California Temaki (Handroll)

California temaki – avocado, cucumber, crab sticks and ebiko (prawn roe) カリフォルニア手巻き

Temaki (手巻, “hand rolls”) is a cone-shaped piece of nori (seaweed) on the outside with the rice and fillings spilling out the wide end.  One of my favourite temaki is the California temaki made up of avocado, crab sticks, cucumber and fish/prawn roe. It is said that California rolls are an American invention in the 70s for those who may be uneasy about eating raw fish. It has since become a mainstay on the sushi menu.

California temaki with tobiko (flying fish roe)

After learning how to make California temaki at home, I seldom order this outside anymore because not only is it very easy to make, I can “customize” the handroll to my preference – i.e. addition of Japanese mayonnaise and using Japanese crab sticks which to me, tastes better than the local ones. I can also be more generous with the ingredients especially the roe. If you have a home party, you can arrange the ingredients on a platter and have your guests roll these temaki by themselves.  Once you learnt the basics of rolling temaki, you can experiment with all kinds of fillings.

California Temaki (Handroll) Recipe with Step-by-Step Photos

Ingredients
(makes about 8 handrolls)

- cooked sushi rice (refer to the recipe here)
- 8 roasted nori (seaweed) sheets, measuring 19x10cm each
- 1 ripe avocado, peeled and sliced to thin wedges
- 1 Japanese cucumber, sliced to long thin strips (may substitute with romaine lettuce)
- 8 kanimi (Japanese imitation crab sticks) (may substitute with local imitation crab sticks)
- Japanese mayonnaise (optional)
- ebiko (prawn roe) or tobiko (flying fish roe)

Directions

1. Cook sushi rice using this recipe.

2. Prepare nori sheets for temaki. Typically, nori sheets come in 19×20 cm sizes. By folding and cutting it in half, it becomes the ideal size for temaki (19×10 cm).

3. Lay one sheet of cut nori, smooth (shiny) side down, on the work surface. Place sushi rice (about 2 tbsp) in the position as shown above (diagonal at the corner). Flatten the rice slightly with your hand or the back of a spoon.

4.Squeeze some Japanese mayonnaise on the rice. You may skip this step but in my opinion, the mayo  though sinful makes the temaki much more delicious ^o^

5. Add 1 tsp or so of ebiko/tobiko near the bottom half of the rice.

6. Arrange avocado, kanimi and cucumber such that they point diagonally to the top left corner of the nori.

7. Fold in the bottom left corner of the nori as shown above.

8. Continue rolling until the nori forms a cone shape that holds all the ingredients. Once the cone is formed, top with about 2 tsp of ebiko/tobiko.

9. Secure the edge of the nori with sushi rice.

Cooking Tips
1. Ensure the nori sheets are fresh and crisp by only opening the packet when it is needed. Do not leave the nori sheets exposed for hours. Store leftover nori tightly sealed in the freezer.
2. Cut avocado just before using to prevent discolouration due to exposure to air.

Ingredients Used avocado • crab stick • cucumber • mayonnaise • nori • Rice • roe

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