The California Roll is a simple type of Japanese sushi that uses seaweed sheets (nori), sushi rice, crab meat and avocado. The roll is made with the rice on the outside, which can be challenging to do. Once you learn how to make a California roll, you can change the ingredients and try other techniques to make many different kinds of Japanese sushi rolls.

Video: How to Make Japanese Sushi – The California Roll

In this video, we show you how to make a California Roll.

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Ingredients

• Medium grain / sushi rice
• Imitation crab meat
• Avocado
• Cucumber
• Sushi seasoning — To make your own, simmer these together:
  • 2-parts white vinegar
  • 1-part white sugar
  • pinch of salt
  • (optional) mirin or cooking rice wine
• Seaweed for sushi – half size
• Bamboo sushi mat
• Plastic wrap
• (optional) Fried onions
• (optional) spicy mayo or unagi sauce

Almost all of the ingredients will be found only at Asian grocery stores. We like to visit the Korean H-Mart, which we’re lucky to have just a few minutes away. Another supermarket that specializes in Japanese products is Mitsuwa Marketplace.

Directions

Sushi Seasoning

• Add vinegar, sugar and salt to a pot.
• Bring to a low boil, stirring continously
• Once the sugar is fully dissolved, remove from heat and let cool.

Sushi Rice

• Measure your rice. For rice cookers, use the cup that is supplied.
• In the pot, wash the rice. Add water, then stir, drain and repeat. Rinse 3~4 times.
• NOTE: after the first drain, you can save the rice water to use for soups.
• Soak the rice 20~30 minutes in water for best results.
• RICE COOKERS:
  • For rice cookers, fill with water to the proper line, i.e. if you added three cups, fill to the ‘3’ line on the pot.
  • Close the lid and set to cook. If you have a ‘sushi rice’ or glutenous rice’ option, use that.
  • STOVETOP:
    • For stovetop, press your hand on the rice and add water until water goes over your first knuckle. You can also use your index finger, touching the rice. If the water is at your first knuckle, it should be enough.
    • Simmer the rice for about 15 minutes.
    • Remove from heat and let it rest 10 minutes.
• Pour in a little bit of sushi seasoning into the rice and mix thoroughly with a rice paddle. The rice should have some stickiness. Don’t add so much seasoning that it becomes ‘wet’.

Other ingredients

• Cucumber – Peel and slice into thin strips. Cut the seeds out and pat dry.
• Avocado – Cut open and peel. Cut into thin slices, about 2~3 slices per roll.

Sushi rolling

• Bamboo roller – Wrap the bamboo roller in plastic wrap, wrapping around so it’s fully covered all around.
• Lay the wrapped bamboo roller on a board, then place a half-sheet of seaweed ‘nori’ on the roller.
• Add a scoop of rice to the seaweed. With the rice paddle, distribute the rice evenly across the whole sheet of seaweed.
• Spread rice a little beyond the bottom half of the seaweed.
• Lift the rice/seaweed sheet and flip it over, so the seaweed if facing up. Don’t worry, it will stay intact. The part with extra rice should be towards the front, away from you.
• Place avocado slices, a cucumber slice and crab meat. Place ingredients on the bottom quarter of the sheet, closer to you.
• Lift up the bottom of the bamboo roll, taking the sushi/seaweed and ingredients together.
• Roll everything over until the bottom of the sheet/roll meets the other side. Hold everything together and squeeze towards you. Squeezing is important! A loose roll will fall apart when you try to cut it.
• Lift the bamboo forward, so it doesn’t become part of the roll. Continue rolling forward, squeezing the roll with the bamboo roller. Continue until the roll is complete.
• Find the seam side of the roll and place the roll, seam-side down, on your cutting board.
• If the rice in the roll is still hot, let it cool down a little.

Cutting the Sushi roll

• With a sharp knife, moisten the blade and your fingers with water. This prevents rice from sticking to the knife or your hand.
• Slice the roll in half. Use a sawing motion, don’t try to chop down.
• Take the two halves and repeat, cutting each half into quarters, then repeat until you have eight evenly-sized slices.

Plating the sushi roll

• On a long plate, place the first piece so it’s rotated at 45º on the plate axis.
• Place the next piece, at the same 45º rotation. The center of the pieces should line up.
• Continue for the rest of the pieces.
• If you like, sprinkle fried onions over the sushi roll pieces. Add sauces over the roll.

If you want to learn how to make Korean version of sushi rolls (kimbab), visit our post on Kimbab (김밥) Korean ‘sushi’ rice rolls.