Below you will find recipes for medium-sized sushi rolls  —  makizushi  —  filled with different types of ingredients.

You may serve these rolls as a part of sashimi and sushi assortment, accompanied by Japanese soy sauce and wasabi paste. For every diner, set a small individual cup in which they can mix their own soy sauce and wasabi dip.

VEGETABLE SUSHI ROLLS

½ portion of sushi rice
2 nori seaweed sheets (about 20 × 20 cm in size)
½ portion of tamagoyaki omelette, unrolled
½ large or 1 small carrot
½ tbsp sugar
2 - 3 shiitake mushrooms
about 4 green beans or 50 g fresh spinach

50 ml water
1 tbsp Japanese "Kikkoman" soy sauce
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp white wine

Cook the beans (or parboil the spinach) in salted water until tender. Immediately transfer to cold water in order to stop cooking. Cut the carrot lengthwise in long, thin strips and cook in the sugar until tender. Cut the mushrooms in 1 cm pieces and briefly cook in the cooking liquid. Cut the tamagoyaki in long, thin strips.

Lightly toast one side of a nori sheet by holding it over a hot stove plate with barbecue tongs. Place the sheet, with the shiny side down, on a bamboo mat  —  makisu  —  or a towel and cover about 1/3 of it with a 1 cm thick layer of sushi rice (see figure 1). Place half of the omelette and the vegetable strips and pieces lengthwise on the centre of the rice layer (see figure 2).

	Figure 1		Figure 2
	Figure 3		Figure 4

With the help of the bamboo mat, roll up the nori with the filling, like in making a jelly roll (see figures 3 and 4). Press firmly to seal. Cut the sushi roll in 6 to 8 slices using a sharp knife dipped in vinegar before every cut.

Repeat with the second nori sheet and the rest of the rice and the filling.
Makes 2 sushi rolls, about 12 - 16 slices.

Recipe source: "Makizushi", Yamada-Alho, M. (1992) Japanilainen keittokirja. Espoo: Weilin+Göös.

SMOKED FISH ROLLS

For these maki rolls, I use tiny smoked Baltic sprats canned in sunflower oil (see the pictures on right).

In lack of smoked Baltic sprats, use some other smoked fish product similar to them. You can also use smoked salmon, either hot-smoked or cold-smoked.

¼ portion of sushi rice
1 nori seaweed sheet (about 20 × 20 cm in size)
3 - 6 smoked Baltic sprats
small amount of peeled, fresh cucumber, cut into thin strips

Prepare the sushi roll by filling the nori sheet as described in the recipe for vegetable sushi above, using the sprats and cucumber sticks instead of vegetables and tamagoyaki.

With the amount of ingredients given in this recipe, you may also prepare two thin sushi rolls  —  hosomaki  —  instead of one medium-sized roll. Do this by cutting the nori sheet in two lengthwise and fill the halves.
Makes 1 medium sushi roll, about 6 - 8 slices, or two hosomaki rolls, about 12 - 16 slices.

Recipe source: family recipe.

CALIFORNIA ROLLS

Below is described one way of preparing California sushi rolls, popular in the United States, where they were invented. They are inside-out rolls  —  uramaki  —  meaning that the sushi rice is rolled outside the seaweed sheet.

In picture on right, from top left to bottom: slices of pink Japanese pickled ginger, green wasabi paste, slices of California roll (hosomaki), slices of smoked fish roll (hosomaki)

½ portion of sushi rice
2 nori seaweed sheets (about 20 × 20 cm in size)
cooked crabmeat or surimi sticks (imitation crabmeat)
1 ripe avocado
¼ peeled, fresh hothouse cucumber, cut into thin strips
(black or roasted white sesame seeds or vendace roe)

Cut the surimi sticks in half lengthwise or cut or shred the crabmeat in smaller strips or pieces. Halve the avocado, remove the seed and detach the flesh from the skin. Cut the flesh in long, thin strips.

Prepare the sushi rolls by first covering the bamboo mat  —  makisu  —  with a sheet of plastic wrap. Place the lightly toasted nori sheet on the plastic and cover about ¾ of it with a 1 cm thick layer of sushi rice.

To decorate the rice, you can sprinkle it with sesame seeds or vendace roe, or use the more authentic flying fish roe (tobiko) or smelt roe (masago). (Outside the Nordic countries, vendace roe can sometimes be found sold under the name "golden caviar".)

Cover the rice layer with another sheet of plastic wrap. With the help of the bottom plastic wrap, lift the nori sheet with the filling and turn it over, so that the rice side faces the bamboo mat. Remove the top plastic wrap and place the crabmeat and the vegetables at the lower end of the nori sheet.

With the help of the bamboo mat and the plastic wrap, roll up the nori with the filling, like in making a jelly roll, and press firmly to seal. Cut the sushi roll in 6 to 8 slices using a sharp knife dipped in vinegar before every cut. Repeat with the second nori sheet and the rest of the rice and the filling.
Makes 2 sushi rolls, about 12 - 16 slices.

Recipe source: family recipe.