How to Roll The Perfect Sushi

Mention “Japanese food” and the first thing that comes to mind is sushi. Whether you prefer your sushi cooked or raw, eating sushi is a wonderful and flavourful experience. If you love sushi, then perhaps you’d like to try making it at home?

This will be a fun family bonding activity that everyone would enjoy, plus, you’d get to eat your creations when you’re done! 

Creating the perfect sushi is considered a craft in Japan and Japanese chefs spend their lives mastering this skill but you don’t have to worry too much about technicalities for a fun and stimulating sushi-making experience at home.

A properly rolled sushi is pretty to look at and most importantly, it will not fall apart. In this short article, we’ll show you what you need and how to roll the perfect sushi.

Sushi Anatomy

What you’ll need: Cooked Japanese/Sushi Rice, Nori (Seaweed Sheets), filling of choice (meat, egg or vegetables), a bamboo mat for rolling your sushi or just a clean tea towel.

Place a sheet of nori on top of your bamboo mat or tea towel. The seaweed should be of high quality so that it is not too brittle or too rigid to fold over without breaking. If you’re wondering where you can find the best and most authentic nori that is perfect for sushi, we’d recommend Manjun Yaki Sushi Nori, available in our online store.

Place some sushi rice on top of the nori. Remember to spread it evenly across the surface of the nori. You can easily make your own sushi rice by mixing white rice with a mixture of vinegar, salt and sugar. Feel free to adjust to taste.

Once you have completed this step, place your choice of fillings – whether vegetables, egg or meat – vertically from left to right on the centre of the sushi rice. Then, it’s time to roll!

Sushi rolling tools

As mentioned above, all you need to make your own sushi at home is a bamboo mat or a clean tea towel. If you’re using a bamboo mat, remember to cover the mat with some cling wrap to avoid the nori sticking to the bamboo upon contact.

Sushi rolling technique 

It is important that you do not roll the sushi like you would roll a newspaper. Instead, both ends of the nori will meet to make one complete circle. They will overlap only slightly to keep the shape of the roll. Try not to roll the sushi into a smaller tube such that the overlap takes up almost a quarter of the entire length of the nori.

When the shape has been formed, squeeze the roller gently. This allows the overlapping layers to stick to one another. Finally — cut the sushi into 2 cm pieces and serve with soy sauce and wasabi.

We hope that this article has been useful. Don’t forget to get your sushi supplies at Puri Pangan Utama!