Cucumber sushi

When I lived in Japan, I didn’t eat much meat. I still don’t and I’m not confident making sushi with raw fish … yet. My go-to roll has always been kappamaki かっぱ巻き, cucumber roll, which is widely available in Japan. It’s a type of hosomaki 細巻き, which are skinny rolls made with a single ingredient (usually a fish or vegetable). I feel like they make sushi really accessible.

Ingredients (8 rolls)

• 2 cups cooked and cooled sushi rice

• 8 sheets nori (seaweed)

• 1 long English cucumber

• (opt) soy sauce or tamari for dipping

• (opt) wasabi

• (opt) pickled ginger

Instructions

1. slice cucumber into long sticks

2. lay a piece of nori on a sushi mat lengthwise (you can make it without one, but it won’t be as nicely formed)

3. put 1/2 cup of rice on the nori and spread out onto the nori, if the nori sheet is large, you’ll only want to put sushi rice on the half closest to your body

   (opt) you can cut the nori in half & use half for each roll

4. lay 3 or 4 cucumber slices lengthwise across the nori

5. using the sushi mat, roll the sushi tightly by folding the nori over the rice and pressing it tightly together

6. (opt) dampen your fingers with water and tap along the remaining seaweed edge to help it seal

7. set it side, seam down, while you work on the other rolls

8. cut the sushi rolls with a dampened knife by first cutting them in half and then laying the two halves next to each other. Then lay them next to each other and cutting 2 pieces at a time. This makes it easier to get even pieces.

9. serve with shoyu (soy sauce), wasabi & pickled ginger

Notes

Bamboo sushi mats are the traditional way to roll sushi. They are difficult (nearly impossible to clean) so most people cover them in plastic wrap. We don’t use plastic wrap so I found a silicone sushi mat that works just fine and is a sufficient compromise.