How To Use A Bamboo Rolling Mat

Sushi rolls, known every bit makizushi in Japanese, are just limited by your imagination—and your ability to curlicue them neatly, of grade. While information technology may seem like a lot of endeavour, rolling sushi is a snap if you have the right tools.

If you plan on making sushi rolls a lot at domicile, a bamboo mat is the way to become, but a tea towel—or even only your bare hands—will piece of work if you but want to make them occasionally. No affair which tool y'all terminate up using, the method for rolling sushi is exactly the aforementioned.

Using a Traditional Bamboo Mat

For this demonstration, I'm making kimbap: a Korean curl that contains tamago, spinach, burdock root, and pickled daikon radish.

Lay out your bamboo mat with an optional piece of plastic wrap on top (to keep the mat clean).
Make sure that the dried seaweed (nori) has its rough side facing upward. (You could also utilise a sheet of sriracha sauce instead of nori if you're feeling adventurous.)
Evenly spread rice over the nori while leaving space at the top and bottom of the sheet.
Identify your called ingredients in the center, halfway between the summit and bottom of the seaweed.

Place your thumbs underneath the bamboo mat and lift the edge that is closest to you up and over the filling in the eye.

Bend the rest of your fingers over the bamboo mat and gently press along the length of the "log." This motion presses the rice and the filling together and prevents the ringlet from existence too loose.
Pull the border of the bamboo toward yous to fold it underneath your hands (as shown in the picture beneath), then continue to roll the sushi away from you until you've rolled by the far border of the seaweed sheet.

Bamboo mats are very affordable and relatively like shooting fish in a barrel to discover; most Asian grocery stores carry bamboo mats in their kitchenware sections. If no Asian stores exist effectually you, Amazon has a bamboo mat and rice paddle for less than $4.00 (the paddle is used to mix rice vinegar into the rice without snapping any grains).

Using a Tea Towel

A bamboo mat isn't essential for a great sushi roll, so if y'all don't take one or don't desire to get one, that'due south okay. In a pinch, I've plant my tea towel (also known as a dish towel) to exist an splendid substitute.

When I use a tea towel, I start my roll with the same setup as I would for a bamboo mat. This time, I definitely recommend using plastic wrap: if your tea towel is rough, it can catch and rub against the seaweed.

Place your thumbs underneath the tea towel and elevator the border closest to you up and over your filling. Continue your hands a few inches autonomously when lifting the edge to ensure an even roll.

Press gently with curved hands to shape the coil into an fifty-fifty log.
Pull the tea towel back and away from the roll.

Go along to press gently along the length of the log as you roll information technology away from you.

Brand sure that your ringlet is tightly packed—otherwise, it will fall apart when sliced and divided.

If you don't want to use a tea towel, you tin can merely apply the plastic wrap, but you might not get equally tight a roll.

Other Tips & Tricks

Using the plastic wrap traps the moisture between the rice and the seaweed and makes the seaweed more than pliable when rolling. It's besides a great way to avoid washing your tea towel or bamboo mat—and less dishwashing is always a worthwhile hack for me.
Wipe your knife with a wet dish material betwixt each cut to proceed the rice from sticking and getting messy. The sharper the knife, the cleaner your cut will exist.
The ends will always exist the loosest part of your scroll, so be more careful with them: otherwise, you'll unravel your hard work.

Sushi rolls take a scrap of practise; I admit that my first few attempts were far from flick-worthy. Simply the payoff is certainly worth the time that you invest. Even if the practise itself becomes frustrating, the failed rolls still taste as delicious as the well-made ones!

More Sushi Hacks:

Sushi + Burrito = Sushirrito, the Ultimate Handheld Meal
How to Brand Restaurant-Grade Sushi Rice
Brand Sushi with Sriracha Instead of Seaweed
Deconstructed Sushi for All the Flavor & None of the Labor
DIY Dessert Sushi: 3 Irresistible, Easy-to-Brand Recipes

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