California Nori Rolls

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Recipe submitted by Innisfree icrigger@inreach.com

California Nori Rolls

Ingredients (use vegan versions):

5 1/4 cups sushi rice (or any short-grain, sticky rice)
1 cup rice vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon salt
1 package (ten sheets) nori (a type of seaweed)
vegetables of your choice: cucumbers,
optional: soy sauce substitute, pickled ginger, wasabi (japanese horseradish)

Directions:

(Admin note: some people have suggested using about 1 more cup of water than indicated in this recipe for cooking the rice. Theyve also suggested significan'tly less vinegar and vegan sugar.)

Combine rice with 5 1/2 cups water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes or until water is absorbed. Let cool for at least 10 minutes. In a non-reactive bowl, combine the vinegar, vegan sugar, and salt. Mix until the vegan sugar and salt are dissolved. Drizzle over the rice and gently mix. (You may have to experiment with the amount of vinegar, vegan sugar, and salt that you like.)

Slice the vegetables in long thin strips. I usually use cucumbers, carrots, celery, avocado, red or green peppers and/or green onion. Its nice to have several different colors.

Now you are ready to roll! If you want to, you can use a bamboo mat (available at your local asian grocery) to help you roll, but I have found its fairly easy without one. Lay a sheet of nori out on a large plate or cutting board. Then spread on about 1 1/2 cups rice, pressing firmly until the rice is evenly distributed across the sheet. Leave the edge farthest from you uncovered. Lay the vegetables in a line from left to right across the center of the rice. Now starting with the edge nearest to you, roll up and over enclosing the vegetables. Wetting the far edge helps seal the roll. You should end up with a long roll, with the nori on the outside and the rice and vegetables in the middle. The idea is to get the vegetables in the very center, but I don't worry too much about it. (In Japan, presentation is very important, but I don't have as high of standards.) Repeat with the remaining nine sheets.

To serve, slice crosswise into about eight pieces. I usually eat them with soy sauce with a little wasabi mixed in. Wasabi comes in paste or powdered form, is light green and very hot. Its really good, but be careful at first. My mom likes to eat nori rolls with pickled ginger, which is not as hot, but very tasty.

I usually make a half a recipe, since I'm only feeding two people. The amount you make depends on the number of people and whether you're going to eat the rolls as an appetizer or main course. These rolls are great to bring to parties, as everyone with be impressed with how beautiful and yummy they are. They are also very lowfat. I haven't tried it, but using brown rice would make it more nutritous.

Wonderful! I've been missing these since I left Hawaii, and I'm too tight to go out to get them. I'll try them the next time I go shopping.

Archived comment by: fifer

This sounds like a recipe I might be able to serve to all my family. Both the vegs and the non-vegs. Thank you for submitting it.

Archived comment by: deb

I made these last week with brown rice and they were sooo good!! My 8-year old ate 10 of them. I found that the more rice I used, the better they stayed together, so next time it will be 4 cups of cooked rice for 3 sheets of nori. That will be plenty! Thanks so much for sharing your recipe.

Archived comment by: a.

I've rolled sushi before. Get that mat!!! Its damn near impossible without it.

Archived comment by: laura

This is my familys favorite for twenty something years. I'm alway requested to make it for every day and special occasions. Even fish eating friends enjoy the veggie version. I think the fun part is the Wasabe. Enjoy and know this is the best way to get kids to love seaweed.

Archived comment by: pat

The mat helps, but some waxed paper or plastic wrap is a good substitute. Brown rice workes well, the sticker kinds are better.

Archived comment by: toni

I love to order these in restaurants, but they are kind of expensive. I'm looking forward to trying this for myself. Thanks!

Archived comment by: donna

I always use a magazine to roll sushi

Archived comment by: sarah

I spread a very thin layer of mashed sweet potato on the nori before I put on the rice and vegetables. Adds a great taste and the rolls look very colorful when you cut and serve them.

Archived comment by: marguerite

I tried these using the Nori straight from the package & they turned out with a strong fishy taste & tough to chew. Then a friend told me that you have to warm the Nori first in a skillet (like warming up a tortilla) to eliminate the strong taste & chevegan winess--so now I'm anxious to try them again.

Archived comment by: lou

The nori needs to be toasted first. The easiest way is hold it over a gas flame until it becomes greener. An electric burner will work too.

Archived comment by: nancy

FYI In Japanese culture, for happy occasions use an odd number of ingredients in the middle filling, and for occasions such as funerals, etc., even number.

Archived comment by: liz

This is just a suggestion to do with the rice. When im cooling off the rice, i spread it out onto a cookie sheet. This makes it cool much quicker and easier to handle the rice, cutting it into slices for each roll.

Archived comment by: janine

Here is my recipe for perfect vinegar seasoning for sushi rice: 1/2 cup rice vinegar (unseasoned), 1 TBS vegetable oil, 4 TBS white vegan sugar, and 1 tsp salt. When combining the vinegar mixture to the hot rice, the rice will be very wet. Dont worry about this, keep stirring and it will dry as the rice cools. You may ahve to experiment with the rice proportion to vinegar mixture. I promise this is yummy... good luck!!

Archived comment by: hipflygirl

I'm always making avocado rolls and I never have to actually prepare sushi rice. If you just buy medium grain calrose rice (just look in the international foods section of the grocery store if you can't find it in with the regular rice) it works perfectly. No need for extra ingredients or extra time!

Archived comment by: roth

Possible veggies are cucumbers, thin carrot slices (if you want some bright color), avocado, and jîcama slices.

Archived comment by: veggie1

Have a question for anybody willing to answer... I've been a vegetarian for over ten years, but a newbie to making these California rolls. My question is this: Are Nori sheets the sweet tasting kind? I had a great rice and vegetable roll at a Japanese restaurant and thought they were rice sheets. Want to be sure I buy the right kind (already have the bamboo rolling mats). Any help is greatly appreciated!! Thanks, Bridget

Archived comment by: bridgetB

I made hummous sushi the other day. Yum. Just like the usual way of making sushi but spread a line of thick homemade hummous along with the sliced veggies. It still goes well with tamari. I didn't have any wasabi at the time but I'm sure it wouldn't clash with it either.

Archived comment by: julien

This may be silly, but how well do you wash the rice? I rub & rinse until the water is clear, but I think it may stay stickier if I didn't wash is quite so much.

Archived comment by: tvegan

Bridget: No. Nori is a black seaweed. It has a rather strong fish flavor and is a must for this recipe. Not sure what seaweed you had that was sweet, but I'm certain it wasn't nori.

Archived comment by: nosf3ratu