It’s fun and easy to make your own Japanese sushi hand rolls at home with my flexible Temaki Sushi recipe. Let your guests create their own rolls with their favorite fillings, such as vegetables and sashimi fish. Perfect for a family dinner or DIY sushi party!
With sushi becoming more popular than ever, many people consider it a staple of Japanese home cooking. The truth is that we don’t usually make sushi at home, especially when it comes to nigiri or sushi rolls that require time and refined skills. We prefer to enjoy it in a sushi restaurant.
But we make exceptions for the less picky people, like Temaki Sushi (hand-rolled sushi). Growing up, Temaki Sushi was our favorite holiday meal. My mom made them once every few months because they are very forgiving, and we all love this easy DIY sushi at home.
What is Temaki sushi?
Temaki sushi (手巻き寿司) is also called a ‘hand roll’ because it consists of a rolled cone of seaweed wrapped around rice and fillings. The best thing for me as a chef is that this is a meal where everyone helps themselves. You just need to prepare a plate of sushi rice, nori (seaweed sheet) and fillings such as sashimi fish and vegetable sticks. Then everyone at the table makes hand-rolled sushi based on their favorite ingredient mix.
3 Main Ingredients for Temaki Sushi
1. Sushi rice
To make Temaki Sushi, you need to prepare the seasoned rice called Sushi rice or Sumeshi (酢飯). The rice should have a white, short grain, which will make it stickier and hold together better when you wrap the seaweed cone around it. Sushi rice is essentially steamed rice seasoned with rice vinegar, sugar and salt. The Japanese only make this rice when preparing sushi; for all other Japanese meals we eat plain steamed rice.
For more information about making sushi rice, see Making Sushi Rice.
Why not brown rice? Please read my post on why brown rice is not ideal for sushi.
2. Various ingredients for hand roll sushi
The world is your side when it comes to choosing the ingredients. Choose what you and your family like! If you’re curious, here are some popular options in Japan:
Sashimi Choice (raw fish)
How much sashimi do we need? We order sashimi Suri supermarket in San Mateo. Our typical order for temaki (serves 4) is as follows: 3/4 lb salmon (we all love salmon), 1/3 lb. chutoro2 packs of amaebi2 packs of is called1/4 lb of divided or other white fish, 1 box uniand 2 oz it grows.
Vegetables
Cooked and creative ingredients
If you are vegetarian or don’t eat raw fish, you can still make Temaki Sushi with vegetables and cooked dishes. Making your fillings is fun, so be creative!
3. Nori (seaweed)
For Temaki Sushi you need good quality nori (seaweed). Some of you have asked me why their nori is tough and gummy. That’s a sign of poor quality nori.
High quality nori has a great smell and taste. Unfortunately, finding good nori outside of Japan is a challenge. My recommendation is to have nori harvested from the Ariake Sea (有明海), known for its superior quality seaweed, and choose the most expensive nori available in the supermarket. However, the quality is often less comparable to the Japanese standard. If you get the chance to visit Japan, you should take some with you (it’s light and flat!!).
How to Roll Temaki Sushi
- Cut a square of nori sheet in half (restaurant style) or quarters (more home style).
- Place the nori with the shiny side down on your palm.
- Add a thin layer of sushi rice (about 1-2 tablespoons) to the left third of the nori sheet (if you are right-handed) and press it out evenly.
- Add some ingredients to the rice: cucumber, 1-2 types of sashimi and radish sprouts.
- Roll the bottom left corner up toward the center of the top edge of the nori to form a triangle, and continue rolling until you have a cone shape.
- Place a piece of rice on the tip of the nori to secure the folds. To enjoy!
DIY Temaki Sushi Party Video
Whether for a small gathering or a larger audience, Temaki Sushi is truly the best type of sushi to serve at home. In this video you can see how we set the table with sushi rice, ingredients, small plates, salad and side dishes for a fun yet informal sushi party.
Also check out our post on The Ultimate Sushi Party Guide: Tips, Recipes and Ideas!
Learn more about Sushi
Read our Ultimate Sushi Guide to learn more about origins, sushi types, etiquette and more.
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Temaki Sushi (hand roll)
It’s fun and easy to make your own Japanese sushi hand rolls at home with my flexible Temaki Sushi recipe. Let your guests create their own rolls with their favorite fillings, such as vegetables and sashimi fish. Perfect for a family dinner or DIY sushi party!
Portions: 20 cone-shaped hand rolls (or 40 “taco style”)
Ingredients
For the basic Temaki fillings (see blog post for more ideas)
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Instructions
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Before you start: Please note that this is necessary at least 90 minutes to make sushi rice. For step-by-step instructions with video, see my How to Make Sushi Rice recipe. note that 2¼ cups (450 g, 3 rice cooker cups) of uncooked Japanese short grain rice yield 6⅔ cups (990 g) cooked rice. You should use short grain Japanese white rice; otherwise your sushi will fall apart. Why not brown rice? Please read my post on why brown rice is not ideal for sushi.
To prepare the vegetables
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Let’s prepare a tray of vegetable fillings.
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Remove the stems from shiso leaves (bud/ooba). Cut the root ends of the kaiware daikon radish sprouts and rinse thoroughly under water.
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Peel Japanese or Persian cucumbers to create a striped pattern. Then cut off both ends. Cut them in half lengthwise.
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It is best to remove the cucumber seeds as they contain moisture. Cut the cucumber halves in half again lengthwise and remove the seeds with a knife.
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Alternatively, you can scoop out the seeds with a spoon. Cut the cucumbers into 7.4 cm (3 inch) pieces. Then cut lengthwise into thin strips.
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Cut the takuan (pickled daikon radish) in 3 inch (7.4 cm) lengths. Cut the takuan into slices and then into thin sticks.
To prepare the Sashimi
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Let’s prepare a large bowl of sashimi-quality fish. If you want to avoid cutting the sashimi yourself, ask a fishmonger at a Japanese supermarket to cut the raw fish for temaki sushi (into long sticks rather than sashimi-style slices).
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Remove the sashimi quality fish of your choice from the refrigerator. Pat it dry with paper towels to remove excess moisture. If your sashimi block is long, cut it about 3 inches long.
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Cut the sashimi blocks lengthwise into slices and then into long sticks.
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Here I cut tuna and Hamachi (yellowtail) in long sticks.
To prepare the Nori
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Cut just before you start eating 10 sheets of nori (dried seaweed) half 20 restaurant style, cone shaped rolls or in quarters for 40 homemade, taco-shaped sandwiches. Store the nori in the bag so that it does not get stale.
To set up the table
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Prepare a large bowl at the table or hanging/Sushi limitation of 6⅔ cups sushi rice (cooked and seasoned). Prepare the bowl with the vegetable fillings, the large sashimi dish and the nori. Prepare a medium-sized individual plate and a small plate for soy sauce for each person.
To roll the Temaki Sushi
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Nori has a rough (dull) side and a shiny side; the shiny side is the presentation side. In the image below I am pointing to the rough side. To make your sushi rolls, start with dry hands to keep the nori crispy. Post one half sheet of nori on the palm of your non-dominant hand, shiny side down. Add a thin layer of sushi rice on the left third of the nori sheet (if you are right-handed).
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Place the fillings (cucumber, daikon radish sprouts, takuan and tuna) vertically in the center of the rice. Fold the bottom left corner of the nori over and roll it into a cone shape.
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Finish by rolling the nori into a cone shape. Place a piece of rice in the bottom right corner to use as “glue” and seal tightly.
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If you quarter sheet of nori, place the rice in the center and the filling on top. Simply fold up the sides like a taco.
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For oily fish, such as belly salmon and chutoro (medium oily tuna), we like to sear it with a kitchen torch at the table just before we eat it.
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Nutrition facts
Temaki Sushi (hand roll)
Quantity per serving
% Daily Value*
*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.
©JustOneCookbook.com Content and photos are copyrighted. Sharing this recipe is encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting entire recipes onto a website or social media is strictly prohibited. View my photo use policy here.
Editor’s Note: The post was originally published on May 16, 2013. It was republished on January 26, 2024 with a new video, images, and more helpful content.
