha chili sauce ;
- wasabi + pickled ginger.
You can buy all these products and equipment both in a specialized store of Asian goods, and in any hypermarket. Once you have acquired all the essentials, you will need fresh produce for your planned fillings. As a rule, this is a fish element and any vegetables and fruits. Among the latter, you may be suitable:
- cucumber;
- avocado;
- asparagus;
- jalapenos;
- green onions;
- carrot;
- salad;
- Bell pepper;
- Red onion;
- radish;
- canned pineapple;
- mango;
- Apple.
What to add as the main component?
How to make sushi and rolls at home using affordable products? As for the options for the main filler, here you can also include fantasy. Many people like to add shrimp to their rolls, as this is easiest. If fresh salmon is available to you, you can cook real Japanese rolls with raw fish. The same goes for sashimi class fish, which is sold only in specialized stores. Such products are subjected to a single shock freeze, so they are completely safe. Do not eat raw fish and seafood sold in ordinary stores. You cannot be sure that they have not been re-frozen, nor can you check the storage conditions. As a filling, lightly salted and smoked fish fillets, as well as canned food in your own juice, are suitable for you. You can also add tofu or cream cheese to your rolls in addition to fish or seafood.
How to make rice?
So, you wondered how to make sushi and rolls at home. The very first step in cooking is preparing the rice. You must rinse it very carefully. Ideally, clear water should drain from it. After that, take two glasses of water for one and a half glasses of rice, place in a pan with a thick bottom and bring to a boil. Once the water begins to boil, reduce the heat to a minimum and cover the pan with a lid. Let the rice cook for 20 minutes, do not stir. Remove from the stove, but leave the rice in a pan under the lid for 10 minutes or so, so that the grains become sticky and soft.
Cooking rice is the only time-consuming part of the whole process. While it is boiling, save time by preparing fish, vegetables and sauces. This will quickly make rolls at home. The recipe can be anything.
How to prepare boiled rice?
If you do not have rice vinegar, you can take plain white and dilute it to taste with water. Add some salt and sugar to it. The ideal proportion would be 1/3 cup rice vinegar, seasoned with one tablespoon of tea sugar and 1/2 tablespoon of tea salt. Pour this mixture into rice, gently stir with a fork and try. Adjust salt and sugar as desired. Transfer the rice from the pan into a bowl and cover with a paper towel.
While the rice is cooking and cooling, prepare the vegetables and fish. Cut them vertically into strips and set aside. How to make rolls at home? Photos and various recipes are presented below, but there are general rules.
To avoid contamination, wrap the bamboo mat with plastic wrap. Put the nori leaf on top and take the rice. Home rolls can be done in two ways - rice out or in.
Types of Rolls
How to make sushi and rolls at home? The first ones are prepared very simply - just make a bun of rice and put the fish on top. Rolls are of two types: rice outward and inward. The latter are divided into thick and thin.
Since making rice rolls inward is easier, start with this view. Take a spoon and apply a thin layer of rice on a sheet of algae. If you want to make thick rolls and use whole sheets, add more rice, but be sure to leave an uncovered piece at the end.
Place the filling in the center, placing the individual pieces very close. If you put large slices or use many ingredients, you can put them on top of each other.
If you want to make rolls of rice from the outside, turn the nori sheet so that the rice is on a plastic film, and then put the filling on the seaweed.
Then grab the edge of the mat and start twisting the roll. The first turn will connect the ingredients in the center. Roll about 1/4 of the length and squeeze gently, then unfold the mat. Repeat this process until you roll a sheet of rice, seaweed and vegetables with fish in a spiral. Squeeze again to seal the filling. How to make rolls yourself at home, so that they turn out like in a restaurant?
Cut the resulting roll into one-bite discs. This should be done with a very sharp, ideally freshly sharpened knife. If you made rice rolls outward with a coating of fish or avocado slices, first wrap the roll tightly with plastic wrap before cutting. This will allow you to cut the rolls neatly and beautifully.
How to make baked rolls at home?
You can also make hot baked rolls. To do this, you need to make a hot sauce and use an additional filling. Take any ready-made cut rolls, brush with sauce, sprinkle with grated cheese or finely chopped other ingredients (shrimp, fish, etc.) and bake in the oven for 5-10 minutes. For the sauce you will need on average:
- 1 tablespoon home or store mayonnaise;
- 1/2 tablespoon shriracha chili sauce.
Adjust your ideal level of sharpness from mild to very hot. If necessary, replace the base with vegan mayonnaise or plain Greek yogurt.
What can be added to soy sauce?
Before making rolls at home, buy a naturally cooked soy sauce. Do not use cheap surrogates in plastic bottles. To some, the taste of soy sauce seems too salty. In this case, you can search for a light option or supplement it at your discretion. For example, mix soy sauce in equal proportions with mirin (white rice wine) or make ponza - soy sauce with lemon or lime. To make it, just add citrus juice and zest.
Below are the recipes for how to make rolls at home, step by step (photo attached). The article presents both the simplest and slightly more complex options.
Original recipes
As mentioned above, the filling for home rolls depends on your imagination. There are some varieties of this dish that have become a kind of restaurant classic. The Rainbow belongs to them. Despite the visual complexity, you can make these rolls at home. The recipe with the photo is listed below.
A distinctive feature of this dish is that each piece has its own taste and composition. In the classic version, the roll is cooked with rice outward, shrimps and avocados are used as the filling, and slices of salmon, tuna, eel and other fish are laid out on top. The finished roll is decorated with Ikura.
How to make a rainbow roll?
How to make rolls of rice at home yourself? We offer you to familiarize yourself with the algorithm of actions:
- Take a sheet of nori and cut it in half. Place the half on top of the bamboo mat with the rough side up. Keep the second part of the sheet in a dry place for the next roll.
- Moisten your hands with water and take a lump of prepared rice from a bowl. Put it in the center of the nori leaf.
- Use your fingers to spread it over the sheet to create an even thin layer. There is no need to press on the rice, just line it. Then turn the nori so that the rice is at the bottom.
- Wash and peel the avocado, then chop. You can use very thick slices, but the vegetable should be very ripe and soft.
- Boil the shrimp for 3 minutes in salted water.
- Lay avocado slices in a continuous line on a nori leaf.
- Put the shrimp on top or side by placing them “tail to tail” to avoid excess space between them.
- Lift the edge of the mat with your fingers on your fingers and spin the roll. Hand tighten from the ends toward the center (to avoid squeezing). Press the mat so that it slides along the roll and squeezes it, holding together all the components. Expand carefully.
- Now you need to place the fish. Prepare wide and thin slices of fish. A very sharp kitchen knife must be used. You must place pieces of fish on the surface of the roll you just rolled. Try to lay them tightly, but in one layer. If you use only 2 types of fish, alternate its pieces.
- Now use the mat to tighten the fish slices on the rice. Press firmly so that they do not fall when you start cutting the roll.
- Using the same sharp knife, cut the roll into 6 or 8 pieces.
How to decorate?
And how to make rolls at home to make it beautiful?
Ikura (salmon red caviar) is an ideal decoration for such a dish, but you can also try black sesame seeds, finely chopped green onions or something else to your taste. You can also pour teriyaki sauce on your roll, especially if you use eel in cooking.
Having studied this recipe, you can easily understand how to make Philadelphia rolls at home. The principle of their preparation is absolutely identical, only cream cheese and cucumber should be put in the filling, and only salmon slices should be laid on top.
Classic Japanese Tuna Rolls
Sushi rolls, or Hosomaki (hosomaki) are very simple but popular sushi in Japan. Due to the simplicity of the ingredients and the preparation technique, they are very widespread. Hosomaki consists of one main ingredient and is usually wrapped in nori on the outside. They are universally served in restaurants and, of course, can be easily prepared at home. The two most common types of thin rolls are tekkamaki (from tuna) and kappamaki (from cucumber). The first species uses raw tuna, which is red, so it looks expressively on white rice.
Hosomaki is much easier to roll than thick rolls, so they are perfect for beginners. You may need only a couple of times to practice cooking, and you will get an excellent result. So you will need:
- 6 cups rice for sushi (prepared);
- 4 nori leaves, cut in half;
- 120 grams of raw tuna sashimi class.
How to make rolls at home in Japanese?
- Slice the tuna into thin and long strips 5 mm thick.
- Lay the bamboo mat on the countertop with planks from left to right so you can wrap it away from you.
- Place half of the nori sheet on top, near the front edge of the mat.
- Spread about 3/4 cup of rice over the surface of the leaf, leaving an uncoated strip of algae on the opposite edge.
- Place the tuna horizontally in fig.
- Fold the bamboo mat by pushing forward to form a roll.
- Roll from the front end, guiding the mat away from you.
- Tighten and slightly press down with your hands.
- Then remove the mat and remove the roll.
- Repeat with the rest of the rice, tuna and seaweed.
Serve immediately with a Japanese side dish.
Classic California
California rolls are one of the most popular types of Japanese food, and they are credited with popularizing sushi in the world. Usually they are made with rice from the outside, nori from the inside, which makes them more tender. The filling contains crab meat or its imitation, cucumbers and avocados.
There is some debate about where the California rolls were invented. Most experts believe that they were invented by the chef of the Little Tokyo restaurant in Los Angeles in the 1980s. Nevertheless, another Canadian chef claims that he named these rolls "California" because of their popularity among California restaurant guests. The steps below show how to make home rolls of this variety.
Cooking California rolls
You will need a bamboo mat covered with plastic wrap. The twisting technique is simple, but it may take a little practice. Once you master this process, you can create any sushi that you like. For this Japanese dish you will need:
- 1 avocado;
- 3/4 cup of real or imitation crab meat;
- 2 tablespoons mayonnaise;
- half a spoon of tea salt;
- 1 cucumber, peeled;
- 4 sheets of nori;
- 6 cups cooked rice for sushi;
- white sesame seeds.
How to cook "California"?
- Cut the avocado in half, remove the stone.
- Using the tip of a knife, cut the halves of the avocado vertically, and then one more time horizontally down in the middle.
- Mash the resulting slices using a spoon.
- Tear the crab meat into pieces and place in a bowl, mix with mayonnaise and salt.
- Cut the cucumber into strips no more than a centimeter thick.
- Cover the bamboo mat with plastic wrap. Lay a sheet of dried seaweed (half) on top of it. Spread 1/4 of the rice all over the leaf. Sprinkle sesame seeds on rice.
- Using a plastic film, turn the sheet over so that the algae are on top.
- Remove the film and place the avocado, crab meat and cucumbers horizontally on the seaweed.
- Spin the bamboo mat while squeezing the ingredients inside the roll.
- When rolling is finished, push it with your hands, turn the mat around, and then put the roll on the board.
Repeat this process with all the ingredients. Wipe the knife with a damp cloth, cut each roll into 8 rolls.