Avocado Hand Rolls

By Eric Kim

Published July 25, 2024

Avocado Hand Rolls
David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.
Total Time
35 minutes
Prep Time
5 minutes
Cook Time
30 minutes
Rating
5(206)
Comments
Read comments

A fresh pot of perfectly steamed white rice is always a good place to start any meal. Though you could use leftover rice for this recipe, there is no greater comfort than just-cooked rice, especially when it’s seasoned like sushi rice with salt, sugar and acid. Build a meal around that pot: Sushi rice tastes great when stuffed into sheets of roasted seaweed with rich, creamy avocado. You can also tuck sliced cucumber, imitation crab sticks or sushi-grade raw fish into these rolls. If you have an extra 10 seconds, don’t hesitate to whip up the spicy soy sauce and lime juice dipping sauce (see Tip).

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Ingredients

Yield:2 servings

    For the Sushi Rice

    • 1cup short-grain or medium-grain rice, such as sushi or Calrose
    • 2teaspoons sugar
    • 1teaspoon coarse kosher salt or fine sea salt
    • 4teaspoons rice vinegar

    For the Hand Rolls

    • 10 to 15grams gim or nori (roasted seaweed, often labeled “snack,” that comes in packets)
    • 1ripe avocado, thinly sliced
    • Lime wedges, for serving (optional)
    • Soy sauce, for serving (optional; see Tip)
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (2 servings)

538 calories; 15 grams fat; 2 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 10 grams monounsaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 91 grams carbohydrates; 7 grams dietary fiber; 5 grams sugars; 9 grams protein; 536 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Make the sushi rice: Rinse the rice in a sieve under cold running water, shaking constantly, for just a few seconds. Add to a medium pot with 1½ cups cold water and soak for 10 minutes. Bring the water to a simmer over high heat, then adjust the heat to very low, cover and continue simmering without peeking for 17 minutes.

  2. Step 2

    Remove from the heat, and as quickly as you can, open the lid, cover the pot with a clean kitchen towel and tamp on the lid again. Let the rice finish steaming, covered, until the grains are soft, distended and a little shiny, at least 10 minutes. Stir in the sugar, salt and rice vinegar.

  3. Step 3

    For the hand rolls: Serve the rice with the seaweed sheets and sliced avocado, spritzed with the optional lime. To eat, take a seaweed sheet in one hand, and with the other hand, add a small spoonful of rice to the seaweed and top with an avocado slice. Fold the seaweed around the fillings like a taco and dip in the soy sauce or dipping sauce (see Tip).

Tip
  • For a bright, flavorful dipping sauce for the hand rolls, stir together 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1 teaspoon fresh lime juice, a dash of granulated sugar and a pinch of shichimi togarashi.

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Ratings

5 out of 5
206 user ratings
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Comments

M.P.

Delicious. I loved the simplicity and the flavors (I used the soy lime dipping sauce and shaved cucumbers). My only problem was in the implementation. Even with just a teaspoon or two of rice my rolls were a total mess and I ultimately needed to turn them into little sandwiches to keep everything together. Next time I will use less avocado (just one slice!) and less cucumber. I will also not drizzle the soy lime sauce over the rice, as that seemed to affect the structural integrity of the rolls.

Shazziz

New meal in rotation. Adding sushi-grade fish was amazing and don't skimp on the dipping sauces! ERIK KIM DOES IT AGAIN!

Jane

This is an excellent toddler meal. Mine loved preparing the sushi rice with me and then making his “sushi tacos.” Will definitely make again with other filling options.

Barbara Paris

Absolutely delicious ! For some reason, this easy combination never occurred to me. It's a perfect vegan lunch. I had large sheets of nori which helped in getting a size to accommodate the rice and avocado. Even the rice was delicious -- I had never thought of adding rice vinegar, sugar and salt (I substituted Gomasio for the salt). Perfect dipping sauce -- I substituted piment Espelette). I'm glad that I found this recipe !

KP

I needed quite a bit less than the 10-15 grams of nori called for in this recipe. The package came with 10 8x8" sheets and each sheet was 2.2g. I used 1.5 sheets for half the recipe and got about 9 small hand size portions. Just enough to fit 1.5 Tbs of rice plus a sliver of avocado. I also made the dipping sauce with the DIY shichimi togarashi Eric referenced, and it’s what made this a five star recipe for me. Soy sauce, sugar, sesame seeds, sumac, cayenne pepper, ginger, black pepper and lime juice. Phenomenal punch of flavor! Sumac is my new favorite spice.

Meinmunich

Warned up a cold leftover rice with gim roasted myself without oil then wasabi smeared, avocado and canned tuna with shichimi togarashi sprinkled on, dipped in lime soy sauce. Delicious!

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