Makizushi (Rolled sushi)

Makes 5 sushi rolls

This lends itself to much variety and personal taste. 

Make Sushi Rice. While it's cooking, prepare your fillings.

Sushi Fillings

Cucumber – 

Slice in ½ and then lengthwise in rectangles. You don’t need to peel the cucumber. Usually the seeds are not used.

Cucumber and Tamagoyaki -

Prepare cucumbers like I described above. Make a tamagoyaki, and after it is cooled, cut into about 1 cm square lengths.

Tuna and lettuce – 

Drain 1 can of tuna and mix with mayonnaise to moisten and hold it together. Add a little wasabi and/or chopped green onions (negi) if you like.

Wash and dry a piece of green leaf lettuce. 

Fried chicken tenders (sasami) and lettuce –

Cut chicken tenders in half, lengthwise.

For 3 tenders, marinate in:

1 t sake
1 t soy sauce
½ t ginger paste

Put 3 T flour in a disposable plastic bag. Add the marinated tenders and shake bag to coat them.

Put 1 egg in a wide bowl and mix it. Dip the tenders, one at a time, in the egg.  

Put ½ C panko (Japanese bread crumbs) in a disposable plastic bag. Shake the tenders, one at a time, in the bread crumbs to coat.

Heat about 1 cm of canola or grapeseed oil in a small frying pan. When the oil is hot, turn the fire to low and add 3 of the tenders, making sure they are straight in the pan. (To test the oil temperature, put the end of a wooden chopstick in the oil. When the oil is the right temperature, the oil on the chopstick will bubble.)

Cook until golden brown on one side, gently turn and cook the other side until golden. Drain on a rack over newspaper.

Wash and dry a piece of green leaf lettuce.

For one sushi roll, include tender, 1 torn piece of lettuce to fit the nori, and 1 thin line of mayonnaise.

Natto – 

One pack of natto mixed with soy sauce and karashi (hot mustard) - or however you like it.

Boiled shrimp – 

Straighten the shrimp out to make a line across the rice. Add a thin line of wasabi beside the shrimp before you roll the sushi.

Raw tuna – 

Cut tuna into long 1cm square pieces. Place on the rice. Add a thin line of wasabi beside the tuna before rolling.

Raw salmon with onion and avocado -

Cut long 1cm square pieces of salmon, being sure to cut across the grain of the fish.
Cut thin avocado slices.
Use a vegetable slicer to slice some onion paper-thin. (Use the sweeter, summer onions if you can get them.)
Mayonnaise
Wasabi

Gyudon-style beef

Prepare a small amount of Gyudon, then chop it into small pieces. 

To make a rolled sushi
Lay your bamboo sushi mat on your working surface. (I usually put it inside a large zip-lock bag for easier clean-up.)

Place a piece of sushi nori on the mat, shiny side down.

Cover the nori with a 1 cm layer of sushi rice, leaving about 2 cm at the far end with no rice. Use a spoon or rice scooper that you keep in a bowl of salt-water to serve the rice with. This will keep the rice from sticking to the utensil.

Add your choice of ingredients from the list above. Place your fillings about ⅓ from the bottom edge of the rice, lengthwise. Carefully lift the sushi mat to roll the sushi away from you towards the empty part of the nori. Roll it carefully so the nori doesn’t fold or crumble. It should be rolled fairly tightly. Dip your finger in a little water or soy sauce and use the liquid to seal the open end of the nori to the roll.

Use the bamboo mat to shape your sushi into a firm round roll. Set aside, seam side down.

Continue making sushi according to that method until 5 rolls are made. There should be just enough rice. When using several ingredients, be sure to hold them so they don’t tumble as you roll the sushi. When I make the gyudon roll, I hold the gyudon in place with a butter knife as I start to roll the sushi.

When all the rolls are made, slice them with a damp, clean, sharp knife. Slice each roll into 8 tidy pieces. (If you want it to be more professional looking, cut the ends off first.) Clean and dampen the knife as needed, so the rice doesn’t stick to it. Lay the sushi attractively on a platter. If you are like me, and don't want to spend so much time slicing, an easier way is to slice the rolls in half along a diagonal. I did that with the rolls in the photo below.

Serve with pickled ginger, wasabi, and soy sauce.

Click this link to buy a Bamboo sushi mat from Amazon.