Mochi Sushi Part II (Maki)

This post was originally published as a guest post on Just Bento.

This is part II of the Mochi Sushi Series.  You can find Part I here:

Part II: Maki Rolls
Maki rolls are just a bit trickier than the nigiri mochi sushi.  It helps if you have some experience making normal sushi rolls.

These maki rolls are made with soy wrappers by the company Yamamotoyama.  You can either buy a variety pack with various colors (5 sheets), or buy bulk packs (10 sheets of a single color).  All soy wrappers are naturally colored, spinach for green and paprika for orange one (and I think beets for pink, but I did not buy the pink one).  The small amounts of coloring agents do not affect the flavor.  I bought my soy wrappers online at Asianfoodgrocer.com, which actually has a pretty good price for the bulk packs (unfortunately they do not carry the variety pack, but you can get that on Amazon).

Make mochi according to the microwave recipe described in Mochi Sushi Part I.  Now, instead of taking out small chunks like we did for the nigiri, try to lift the entire sheet with a spatula and gently lay it down on a soy wrapper.  I divided the sheet I had made into two pieces so I could lay it across the soy wrapper.

Fill with your filling of choice.  In this case, I used some leftover mung bean soup I had made.  You can also use fruit (see pictures below using mango), red bean paste, black sesame paste, or crushed peanuts.  Roll as you would normal sushi.  With the soy wrappers, you need to use a bit of water to seal the roll.

Slice with a wet knife and serve! I used the end pieces to make the stand up maki pieces with the blackberry on top.

These taste the best when they are freshly made. I tried refrigerating them, but they become a bit harder and lose that nice, chewy texture. The soy wrappers have a very mild hint of soy flavor. I would recommend using a strongly flavored filling to mask any hint of the soy aroma if it bothers you. The wrappers do lose this aroma over time.  I noticed that I did not smell the soy flavor after keeping the maki in the refrigerator overnight.

Enjoy!