Simple Homemade Sushi Rolls
Rolled sushi you can make at home with everyday fillings — cucumber, avocado, egg and cooked fillings. No raw fish required. These are maki-style rolls, the kind Japanese families put together on a weeknight from whatever the fridge holds. The rice is what actually decides the outcome: season it properly and cool it to room temperature, and the rolling looks after itself.
Prep time30 min
Cook time20 min
Total time50 min
Servings4 servings
DifficultyMedium
Ingredients
- 2 cups sushi rice
- 2 1/2 cups water
- 3 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 4 nori sheets
- 1 cucumber, cut into sticks
- 1 avocado, sliced
- 2 eggs, cooked into a thin omelette
- Soy sauce and pickled ginger, to serve
Instructions
- 1Rinse the rice in cold water, changing the water 4-5 times, until it runs almost clear. This washes off the surface starch that would otherwise cook into a sticky mass.
- 2Cook the rice with the measured water, then take it off the heat and let it stand covered for 10 minutes so the grains firm up.
- 3Tip the hot rice into a wide, shallow dish. Pour over the vinegar, sugar and salt and fold it through gently with a spatula, cutting down through the rice rather than stirring, while it cools to room temperature.
- 4Place a nori sheet shiny-side down on a bamboo mat. Wet your hands and spread a thin, even layer of rice, leaving a 2cm strip bare along the top edge.
- 5Lay a row of cucumber, avocado and omelette across the middle. Keep it narrow — a thin row rolls into a neat circle, a thick one bursts open.
- 6Use the mat to roll it up firmly, tucking the filling back with your fingertips as the front edge comes over, then pull the mat tight around the finished roll to set the shape.
- 7Wet a sharp knife and slice the roll into 8 pieces, wiping the blade clean between cuts so the rice does not drag.
- 8Serve cut-side up with soy sauce and pickled ginger.
Tips
- Wet your hands and the knife to stop the rice from sticking.
- Don't overfill — a small row of filling rolls the neatest.
- Chill the rice until room temperature; hot rice makes the nori soggy.
- If the nori cracks as you roll, the rice layer is too thick. Aim for a single grain layer, thin enough that you can still see the dark nori through it.
- Cooked rice is a food-safety risk: refrigerate what you do not eat within an hour and finish it within a day rather than leaving it out.
