Smoked Salmon and Cream Cheese Sushi Rolls

By Sprig Originals ✓ · cooked up in Sprig

The sushi roll you can actually make on a Tuesday: cold-smoked salmon from the grocery store stands in for raw fish, so there's no sushi-grade sourcing and no guesswork. The trick to bakery-clean slices is chilling the cream cheese until it's firm enough to cut into batons — cold cream cheese stays put instead of smearing across the roll. Seasoned rice, crisp cucumber, a whisper of scallion, and a sharp wet knife do the rest.

Ingredients

• 2 cups short-grain sushi rice
• 2 1/4 cups cold water
• 1/4 cup unseasoned rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons fine sea salt

• 6 ounces cold-smoked salmon (lox), thinly sliced
• 6 ounces block-style cream cheese, well chilled
• 1 Persian or English cucumber
• 2 scallions, green parts only
• 1 tablespoon drained capers, roughly chopped (optional)
• 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

• 4 sheets nori (roasted seaweed), full size
• 1 cup water mixed with 1 tablespoon rice vinegar, for hands (tezu)
• 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
• soy sauce, for serving
• pickled ginger and wasabi, for serving

Instructions

1. Put the rice in a bowl, cover with cold water, and swish with your hand until the water turns cloudy. Drain and repeat 3 to 4 times, until the water runs nearly clear. Drain well in a fine-mesh sieve and let sit 10 minutes.
2. Combine the drained rice and 2 1/4 cups cold water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then cover, reduce heat to low, and cook 15 minutes without lifting the lid. Remove from heat and let stand, still covered, 10 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, warm the rice vinegar, sugar, and salt in a small saucepan or in the microwave for 30 seconds, stirring until the sugar and salt fully dissolve. Do not boil. Set aside to cool slightly.
4. Unwrap the chilled cream cheese and place it in the freezer for 15 to 20 minutes — you want it firm and cold, not frozen solid. Then cut it into pencil-thick batons about 1/2 inch square and as long as your nori sheet is wide. Keep them in the refrigerator until the moment you roll.
5. Turn the cooked rice out into a wide non-metal bowl or sheet pan. Drizzle the vinegar mixture over the rice and fold it in with a rice paddle or silicone spatula, using slicing motions rather than stirring to avoid crushing the grains. Spread the rice out and fan it or let it cool at room temperature for 10 to 15 minutes, until just barely warm to the touch. Cover with a damp towel; never refrigerate seasoned sushi rice.
6. Prep the vegetables: quarter the cucumber lengthwise, scrape out any seeds, and cut into long thin batons. Pat dry on paper towels. Thinly slice the scallion greens on a sharp diagonal. Pat the smoked salmon dry between paper towels so it doesn't add moisture to the roll.
7. Wrap a bamboo rolling mat tightly in plastic wrap (this keeps rice out of the slats and makes cleanup trivial). Place one nori sheet shiny side down, with the lines running left to right.
8. Dip your fingers in the vinegar water and spread about 3/4 cup of rice evenly over the nori in a thin layer, leaving a bare 1-inch border along the far edge. Press gently — you should still see the nori through the rice in places. Sprinkle with a pinch of sesame seeds.
9. Lay a line of filling across the rice about 1 inch up from the near edge: cream cheese batons first, then smoked salmon draped over them, then cucumber, scallion, a few capers, and a pinch of lemon zest. Don't overfill; a roll that bulges will split.
10. Lift the near edge of the mat with both hands and fold it over the filling, tucking the edge down firmly on the far side of the filling to create a tight core. Pull the mat back slightly, then continue rolling forward, squeezing gently and evenly through the mat. Moisten the bare nori border with a dab of vinegar water and press to seal. Rest the roll seam side down.
11. Repeat with the remaining nori and filling to make 4 rolls. Refrigerate the finished rolls, uncut and loosely covered, for 10 to 15 minutes — chilled cream cheese slices cleanly.
12. Slice with a long, very sharp knife: wipe the blade with a damp towel between every cut and use a single smooth pull-through stroke, no sawing. Trim the ends, then cut each roll in half, each half into 4 pieces, for 8 pieces per roll. Sprinkle with remaining sesame seeds and serve with soy sauce, pickled ginger, and wasabi.

Chef's tips

Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

More from Sprig Originals

One-Skillet Blackened Cajun Chicken Pasta

One-Pot Chicken Creole

Dark Roux Seafood Gumbo with Quick Shrimp Stock

Are you this recipe's original author or publisher? Report a problem