{"id":192973,"title":"Salmon and Avocado California Roll","modified":"2026-10-25T11:07:00+01:00","plain":"An uramaki of vinegared rice filled with raw salmon, avocado and cucumber, rolled inside out in sesame seeds.\n\n\n\nSome evenings you want sushi without ordering anything, just a platter of neat rolls to pick at with the tips of your chopsticks. The California roll has a comforting softness: glossy, lightly sweet rice studded with toasted sesame seeds. \n\n\n\nWith each bite, meltingly tender salmon and its touch of mayonnaise meet creamy avocado and the cool crunch of cucumber. A little soy sauce, a slice of pickled ginger, and the first piece disappears before you\u2019ve finished cutting the next.\n\n\n\nPrefer your nori on the outside? Roll some maki sushi\n\n\n\nWhat Is a California Roll?\n\n\n\nThe California roll is an uramaki, an inside-out sushi roll: the seasoned rice is on the outside and the sheet of nori is hidden inside, wrapped around the filling. The most common version combines crab or kanikama, avocado and cucumber.\n\n\n\nHere, the crab makes way for sticks of raw salmon spread with Japanese mayonnaise. The outside is rolled in sesame seeds, or in tobiko or masago for a briny, orange accent.\n\n\n\nIn Japan, vinegared sushi rice is called sumeshi, or shari in sushi-counter lingo. The name California refers to the West Coast of the United States, where the roll made its name. Another explanation points to the initials of crab and avocado, \u201cC.A.\u201d\n\n\n\nFor a more varied platter, add a few inari sushi\n\n\n\nA Sushi Born in North America\n\n\n\nTwo sushi counters lay claim to its birth. In Los Angeles in the 1960s, the idea is often credited to Ichiro Mashita of the Tokyo Kaikan restaurant. Unable to get fatty tuna year-round, he is said to have replaced it with avocado, whose buttery quality recalls toro. The nori was then supposedly hidden under the rice for customers put off by the seaweed.\n\n\n\nIn Vancouver, chef Hidekazu Tojo, who arrived in Canada in 1971, tells a different story. In the late 1970s, his Tojo roll brought together cooked Dungeness crab, egg, avocado and spinach for diners who were uneasy with raw fish and visible nori.\n\n\n\nCraving raw fish without any rolling? Chirashi is served in a bowl\n\n\n\nWhether it was Mashita, Tojo or several cooks at once, the idea met the same need: making sushi more approachable for North American customers. The inside-out roll, the uramaki, then made its way into sushi bars around the world.\n\n\n\nMain Ingredients of the California Roll\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIt all starts with short-grain Japanese rice, which is rich in amylopectin, the starch that makes the grains stick together without turning them to mush. It is seasoned with rice vinegar, sugar and salt, which make it glossy, tangy and lightly sweet.\n\n\n\nThe salmon (or tuna) is cut into long sticks and spread with a little Japanese mayonnaise. Choose very fresh, sashimi-grade fish, since it is eaten raw. The avocado gets a drizzle of lime juice to keep it from browning, and the Lebanese cucumber, partly seeded, adds crunch without making the nori soggy.\n\n\n\nThe nori sheet, cut in half, ends up on the inside: its rough side grips the rice and holds the filling in place. On the outside, sesame seeds add a toasty note and tobiko a light, salty crunch. Pickled ginger and soy sauce are served alongside.\n\n\n\nThe same trio of rice, raw fish and avocado, in a bowl: the poke bowl\n\n\n\nTechnique Tips for a Good California Roll\n\n\n\nRinse the rice until the water runs almost clear, then cook it at a gentle simmer: it should keep a little bite and cool down before rolling. Since the rice is on the outside, cover the bamboo mat, the makisu, with plastic wrap, and dip your fingers in a little vinegared water to keep the rice from sticking. \n\n\n\nA very sharp knife, wiped between cuts, keeps the slices clean. Cooked rice should not sit at room temperature for more than two hours: make the rolls and eat them the same day.\n\n\n\n\n\n\tCalifornia Roll\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\tSushi Rice165 g sushi rice240 ml water1.5 tablespoons rice vinegar1 teaspoon sugar0.5 teaspoon saltFilling4 slices tuna or salmon, (cut into long sushi-style slices)1 tablespoon Japanese mayonnaise0.5 cucumber (Lebanese)0.5 avocado1 teaspoon lime juice, (about)Rolls2 sheets nori1 tablespoon sesame seeds, (or flying fish roe (tobiko))To ServeGinger (pickled)Soy sauce\t\n\t\n\t\tSushi RicePut the rice in a saucepan or large bowl with plenty of cold water.If time allows, let it stand for 15 to 20 minutes; otherwise, go straight to rinsing.Stir the rice in the water with your hands, swirling it around, until the water turns cloudy.Pour off the water.Repeat once or twice, until the water stays almost clear.Put the rinsed rice in a saucepan with the cooking water.Cover and set over medium heat.As soon as the water comes to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for about 10 to 12 minutes, until all the water has been absorbed and the rice is cooked but still has a little bite.While the rice is cooking, put the rice vinegar, sugar and salt in a microwave-safe bowl.Microwave for about 15 seconds, until the sugar and salt have dissolved.Take the rice off the heat and transfer it to a large bowl so it cools faster.Pour the vinegar mixture over the rice and mix to distribute it evenly.Let the rice cool.FillingPrepare the strips of raw fish.Spread a little mayonnaise on the cut side of the strips.Cut the half cucumber lengthwise into four sticks.Remove some of the seeds if there are a lot of them.Cut the avocado into long slices.Drizzle the avocado slices with a little lime juice and gently rub them to spread it, so they don't turn brown.RollsCut the nori sheets in half along the fold, using scissors if they don't separate easily.Cover the sushi mat with plastic wrap, or slip it into a freezer bag.Divide the rice into four equal portions.Lay half a sheet of nori on the covered mat.Press one portion of rice in an even layer over the entire half sheet, right to the edges, working from one long side to the other.Sprinkle the entire surface of the rice with sesame seeds, or with tobiko.Carefully flip the sheet over, seaweed side up.Lay a cucumber stick along the full length, close to one of the long edges.Lay a line of salmon or tuna right next to it.Lay a row of avocado slices, keeping it as even as possible along the full length.Lift the edge of the mat on the filling side and fold it over, to enclose the filling in the nori, pressing lightly.Pull back the edge of the mat so it doesn't get rolled up inside the roll, then keep rolling the mat so the roll turns over on itself.When you reach the end of the rice, unroll the mat: the roll is formed.Place the roll on a cutting board.Cut it in half through the middle with a very sharp knife.Cut each half into three pieces.Repeat with the remaining nori, rice and filling.Serve with pickled ginger and soy sauce for dipping.\t\n\t\n\t\tThe California roll is an uramaki, an inside-out roll: the rice is on the outside and the nori sheet on the inside. Its origin is disputed between Los Angeles (the Tokyo Kaikan restaurant, in the 1960s) and Vancouver (chef Hidekazu Tojo).\nJapanese mayonnaise (Kewpie) is available in Asian grocery stores.\nThe cucumber should be roughly as long as the long side of the nori sheet so it fills the roll from end to end. If you can't find a Lebanese cucumber or a mini cucumber, cut a section of regular cucumber and remove some of the skin, which is more bitter, along with the excess seeds, so the roll isn't too wet.\nYou may come up a little short on rice for the fourth roll if you don't divide it into equal portions from the start. Another option: make three generously filled rolls and use the last half sheet and the remaining rice for two small maki.\nA small bowl of water with a little rice vinegar added helps keep your fingers moist while you press the rice onto the nori, so it doesn't stick.\n\t\n\t\n\t\tSushiAm\u00e9ricaine","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192973"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192973\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/192830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}