Making maki sushi

Making maki sushi
(4.2 / 5)

How to make maki sushi?

Welcome! This guide will walk you through the steps of making a your first maki sushi roll. We also have a salmon maki recipe with guided steps and pictures here.

1. “The rough side of the nori”

Feel the nori sheet from both sides and you will find one side to be a bit smooth and the other a little rough. The nori should lay on the rolling mat with the rough side facing upwards.

2. “Getting busy with rice”

Get your hands wet, and make about a handful of rice to a ball of rice. It’s important to keep your hands wet while working with sushi rice because it is sticky. When you work with the nori though, you should keep them as dry as you can. That is why you should have a bowl of water (with a bit of rice vinegar added to it) and a dry hand-towel nearby when making sushi.

3. “The spread”

Gently put the rice ball in the middle of the nori sheet, and start spreading it equally on the nori, creating a layer of rice covering almost the entire sheet except the upper margin of about 2 cm that should be kept uncovered. Later on, the margins need to be empty of rice in order to close to sushi roll properly. Be careful not to compress the rice, but merely spread it over the nori.

4. “Can you fill this?”

Let’s lay down the roll filling, for example a slice of sushi grade tuna, on the edge of the nori. You can add a slice or two of vegetables, you might want to use a long slice of avocado or maybe cucumber for this especially on stops to allow it to roll tightly.

5. “Commence the rolling sequence”

Using the closer edge of the rolling mat, close on the filling with the nori making a rectangular shaped hill and tighten it from above.

6. “Continue the rolling sequence”

Move forward, continue rolling in the rectangular hill steps, keeping it tight with every move until you reach the end of the nori. Put pressure on the roll from all three sides at all time, especially on stops to allow it to roll tightly. Make sure you tighten the roll moving from the ends to the center. Be careful not to squeeze out the roll filling.

7. “And….cut!”

Use a wet, sharp knife to cut the roll in to little sushi units. 6-8 units per roll – that’s your call. It is useful to keep the knife wet when in between, that helps cutting through the rice and nori.

8. “So, how can I start…?”

Well, the best thing is to get sushi equipment and ingredients to start with. You can probably everything you need your local asian food store. If you’d like to browse for ingredient and accessories online, check out our sushi e-Store, for sushi kits and more. You might also want to know how to prepare sushi rice, or to read more about sushi grade fish for your sushi roll.