Sushi Rolls Recipe Series

For the sushi lovers, I am delivering my Sushi Rolls Recipe Series over the next several weeks. You will learn how to make the 4 different types of sushi rolls that are the most popular in Australia and the US.

I posted Take Away Sushi Rolls some time ago, but I could only demonstrate one example of how to roll sushi in my recipe. So, I decided to post a series of recipes for sushi rolls. In each post I pick up one type of sushi filling, explain to you how to make it and show you in a video.

Popular Sushi Ranking

According to a website that is specialising in sushi, the most popular types of sushi in Australia are:

• #1 The Classic California Roll
• #2 The Tempura Prawn Roll
• #3 The Spicy Tuna Roll
• #4 The Refreshing Salmon Avocado Roll
• #5 The Dragon Roll
• #6 The Veggie Delight Roll
• #7 The Unagi Roll
• #8 The Philadelphia Roll

The most popular types of sushi in USA are pretty similar to the Australian favourites:

• #1 The Classic California Roll
• #2 The Spicy Tuna Rol
• #3 The Philadelphia Roll
• #4 The Dragon Roll
• #5 The Nigiri Salmon
• #6 The Rainbow Roll
• #7 The Kappa Maki
• #8 The Tempura Prawn Roll

As a comparison, I listed the top 6 popular types of sushi in Japan:

• #1 Ōtoro (fatty tuna)
• #2 Salmon
• #3 Chūtoro (medium fatty tuna)
• #4 Tuna akami (red meat tuna)
• #5 Prawn
• #6 Kingfish hamachi (young kingfish).

You might notice that the popular types of sushi in Japan are all nigiri sushi, while Australian and American people prefer sushi rolls. Japanese people are used to eating raw fish and they think nigiri sushi is the ultimate way of appreciating fresh raw fish with vinegared rice. On the other hand, the fillings of many of the sushi rolls in the Australian and US lists don’t even have raw fish.

Inside-out Sushi Roll

Traditional sushi restaurants serve sushi rolls as well. But they are wrapped in yaki nori (roasted seaweed sheet) as you can see in my Norimaki recipe. Most of the top 5 sushi rolls in Australia and the US are inside-out sushi rolls with the rice on the outside and yaki nori on the inside.

The inside-out sushi roll is called uramaki (裏巻き). The word ura (裏) means back or reverse side. Because the reverse side (ura) becomes the outside of the roll, you call it uramaki.

The food wrapped in a black sheet (yaki nori) was unfamiliar with Western people. By hiding it inside the roll, it certainly became more attractive to them.

Some Japanese people say it is outrageous to call the California Roll ‘sushi’. They sometimes even get upset to see it. But I guess food culture evolves and there must be a valid reason why California Rolls are so popular. Even in Japan these days, young people like California Rolls.

It is probably not an exaggeration to say that the sushi boom may never have come without the introduction of California Rolls. But please note that you won’t find California Rolls at very traditional sushi restaurants in Japan.

Starting from today’s recipe (separate post), I will be posting the following 4 sushi roll recipes.

California Roll (today’s recipe)

The oldest Westernised inside-out sushi rolls, the fillings consist of crab-flavoured fish cake sticks, avocado, and cucumber. Roasted sesame seeds are often scattered on the outside of the roll.

Tempura Prawn Roll

Tempura prawns and shredded cucumber with a small amount of mayonnaise are rolled in rice. This is also an uramaki sushi roll.

Spicy Tuna Roll

This is one of the sushi rolls in this Sushi Rolls Recipe Series that uses raw fish. The filling consists of raw tuna, green onion, white sesame seeds, and sriracha. This is also an uramaki sushi roll.

Salmon Avocado Roll

This sushi roll is not an uramaki (inside-out) roll. The rice is filled with a strip of raw salmon and avocado, and wrapped in yaki nori. This is the only sushi roll in the series that is not uramaki.

Yumiko