Rolls: Homemade Recipe

Prepare all the ingredients for homemade rolls. I have used lightly salted trout, which can be bought in the store or salted yourself. I took professional rice for rolls, which is sold in Asian food sections. But you can also use regular round-grain white rice. The main thing is that it has a high enough gluten content. Long-grain or parboiled rice will not work in this case. Soy sauce, wasabi, and ginger are optional and only used for serving the rolls.

Start by preparing the rice. Properly cooked rice is the basis for perfect rolls. Professional rice for rolls is cooked in special rice cookers. At home, people often use pressure cookers and multicookers. But in this recipe, I will show you how to cook rice for rolls in a regular pot. The first thing you need to do is to rinse the rice very thoroughly under cold running water. It's best to change the water at least three times. Put the well-rinsed rice in a pot.

Add cold water, cover with a lid, and cook the rice over medium heat for 10 minutes. Pay attention to the ratio of rice to water. It is crucial to be precise as it determines the final result. If you use a different amount of rice, remember the formula: 100% rice to 115-120% water.

The water should be fully absorbed by the rice. Remove the pot from the heat.

Remove the lid from the pot. Cover the pot with a clean cotton towel and tightly secure the lid again. Leave the rice for 15-20 minutes. This allows the rice to fully cook. The towel is necessary to absorb the steam and condensation.

Prepare the dressing for the rice. Pour warm, but not hot, water into a container. Add rice vinegar, sugar, and salt. Mix everything well until the sugar and salt are completely dissolved in the water. Note that only rice vinegar is used for rolls. It has a very low acidity percentage, and it should not be replaced with any other type of vinegar.

Pour the dressing into the rice and gently stir it with a wooden or plastic spoon. The dressing should completely cover each grain of rice. Take your time and be careful not to turn the rice into mush. This amount of rice is calculated for 5 sheets of nori.

Prepare the fish for rolls. Slice the fish into thin strips.

Peel the avocado and remove the pit. Cut the avocado into long rectangular strips. In this recipe, you can substitute avocado with cucumber.

Assemble the rolls. Wrap the bamboo mat tightly with plastic wrap. Place a sheet of nori on the bamboo mat with the smooth side facing down. Create a rectangular strip of rice on top.

Place slices of avocado and cream cheese in the middle of the rice strip. The easiest way to add cream cheese is with a piping bag or a sturdy plastic bag with a corner cut off. Place strips of fish on top.

Roll the sushi using the bamboo mat. The rice and filling should be inside the nori. Take your time and carefully fold the edge of the bamboo mat, continuously rolling the sushi (watch the process in the video).

Slice the roll into several pieces using a sharp knife.

Serve the rolls, garnished with ginger, soy sauce, or wasabi. Homemade rolls are ready. Enjoy your meal!