Maki, Sushi & Sashimi Platter B Recipe

Rinse the sushi rice in a large bowl under cold running water, swirling with your hand until the water runs nearly clear (about 4–6 rinses). Drain and repeat until starch is removed.

Combine the rinsed rice and 360 ml water in a rice cooker or heavy saucepan. If using a saucepan, bring to a gentle boil, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer 12–15 minutes until water is absorbed. Let rest, covered, 10 minutes off the heat.

While the rice cooks, warm the rice vinegar, sugar and salt in a small saucepan over low heat just until sugar dissolves; do not boil. Remove from heat and cool slightly.

Transfer the hot cooked rice to a wide shallow bowl (a wooden hangiri if available). Gradually fold the vinegar mixture into the rice using a wooden spatula with gentle slicing motions to avoid crushing grains. Fan the rice while mixing to cool it quickly to body temperature. Cover loosely with a damp cloth and keep at room temperature until assembly (do not refrigerate).

Spicy Tuna Filling

Finely dice the 200 g sashimi-grade tuna into small uniform cubes. In a bowl combine tuna, 3 tbs mayonnaise and 1 tbs sriracha (or to taste). Mix gently and chill briefly while preparing other fillings.

Salmon & Avocado Filling

Cut 200 g salmon into long strips about 1 cm wide. Peel, pit and slice the avocado into thin strips. Julienne 1/2 cucumber (remove seeds) into matchsticks. Keep assembled components chilled.

California-style Filling

Shred or tear 150 g imitation crab into thin strips. Toss lightly with 2 tbs Japanese mayonnaise. Prepare 2 tbs masago/tobiko to press on outside if making uramaki or to garnish.

Philadelphia-style Filling

Slice 100 g cream cheese into long thin batons. Cut 120 g smoked salmon into similar-length strips.

Prepare your workspace with sushi rice, fillings, nori, rolling mat wrapped in plastic, a small bowl of water with a little rice vinegar to wet your fingers, and a sharp wet knife for slicing.

Basic Hosomaki (Seaweed outside; cucumber or salmon hosomaki)

Place 1 nori sheet shiny side down on the mat. With wet fingers spread about 3/4 cup of rice evenly over the nori leaving a 2 cm strip at the far edge. Place a single line of filling (cucumber matchsticks or strips of salmon) about 2–3 cm from your near edge. Use the mat to roll firmly into a tight cylinder, pressing gently. Seal the edge with a little water. Repeat to make 4–6 hosomaki rolls.

Spicy Tuna Roll (nori outside)

On a nori sheet spread rice thinly (or place rice on nori for hosomaki style) and arrange a line of spicy tuna. Roll as above, pressing gently to form a tight cylinder. Optionally top with a little masago or a thin line of mayo and a drizzle of eel sauce before slicing.

California-style Uramaki (inside-out roll)

Place plastic-wrapped mat on work surface. Put a half sheet of nori (or full sheet trimmed) on the mat, rice-side up (coat the nori with a thin layer of rice, about 3/4 cup), press rice evenly, sprinkle toasted sesame seeds over the rice. Carefully flip the nori so rice faces down on the plastic wrap. Place crab-mayo and cucumber strips lengthwise near the edge. Roll tightly with the mat, sealing with water. Optionally press masago/tobiko onto the outer rice before slicing.

To slice rolls: Wet your knife, slice the roll in half, then each half into 6 equal pieces (for a total of 8–10 rolls yielding ~48 pieces). Clean the knife between cuts for clean slices.

Using a very sharp, long sashimi knife, slice the sashimi-grade yellowtail, tuna and additional salmon against the grain into 5–7 mm thick slices. Aim for even, elegant slices: 6–8 pieces of each fish.

Arrange sashimi slices on a platter with small piles of pickled ginger and a couple small mounds of wasabi. Garnish with thinly sliced scallions and a sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds or furikake as desired.

Arrange the sliced maki and sashimi on a large serving platter attractively: group the different roll types, place sashimi on one side, and tuck in pickled ginger, wasabi, and small dipping bowls of soy sauce.

Drizzle a little eel sauce over some roll types (especially spicy tuna or uramaki) and sprinkle remaining sesame seeds and masago as garnish. Serve immediately at room temperature with chopsticks.

Store any leftover sushi rice tightly covered for up to 24 hours in the refrigerator (best consumed same day). Do not store assembled sushi with raw fish for more than a few hours; refrigerate sashimi portions promptly if not consumed.