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- Place a piece of plastic wrap over your bamboo rolling mat.
- Lay out one sheet of seaweed length-wise (hot dog-style) on a bamboo rolling mat.
- Place a horizontal line of prepared sushi rice in the middle of the seaweed. Leave about 1/2 an inch on the top and bottom.
- Spread out the sushi rice so that it fills most of the sheet of seaweed, but leave about 1/2 an inch on all sides.
- Add toppings symmetrically to ensure that each bite will contain equal amounts of topping. Lay out the toppings horizontally and evenly. (Be careful not to add so many toppings that the roll will be too fat to roll.)
- Leave about 3/4 of an inch on the top and the bottom.
- Add sauces if desired.
- Use your hands to tentatively roll the sushi.
- Finish rolling with the bamboo mat, by rolling up and over. (Note: if you are having problems rolling the sushi seaweed, one way you can make this easier is by pressing one end of the seaweed a little bit into the toppings to make nonojimaki; this makes for easier rolling, although it may offer a less impressive display.)
- Moisten the inside ends of the seaweed with a little bit of water to help the roll stick together.
- Place a piece of plastic wrap over the sushi roll.
- Tighten the roll again with your bamboo sushi mat.
- Find a sharp knife and cut the roll all the way through, into individual pieces.
- Experiment with different cutting orders and methods to find which works best for you. One way that may be easier is cutting the sushi at different points (think: tattoo artist switching up which part of the body he or she is working on, as opposed to constantly working on the same area), and it may help the sushi stay together.
- Try starting by cutting the sushi in half, then into fourths, then into half from there. This will also help eliminate the problem of ending up with too many sushi pieces that are too thin (and will subsequently fall apart).
- Sushi roll pieces vary in width, but making each piece a little under 3/4 of an inch is a good place to start.
- Remove plastic wrap and eat your sushi, sushi chef!
