Green Veggie Maki

A delicious inside out sushi roll decorated with sesame seeds and featuring arugula, avocado, and cucumber on the inside.

Have you ever made sushi?

In Japan, it can take as much as ten years for a sushi chef to gain the knowledge, skill, and reputation required to make amazing sushi for others. But I promise that with a little time and practice, you can test your novice sushi rolling skills and enjoy delicious sushi at home for pennies.

I think sushi is a form of art. A delectable art.

And like most art, the art of making sushi requires precision, skill, and specific tools. So let’s start with some sushi basics. You’re going to need a few basic items to ensure your sushi rolling success. They are:

• a sushi mat
• plastic wrap
• a sharp knife
• nori
• seasoned sushi rice
• water and paper towel
• fresh ingredients
• patience and forgiveness

First, you need a sushi rolling mat. There are different tricks you can use to get around using one; so if you want to use an alternative method, go for it. But sushi mats are relatively inexpensive and last a very long time if you take care of it. In fact, I’ve been using the same two bamboo sushi rolling mats for years. I keep them in a ziploc bag with my chopsticks to keep them clean when not in use. A sushi rolling mat is comprised of several long thin pieces of bamboo sewn together with twine to make a very flexible mat.

Most large grocery stores carry sushi mats in the ethnic or Asian food section. This is where you’ll more than likely find all of your sushi needs, including medium grain sushi rice, nori, pickled ginger, and wasabi. If you can’t find one in your area, you can purchase a sushi mat online for $5 on Amazon or Walmart. You can even get silicon mats now with sushi cutting guides on Amazon. I love seeing clever options available for home sushi rollers.

Plastic wrap is essential in sushi rolling. The bamboo mat provides you with maximum flexibility while rolling your sushi. The plastic wrap prevents the bamboo mat from getting gross from all that sticky rice, sesame seed, and filling that inevitably falls out from the side when you roll it up snug. The spaces in between those little pieces of bamboo allow a lot of little pieces of food that can prove difficult to clean. To keep things simple, I recommend using plastic wrap. Trust me on this.

You need a very sharp knife to cut six or eight pieces of sushi. It depends on how tall you want each piece of sushi. The choice is yours. But tin order to cut clean straight sushi pieces, you need a very sharp knife. If your knife isn’t sharp, your sushi will tear and won’t look very nice. And with sushi, presentation is everything. We are eating with our eyes just as much as our taste buds. So be careful when you’re wielding that knife – it should be very sharp. It also helps to wet your knife before every slice. I use a wet paper towel to keep things simple.

Nori is a sheet of toasted seaweed used to wrap the sushi roll or “maki”. Maki is the Japanese word for roll. You probably already know this but I feel it is important to lay the foundation just in case someone isn’t as familiar with these terms or ingredients.

You can use the full sheet to make fat rolls or break it in half to make regular rolls. Fat rolls or “futomaki” are bigger and allow you to add more filling. Thin rolls or “hosimaki” are smaller in diameter since you’re only using half a sheet of nori. Obviously, you aren’t going to be able to fill the maki with as many ingredients. It depends greatly on what you’re adding to your maki and personal preference. For a simple maki like this Green Veggie Maki recipe, I use a half sheet of nori.

Seasoned sushi rice is the basic element of any maki. You should use medium grain sushi rice. I cook 1 cup of sushi rice with 1 1/4 cups of water for 4 minutes in the Instant Pot or pressure cooker. After the pressure releases naturally, I add in 2 Tbsp rice vinegar, 1 Tbsp agave or maple syrup, and a dash of salt. Then I cover the sushi rice with a wet paper towel to keep it from drying out.

If you haven’t worked with it before, sushi rice is super sticky. It contains a lot of starch and is incredible in sushi. For this reason, I keep a wet paper towel and a small bowl of water handy. Simply wet your fingers before spreading the rice on your nori to keep it from sticking to your fingers. This keeps the rice on the nori where it belongs.

As mentioned earlier, the sushi rice also sticks to the knife’s edge. So, I recommend wiping the edge of your knife with the wet paper towel before every single slice. It makes a world of difference.

Fresh Ingredients – There are so many different sushi combinations. Honestly, the possibilities are only limited by your imagination and available ingredients. This Green Veggie Maki is a very straight forward and simple sushi roll. Sometimes simple is best.

This Green Veggie Maki is an inside-out sushi roll with the rice on the outside of the nori. A little sesame seeds can be sprinkled on the rice. Then, flip your nori on the opposite side so that the rice is facing down on the sushi mat. Carefully lay your arugula, avocado, and cucumber evenly in a line across one end of the nori half sheet. Then roll it up!

Exercise patience and forgiveness with yourself. Just like anything worthwhile, sushi rolling takes time and practice. It can be extremely stressful if you aren’t satisfied with anything less than perfection. So be gentle with yourself as you learn how to roll your sushi and figure out what works and what doesn’t work for you; but most of all, enjoy the process.

After all, it is food. And remember this, all imperfections will be erased when the evidence is eaten. So have fun with it!

Ingredients

• Seasoned sushi rice*
• 4 sheets of nori, broken or cut in half
• 1 cup arugula or spinach or baby chard
• 1 half cucumber, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 half avocado, sliced
• 2 green onions, thinly sliced
• 1-2 Tbsp sesame seeds

Instructions

1. Wrap a sushi mat with a long piece of saran wrap and fold the edges around to seal it nicely.
2. Lay one half sheet of nori shiny side down** on the plastic wrapped bamboo sushi mat.***
3. Set a small bowl with a wet paper towel and a little water next to your mat.
4. Wet your fingers on the paper towel and place about ½ cup of sushi rice in an even layer across the nori sheet. 
5. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.
6. Carefully flip the nori over so that the rice-sesame side is now facing down.
7. About half an inch from the edge, lay arugula in a line from end to end.
8. Now lay thin uniform slices of cucumber and avocado along the arugula.
9. Sprinkle with green onions.
10. Using the sushi mat and both hands, start rolling from the bottom of the roll, tucking the edge of the roll to fully enclose the filling.
11. Once you reach the end, use the mat to rotate the roll inside to make sure you have an even and consistent sushi roll.
12. Now use the wet paper towel to wipe the edge of a sharp knife.
13. Slice your sushi roll into 6 of 8 equal pieces.  Cut it in half first, then cut each half in thirds or fourths.  I like to cut the uneven ends off and make six nice size pieces. As you get better at this process, you’ll gain a preference.
14. Wipe the knife with your wet paper towel in between each cut; otherwise you will have to apologize for saying bad words when the rice sticks to your knife and won’t make clean cuts.
15. Place your sushi on a serving dish and repeat using the remaining ingredients. You should have four maki or sushi rolls three. Enjoy with soy sauce, pickled ginger and wasabi.

Notes

• * To make sushi rice, combine 1 cup of medium grain sushi rice and 1¼ cup water in an instant pot on high for 4 minutes. After it naturally releases, add in 2 Tbsp rice vinegar, 1 Tbsp agave or maple syrup, and a dash of salt.  Keep covered with wet paper towel. 
• This recipe makes about 8 half rolls, depending how much rice you use on each roll.
• To make a full roll, spread 1 cup of rice across a full nori sheet and proceed per instructions.
• ** Sushi Golden Rule: the shiny side of nori is always placed on the outside of the sushi.
• *** If you don’t have sushi mat, you can try using a thick kitchen towel. Place a piece of saran wrap on top and place your nori shiny side down.  Proceed with the instructions.