Here's an "uramaki" inside out sushi roll recipe for you to hone your sushi skills!
"Uramaki" literally means "outside roll". I think the photo at the top shows you how this works - the sushi rice is on the outside of the roll with the filling wrapped in the nori on the inside. In the United States, (where a couple of West Coast sushi chefs claim they invented uramaki in the 1960s), these are known as "California rolls" with the classic contents being crab and avocado with the rice being rolled in a thin layer of crab roe.
Uramaki rolls have been a commercial success in the rest of the world but were somewhat slow to catch on in Japan where they were perhaps considered, "not quite the done thing" if you know what I mean. Now you may have seen videos of Japanese chefs making these and thought, "that looks pretty technical" but in fact, it's not a difficult skill to master - you only need the same basic tools and ingredients as for a normal sushi maki roll - then with minimum of trial and error, I am sure you'll get the hang of it quite easily. I do advise you to take a look at the Youtube video to see how it's done - I'm sure you'll get the hang of it pretty quickly.
You can find the written recipe below and for the Youtube tutorial Salmon and Avocado Uramaki or scroll to the bottom of the page.
Now get rolling! Kurumi XXXX.
If you want to combine these rolls with others with a different filling, try out my Tamagaoyaki Inside Out rolls here.
Salmon and Avocado Uramaki
ingredients:
(makes 2 rolls /16 pieces)
200g cooked sushi rice*
1 sheet of nori, halved
4 strips of sushi grade fresh salmon (enough to fit lengthways on the 2 pieces of nori)
1 small avocado
2 tsp of toasted white sesame seeds
1 spring onion, for garnishing
1 sushi mat
some cling film
a bowl of water for your hands
* you can find a recipe on how to make sushi rice on my website
how to:
unroll your sushi mat and wrap it tightly with the cling film 2 or 3 times (this is to prevent the rice sticking to the mat when you roll your sushi
chop the spring onion finely
wet your hands & spread 1/2 the sushi rice over a 1/2 nori sheet in a thin layer
sprinkle 1 tsp of sesame seeds over the rice and then turn the sheet over on the mat so the rice side is down
place 2 strips of salmon across the nori sheet
cut thin slices of avocado and place them beside the salmon
now to roll the sushi:
take the lower edge of the sushi mat with your thumbs and index fingers. roll over to form the sushi roll, using your middle fingers to keep the filling in place if necessary
give the roll a little, light squeeze with your fingers to make sure it is well formed
cut the sushi into 6 pieces, wetting your knife between cuts to stop the rice sticking to the blade
repeat this process again for the second roll
your salmon and avocado uramaki are now ready. serve with small bowls of soy sauce and a little wasabi