Here's another "looks difficult but it's really not" recipe - seafood stick uramaki. Now, uramaki, as you'll already know if you're reading my blog, means "inside-out roll" and they're also known in the US as a California maki or California roll because that is where they were first made. The story goes that a sushi bar owner in California was struggling to get the locals to eat nori seaweed - obviously, if you don't want to eat nori, sushi isn't going to be on your list of "want to eat" dishes.
So, the sushi bar owner had the idea of concealing the nori by wrapping it in the sushi rice instead of vice versa and voila, the California roll was born. I don't know whether this is 100% true - I used to know an elderly sushi chef who had worked in California and he told me it was always difficult to get enough quality nori seaweed sheets - some of the sheets were sub-standard and used to split when rolled - so they were hidden inside the roll instead of on the outside to avoid having th discard them.
I don't know which story is true but the fact is that inside out California rolls are popular, fun and great to eat - that's enough for me!
Back to the recipe, these uramaki inside out rolls make great finger food for a party or a "bento" lunch. One good thing about this recipe is that the filling is nothing more than seafood stick & cucumber. So, you can practise and if you mess up, practice again without it costing very much at all!
Another good thing is that there is no raw fish involved, so no difficulty in accessing the ingredients and nobody likely to say "no thank you" because they don't like raw fish.
I used black sesame on the outside of these rolls but you could leave that out, or use white sesame if you prefer. Once you've rolled a good looking uramaki, just remember to keep your knife blade well wiped and wet after each cut, so that when you slice the roll into pieces, you get a nice clean finish. As always with sushi rolls, if you haven't tried rolling inside out rolls before, take a few minutes to watch the Youtube video tutorial to see what's involved - it's not difficult and once you've taken a look, I am sure you'll be able to master it!
You can find the written recipe just below and the Youtube tutorial by clicking Seafood stick Uramaki inside out sushi roll or just scroll to the bottom of the page.
Happy rolling! Kurumi XXXX.
If you want to pair these inside out rolls with some other sushi, why not try my Salmon and Avocado Uramaki - you can find the recipe here.
Seafood stick Uramaki Inside Out rolls
ingredients:
(makes 2 rolls / 12 - 14 pieces)
200g cooked sushi rice*
1 sheet of nori, halved
5 seafood sticks
1 cucumber
2 tsp of toasted black sesame seeds
1 sushi mat
some cling film
a bowl of water for keeping your blade wet when you slice the rolls)
* you can find my recipe for how to make sushi rice on the recipes page under "sushi and sashimi"
how to:
unroll your sushi mat and wrap it tightly using 2 -3 layers of cling film (this will stop the rice sticking to the mat)
cut the cucumber to the same size as the width of the nori sheet and then cut it into very matchsticks
wet your hands & spread 1/2 the rice over a 1/2 nori sheet in a thin layer
sprinkle 1 tsp of sesame seeds over the rice and then gently turn the sheet over on the mat
place 2.5 seafood sticks lengthways across the nori sheet about 2 cm up from the lower edge
place strips of cucumber either side of then seafood sticks
now to roll the sushi:
hold the bottom of the mat with your thumbs and roll the lower edge of the mat over to form the sushi roll - you can keep the seafood stick and cucumber in place with your index fingers if needs be
once the roll os formed, give the roll a little, light squeeze with your fingers to make sure it is well formed
cut the sushi rolls into 6 - 7 pieces, wetting your knife between cuts to stop the rice sticking
repeat this process again for the second roll
your inside out rolls are now ready. serve with small bowls of soy sauce and wasabi
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