Features of making homemade rolls. TOP 5 best recipes with different fillings and sauces, which are indistinguishable from restaurant ones. Video recipes.
Rolls are a traditional Japanese dish made from boiled rice and seafood. Additionally, vegetables can be added to them, and when decorated, caviar or sesame seeds are used. They are served with various sauces and dressings. The dish is made very quickly and easily, the main thing is to properly cook the rice and select high-quality ingredients. Usually, rolls, like sushi, are served in a Japanese restaurant, but we will consider how to cook rolls at home so that they do not differ from the purchased ones.
Features of making homemade rolls
Rolls or sushi rolls are a European variation of the traditional Japanese sushi dish. Their main feature is that the rice is turned inside out, and the filling is wrapped inside nori leaves, while in sushi the filling is placed on top of the rice.
Traditional sushi appeared in southeast Asia in the last millennium. Initially, it was a way of harvesting fish. It was placed in a deep vat and laid in layers of rice, after which it was watered with marinade. Only fish was used for food, and rice was thrown away, so this method of pickling was practiced exclusively by wealthy people. This marinated fish was called "sushi", from this word the name of the modern dish has gone. Poor people used to eat everything: fish and rice, therefore, oddly enough, sushi used to be considered the food of poor Japanese fishermen, although now they are served in the most elite restaurants.
The beginning of the "journey" of land around the world was in 1923, when a huge earthquake struck Tokyo. In the hope of saving themselves from the elements, many Japanese began to move to other countries, so the recipe for their traditional dish was brought to the United States and Europe. It was in the USA in 1973 that the first roll recipe was invented. Its author was a Japanese man who worked as a chef in a Los Angeles restaurant. He wanted to surprise his customers with a new original dish, so he decided to use a combination of tuna and avocado as the filling, and during the formation of the roll he performed all the actions the other way around, that is, he put the filling not on rice, but wrapped it inside. This is how rolls appeared on his menu, which eventually received the name "California".
In modern cuisine, this dish has become very popular largely due to the low calorie content of the rolls. So, sushi rolls with squid contain only 71 kcal, and with tuna - 73 kcal. And due to the presence of seafood and vegetables in the dish, it is also rich in vitamins B, E, potassium, phosphorus, iron and copper. In the course of a number of studies, it has been found that regular consumption of them in food minimizes the risk of developing lung cancer. But there are certain restrictions for people prone to food allergies, even the simplest rolls with fish can provoke the development of allergic reactions.
Before starting to study the recipes, let's consider the main composition of the rolls. It includes:
- Rice … Nishiki is the most suitable, but this variety is very expensive. In principle, you can use any rice for rolls, the main thing is to cook it correctly. Initially, it needs to be rinsed with ice water to make it completely transparent. Then it is filled with water in a ratio of 1: 2 and placed on the stove. After boiling, the heat is reduced, and the rice is cooked under a tightly closed lid for 12-15 minutes. After that, turn off the stove, and keep the rice covered for another 10 minutes to reach.
- Refueling … As you may have noticed, the rice was not salted during cooking, this was done on purpose, because when it is infused, you need to pour a special vinegar liquid into it, which will give the porridge a characteristic taste, aroma and viscosity. To prepare the dressing, you must mix 1 tbsp. rice vinegar, 1/4 tablespoon sugar and 0.5 teaspoons of salt. The mixture is heated over low heat until the bulk products are completely dissolved. To make delicious rolls, rice for them must be seasoned with a vinegar mixture and wrapped in a blanket until it cools completely. Important: you cannot refrigerate it in the refrigerator, as a sharp temperature drop will make the texture unsuitable for making sushi rolls.
- Filling … There are many types of rolls with different fillings. There are options for vegans, meat eaters, and seafood lovers. The safest way to cook at home is to use fish sold in a vacuum. It can be any slightly salted species of the Salmon genus. The bones must first be removed from the fish, and then cut into thin strips. From seafood, crab meat, sticks, shrimps, squid, pickled eel, red caviar, mussels can also be used as a filling for rolls. Of vegetables, the classic option is a combination of avocado and cucumber, but you can also add zucchini, tomatoes, bell peppers, pickles and mushrooms to the filling. But meat lovers are usually looking for how to make poultry or bacon rolls. Vegetarians take tofu and veggie cheese instead. All filling components are cut into thin strips or slices. Some recipes include an omelet. To prepare it, beaten eggs are mixed with soy sauce, a little sugar and salt. The finished omelet is cut into thin strips. Some recipes use special cream cheese for rolls. For example, the classic "Philadelphia" or other brands.
- Nori leaves … The filling will be wrapped in them, after which the finished sushi roll is formed.
- Sprinkling … For wrapping the rolls, granular products are used. It can be sesame seeds or tobiko caviar.
- Sauces … It is simply impossible to eat rolls without soy sauce, pickled ginger and special spicy Japanese horseradish wasabi. The latter can be bought in the form of a dry powder and made from it a sauce for rolls on your own, diluting it with boiled water to the desired consistency.
In order for homemade rolls to turn out at the level of a restaurant dish, in addition to high-quality products, you also need to prepare a certain set of tools. You will definitely need a knife with a sharp blade to cut the rolls and a bamboo mat with cling film to form the sushi roll. Instead of a bamboo mat, a silicone rug is also suitable. To spend less time and effort, you can buy a special sushi slicer.
TOP 5 best homemade roll recipes
Rolls conquered the European public with their simplicity and exotic taste, which cannot be confused with any other dish. And if earlier, in order to taste them, you had to go to an expensive restaurant, now you can easily cook rolls at home. There are many options: with vegetable and fish fillings, with cream cheese and various sauces. We will look at how to cook them according to the most popular recipes, and you, experimenting with the ingredients, can make your own culinary masterpiece.
Rolls "California"
Since rolls were first invented in California, we will start our TOP with this recipe. They prepare quickly, the main thing is to make rice in advance according to all the rules described above. The indicated amount of ingredients is enough to feed a company of 5 people.
- Caloric content per 100 g - 176 kcal.
- Servings - 5
- Cooking time - 1 hour
Ingredients:
- Nori seaweed - 1/2 pack
- Crab meat or crab sticks - 150 g
- Rice - 500 g
- Cream cheese - 150 g
- Avocado - 1 pc.
- Flying fish roe - 50 g
- Rice vinegar - 2 tsp
- Salt - 1 g
- Sugar - 2 g
Step-by-step preparation of California rolls:
- Rinse the rice several times. Fill it with drinking water so that there is still 1.5 cm of liquid above the grains. Cook over high heat until boiling. Cover, reduce heat, cook 15 minutes. Stir the top layer, if there is little liquid, add and cook for another 25 minutes.
- At this time, prepare a dressing, for this mix sugar, salt, vinegar.
- Cut the crab meat, according to the step-by-step recipe for rolls, into strips 1, 5 cm thick.
- Peel the avocado and cut into slices. Choose ripe fruits, as the dish will taste bitter with unripe pulp and spoil its taste.
- Place the boiled rice in a deep glass container, pour over the dressing and mix thoroughly. Leave it to cool at room temperature.
- Start rolling the rolls. Knowing how to make California rolls on a bamboo mat, you can use the same principle to form them with any other filling. Spread 1/2 a leaf of nori on the mat so that a distance of about 2 cm remains from you. Moisten your hands with water and spread rice porridge on the seaweed, going 2 cm outside the nori. Turn the leaf over, with a layer of rice to the mat.
- Place cheese, avocado and crab meat on the edge of the nori. Begin to gently roll the roll.
Cover the finished California rolls with tobiko caviar, divide into 6-7 pieces and serve with pickled ginger, Japanese horseradish and soy sauce. Cut sushi rolls can be stored for a long time, so it is worth cutting only for 1 meal, the rest of the blanks can be removed to a cool place.
Rolls "Philadelphia"
This is another classic step-by-step roll recipe that you can easily prepare in your kitchen. Already from the name itself it becomes clear that the ingredient will be soft cheese of the same name brand.
Ingredients:
- Rice - 100 g
- Rice vinegar - to taste
- Lightly salted salmon - 120 g
- Cucumber - 50 g
- Avocado - 50 g
- Philadelphia cheese - 30 g
Step-by-step preparation of "Philadelphia" rolls:
- Boil the rice in the classical way, add rice vinegar or vinegar dressing to it, mix everything and wait until it is completely cooled at room temperature.
- Wash the cucumber and avocado, peel and cut into thin strips.
- This recipe uses salmon, but rolls with salmon are no less tasty. Cut any of these fish into thin slices.
- Spread food grade plastic on a bamboo mat and place 1/2 sheet of nori on top of it. Mash the rice over the seaweed with wet palms. Turn the leaf over with the rice down.
- Spread the nori in the center with cream cheese, place 1/2 cucumber and avocado along the leaf.
- Form a sushi roll, place the fish fillets on top.
- Cover the roll with a mat and press down lightly.
Cut the ready-made homemade Philadelphia rolls into portions and serve with the classic combination of Japanese sauces.
Rolls with chicken
This recipe for homemade rolls will appeal to those who do not like fish and seafood. Sushi rolls with chicken are very satisfying, tasty and appetizing. The indicated amount of ingredients is enough to make 2 long rolls.
Ingredients:
- Rice - 100 g
- Chicken fillet - 100 g
- Tomato - 1 pc.
- Lettuce leaves to taste
- Cream cheese - 100 g
- Nori leaves - 1/2 pc.
- Salt, pepper, rice vinegar - to taste
Step by step cooking chicken rolls:
- Boil the rice according to the classic recipe, mix it with a vinegar dressing of salt, pepper and rice vinegar. Wait for it to cool completely at room temperature.
- Boil the chicken fillet until tender and cut into thin strips.
- Wash the tomato, remove the stalk and cut in the same way. Do the same with lettuce leaves.
- Place half of the seaweed leaf on the silicone mat, spread 1/2 of the rice over it so that there is a distance of 1 cm from one edge. Turn the nori with the rice layer down.
- Place half chicken, half soft cheese, 1/2 tomato and lettuce on top of the seaweed.
- Form a roll. In the same way, make a second serving with the remaining ingredients.
Roll the finished chicken rolls in sesame seeds and cut into portions.
Vegetarian rolls
Despite the lack of fish and meat, these rolls are very satisfying and nutritious. They are cooked with tofu cheese, but it is quite possible to replace it with Adyghe or vegetarian processed cheese.
Ingredients:
- Round rice - 1/2 tbsp
- Water - 2/3 tbsp.
- Nori sheets - 3 pcs.
- Carrots - 1 pc.
- Small avocado - 1 pc.
- Tofu cheese - 150 g
- Rice or apple cider vinegar - to taste
- Salt, sugar - to taste
- Sesame seeds - to taste
- Wasabi, pickled ginger, soy sauce - to taste
Step by step preparation of vegetarian rolls:
- Heat a dry frying pan over a fire, add sesame seeds into it and fry until golden brown with constant stirring.
- If you bought wasabi in powder form, dilute it with water until it is pasty.
- Rinse the rice several times, cover with water and boil over low heat under a tightly closed lid. Leave the cooked rice covered for 10 minutes.
- Wash the carrots, peel, cut lengthwise into long strips. Boil them in a little salted water until soft and discard in a colander.
- Make a vinegar dressing by mixing it with sugar and salt. Heat the mixture slightly on the stove to dissolve the ingredients.
- Season the rice with the vinegar mixture and set aside until completely cooled.
- Wash the avocado, peel and cut into thin strips. For a more pronounced taste of fresh herbs, you can make rolls with cucumbers, and not just with avocado.
- Wash the cucumber and also cut into thin strips. If there are large seeds in it, they need to be cut.
- Cut the tofu into slices.
- Line the nori sheets on top of the bamboo mat and gently spread the rice over them. The dressing will make it a little viscous. To prevent it from sticking to your hands, mix water with soy sauce and vinegar and dip your hands in this mixture each time before applying rice. The rice layer should be no more than 7 mm; when laying it out, retreat 2 cm from the edge of the sheet.
- Put the Japanese horseradish on the rice with a strip in the center of the leaf, sprinkle the entire surface with fried sesame seeds.
- Line the wasabi with cucumber, carrot and avocado strips and finish with a layer of tofu.
- Form a roll.
Cut the finished vegetarian roll into 7-8 pieces with a sharp knife. To prevent the ingredients from sticking to the blade, soak it in water each time. Serve with soy sauce and pickled ginger leaves.
Shrimp rolls
If you know how to cook rolls with fish, then you shouldn't have any problems with seafood either. The only difference in this case is the need to pre-cook the shrimp. They are best bought in specialized Japanese stores, but if there are none, large royal ones will do. From the specified amount of ingredients, 6 sushi rolls are obtained.
Ingredients:
- Shrimps - 150 g
- Boiled rice for sushi - 120 g
- Fresh cucumber - 0.5 pcs.
- Nori sheet - 1 pc.
- Cream cheese - 15 g
- Flying fish roe (tobiko) - 10 g
- Salt (for cooking shrimp) - 1 tablespoon
- Lemon juice (for boiling shrimp) - 1 tablespoon
Step-by-step preparation of shrimp rolls:
- If your shrimp is raw, frozen and unpeeled, wash them thoroughly, place in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Pour salt into it, add lemon juice and put on the stove. Boil the shrimp over low heat for no more than 5 minutes after boiling. Then discard in a colander and refrigerate.
- Peel the chilled shrimp from the shell and entrails.
- Spread a nori sheet on a bamboo mat and spread the rice over it with a thin layer. How to cook it is described step by step in the recipe for homemade California rolls, with a description of which you could already familiarize yourself with in this TOP.
- Wash the cucumber, cut into thin strips.
- From the edge of the leaf, along its entire length, place bars of fresh cucumber, shrimp and make a thin strip of flying fish roe.
- Place cream cheese on top of the shrimp meat. If it is very soft, then squeeze out a thin strip.
- Form a cylinder with a rug and cut it into 6 portions with a sharp knife.
Serve the shrimp rolls with soy sauce and Japanese horseradish for a brighter and richer taste. Garnish with a few pickled ginger petals before serving.
