California Sushi Roll - Vegetarian

March 31, 2025

I just love Sushi Rolls. They have always been a special treat as early as I can remember having them was in the Chinese Buffets. So delicious. Then they had them in grocery stores and they just seemed too expensive to buy, but looked so good. Then I started to break down and get them every once in a while as a special treat or if I was out and about to have as a snack to tide me over. So satisfying and healthy. No guilt. It never occurred to me until recently, that I could actually make them myself at a fraction of the cost in my own kitchen. I'd already made a Chinese dinner myself in the past, so I could do this! So I bought the Nori Seaweed wraps and took the plunge. I had to watch some videos to get acquainted with doing this. I learned you had to have the Sushi Rolling Mat, so I got the cheapest Bamboo one off of Amazon I could find and the day it came in, I gathered my ingredients and made the video and made it-for the first time! I used several Nori Seaweed Rolls and made a large batch of Sushi Rolls for my first Session. My recipe will be scaled down to make 16 rolls, using 1 Nori Dried Seaweed Wrap. I purchased from Whole Foods on impulse, but it's cheaper at Amazon.

After making some mistakes, I watched some more videos and one in particular of the 5 mistakes most people make when making their own Sushi Rolls and I knew as soon as he said some, yes! That's what I did! Please know, that I am just a newbie at this and have a lot to learn and a lot to practice to hone my skills. So, I'm not coming to you as an expert or someone with a lot of experience. I just wanted to document my recipe and how to do it and maybe I can be of some help to someone out there. There are some very talented and knowledgeable Sushi Makers out there and I recommend watching and learning from them. I hope you try your hand at making your own Sushi Rolls as well. Hope you Enjoy!

Yield 16 Sushi Rolls

California Sushi Roll Recipe:

Supplies: Bamboo Sushi Rolling Mat, Pot to Cook Rice, Flat Spoon or Utensil to stir rice, Sharp knife, cutting board, Bowl of Room Temperature Water, Dish Cloth to wipe your hands/knife, a plate to put finished sushi rolls on

Ingredients:

1 Full sheet of Nori Dried Seaweed Wrap, broken in half

Sushi Rice: 

1 Cup Cooked Short Grain Rice, kept warm

Sushi Rice Vinegar mixture:

2 C Rice Vinegar

1/4 C Salt (I used 2 heaping tsp.)

3/4 C Sugar (I used Stevia)

Filling Ingredients:

1 Avocado-Sliced Lengthwise into skinny pieces

Optional: Cheese Dip-1/2 C Sour cream, 2 T Cream Cheese, 1/4 C Shredded Cheese (I used SummerHill Smoked Sharp Creamy White American Cheese.), Salt and Herbal Spices to taste.

Everything Bagel Seasoning

1/2 Bell Pepper: Sliced into long skinny slices

1/3 Cucumber: Sliced into long skinny slices, seeded.

Any other veggies you may want to include.

Instructions:

I recommend prepping your veggies and fillings ahead of time to save time and so you won't be so rushed. I actually did mine while rice was cooking, but you have to be quick b/c once your rice is cooked, you don't want it setting out too long or cooling off or rice to dry out.

Rinse Rice at least 3 times to get rid of excess starch. After final rinse, drain off rice and then place Rice in pot with water.

Cook Rice in pot 1 part Rice 1.5 part water. Cook for 1/2 recommended time and turn off heat. Allow to cook for the rest of the way in residual heat with lid on.

Preparing the Rice: Dump your rice into a good sized Bowl. Add the prepared Sushi Rice Vinegar (1/4 C-you will store the rest of the Sushi Vinegar in the fridge for later use). Gently stir to incorporate the Vinegar, taking care not to over mix as it will cause rice to be too sticky.

Wrap your bamboo rolling mat in Plastic wrap. Keep a cutting board handy. Get a small bowl of water handy to apply water to your hands as well as to dip knife in. Keep a dish cloth handy to wipe knife and hands.

Inside out roll:

Take the Nori and fold it in half along the midway mark. Gently tear in half. Place Nori on Bamboo Rolling Mat an inch from the bottom. (Doesn't matter which side is up, since the rice will be on the outside.) Dip your hands into water. You don't want you hands sopping wet, just enough to make it so the rice does not stick so bad to your hands. Take a small ball of rice about the size of a golf ball and place it in the middle of the Nori wrap. Evenly spread the rice with the fingers to the edge of the wrap. Shake some Everything Bagel Seasoning onto Rice. Flip rice over onto mat. (Rice will stick.) Place your fillings into the middle of the Wrap, taking care not to over fill. While Using the tips of your fingers to hold the fillings down, use your thumbs to start rolling the mat to cause the Nori to start into a roll shape and press gently with fingers to shape into roll. Once the Bottom Edge rolls to the mat, pull up on the mat with your thumbs and fingers to help roll the Roll over to complete the roll shape and close the seam of the Nori Wrap. Pressing fingers in a gentle squeezing fashion to shape the roll. Place your cutting board down on working surface and take Sushi roll out of Bamboo Rolling mat gently. Push edges of the sushi roll in to push ingredients back into the roll to make it even. 

Cutting the Roll: Dip your sharp knife into water and allow water to roll down the blade so the whole blade gets wet. Cut in half. Then cut each half in half. And so on until you get all the Pieces cut. Carefully place the pieces on your clean plate so you can see the ingredients of each piece.

Nori on outside roll:

Place other half of Nori shiny side down onto sushi rolling mat 1 inch from the bottom. Dip hands into water. Shake off excess. Evenly spread ball of rice onto Nori. Add your Seasoning as you wish. Then add your filling ingredients on top of the rice. Once you've added your desired ingredients, roll and cut and plate as instructed above.

How to eat: You may add Soy Sauce or Dip it in Soy Sauce. You may add additional Sauce Toppings. Eat as a side dish or on its own for a snack.

Storing: Store any Leftover Rice Vinegar, Rice or Sushi Rolls in the fridge. If you don't use the Sushi Rolls within a week, you may freeze them for extended storage. 

Print it!

---

Also in Our Back to Basics Journey