California rolls are basic yet delicious rolls that can familiarize you with making sushi at home. Making sushi at hom
e isn’t difficult, yet it gets better and easier with practice. For the best results we recommend using the freshest ingredients, but regardless of how it looks it will be great.
We include a few tricks and suggest keeping bowls of both hot and cold water readily available to properly handle the rice and nori as you roll and cut the sushi. Be sure to prepare the rice with vinegar (recipe link below) for this makes it stickier (and we can’t recommend a rice cooker enough!).
While spreading out the rice on the nori be gentle to not break the kernels. Another trick is make sure you lay out it evenly and not too thick because this will take away from the flavor of the fresh King crab and avocado.
Lastly, as you are rolling it up be careful that you do not create too much pressure and burst a hole in the nori. This is why we suggest using a sudare for it applies pressure more evenly. Being able to roll without one takes a lot of practice.
We recommend these rolls as an appetizer for any dinner, or even as a snack!
Rolls:
1 avocado, in 1/8-inch lengthwise slices
3 tbsps fresh lemon juice
Six 8 x 7-inch sheets of asakusa nori
3 cups vinegared rice
1 tbsp wasabi powder, combined with 1 tbsp cold water (let sit ten minutes before serving)
3/4 lb Alaskan king crab leg meat, cooked
1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
Sauce:
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tbsps rice vinegar
2 tbsps rice wine
Immediately after preparing the avocado, gently toss it with the lemon juice in a small bowl to keep it from browning in the air. Dry roast each sheet of asakusa nori over direct heat, holding it at opposite corners with tongs and waving it back and forth over the burner, for 30 seconds, or until it turns green.
Lay a dry sudare (a bamboo mat used for rolling sushi and other foods) on a work surface so that the slats run horizontally. Put a piece of the nori on the sudare with one of the rough (or shorter) edges facing you. With cold water dampened fingers, evenly spread 1/2 a cup vinegared rice onto it, leaving a 1-inch border along the top, other rough edge.
Spread a small bit of the wasabi paste horizontally across the rice and about 1-inch from the rough edge of the nori closest to you. Be sure to use the wasabi paste sparingly as it is very hot. Then arrange 3 avocado slices overlapping slightly in a horizontal line over the wasabi paste and top them with one sixth of the crab meat. (See first image for example.)
Grasp the rough edge of the nori and mat closest to you and gently begin working the nori and the mat up and over, beginning to roll it onto itself. Roll the nori evenly and tightly away from you, pressing down slightly with each quarter turn (again, being careful not to burst a hole in the nori).
Seal the roll by using a finger dipped in cool water to moisten the far free edge of the nori and pressing the seam closed. Transfer the roll to a cutting board. Make 5 more rolls in the same manner.
With a serrated knife dipped in hot water, trim the ends of the rolls and cut each roll crosswise into six 1-inch sections. When cutting, rather than pressing down into the roll we suggest using actual back-and-forth cutting motions to keep the shape of the roll intact. (See second image for example.)
Make the sauce:
In a small serving bowl combine the soy sauce, the vinegar, and the rice wine.
Arrange the rolls cut side up decoratively on a platter, sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds and serve them with the sauce.
