dragon roll sushi recipe – use real butter (2024)

Recipe: dragon roll sushi

The Daring Cooks are making sushi this month! We have done quite a bit of sushi making (and more eating) here at urb so I was quite excited for the selection. Even with the familiarity, I was hard pressed for time to get this done. Because of that, it is with great sadness and yet relief that I am withdrawing from the Daring Cooks. This will be my last DC challenge.

I really have to thank the ladies of the DARING KITCHEN: beloved Lis of La Mia Cucina and sweet Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice. These two fine women give and give and give to all of the Daring Cooks (and Bakers). I don’t know how they do it, but I admire them for their love and enthusiasm, and especially for their friendship. Thanks, you beautiful babes!

Here’s the official line: The November 2009 Daring Cooks challenge was brought to you by Audax of Audax Artifex and Rose of The Bite Me Kitchen. They chose sushi as the challenge.

And once again, I colored outside of the lines which is probably why I should be leaving the DCs… I didn’t use their sushi recipe, I used the one I always use because we had a very small window of time to get this done. But I still learned a new technique and the sushi totally rocked (because it always does). I decided to try my hand at tempura frying based on this recipe from Allison who does all things sushi-related.

I think the biggest barrier to making tempura for me has always been the mystery of how to do it. Allison’s recipe is SUPER easy to throw together and so the true hurdle in tempura is the frying. I hate frying, but the more I do it, the more I lose my dread of it. We decided to tempura fry some alba clamshell mushrooms, asparagus, and shrimp. I didn’t have any softshell crab on hand, but tempura shrimp in a roll is another favorite of mine.

The challenge required that we make three kinds of sushi: nigiri, maki, and dragon roll (a reverse maki with avocado). The only new thing for me was the dragon roll (avocado on the outside) so I decided to toss the tempura in for the extra challenge – because it’s all about learning something new, right?

I think next time I tempura fry shrimp, I’ll use a glass instead of a bowl for the dipping because it will be easier to quickly coat the whole shrimp that way. I also think I used too little flour. I sort of sift my flour and think that I wind up using less flour (since it’s given in cups rather than in weight).

The shrimp came out nicely, but there wasn’t that lovely golden tempura fluffiness on it. Just a very thin shell of tempura. I added another 1/4 cup of flour to thicken it up and the asparagus seemed to do better with that batter.

To see how I roll reverse maki, you can check out my not so special roll (yes, that is the name, but it rocks). Once the ensemble is tightly rolled up, I layered thin slices of avocado on the plastic wrap and set the roll on top. Then I carefully rolled it up again (plastic wrap is totally your friend on this one). After it is nice and rounded, keep the plastic over the roll and using a sharp (very sharp) knife, slice through the plastic to cut the roll.

But the fun didn’t end there. For my nigiri, I had lovely maguro from my favorite team at the Boulder Whole Foods and I also made one of my favorite things to order at the sushi bar: masago with quail egg. Just for kicks, I also made a spicy scallop nigiri (scallop, mayonnaise, masago, and some sriracha).

Finally, for the regular maki, I loaded a roll (rice on the inside) with masago, spicy scallop, spicy tuna, and avocado. I had the asparagus tempura in there, but it was too fat, so… we ate them :) The roll was terrific even without the asparagus tempura!

Thanks to our hosts for the great challenge. Most of all, thanks to Lis and Ivonne and all of my lovely Daring Cooks. I’ll miss you guys, but it’s been great fun! xxoo

Dragon Roll Sushi
[print recipe]
for Daring Cooks details, you can find the recipe here

1 sheet toasted nori
1 cup prepared sushi rice (the method I use)
2-3 tbsps spicy scallop filling
2-3 tempura fried shrimp
3 slices of avocado (each slice 1/16th of a whole avocado)
1-2 tbsps masago (flying fish roe)
daikon sprouts
1 avocado, sliced thin

tempura shrimp
from Sushi Day
assorted items to tempura
1 cup ice cold water
1 large egg
1 cup flour
1/8 tsp baking soda
cooking oil

Make the tempura: In a bowl, mix the water and the egg together. In another bowl, mix the flour and baking soda together. Stir dry mix into the wet mix until combined – lumps are okay. Place the batter in the refrigerator while preparing the items to tempura. For the shrimp, I peeled and deveined them, then made little cuts across the belly to keep the shrimp from curling during cooking. I actually skewered each shrimp on a medium bamboo skewer for frying to ensure straightness. Heat the oil to about 350°F. A drop of batter should sizzle and float to the top right away. Dip the ingredients in the batter, coating completely, and then fry until one side is golden brown and flip. Fry until golden and remove to paper towel to drain. Remove the skewers and serve.

Assemble the Dragon Roll: Working on a sheet of plastic wrap layered over a bamboo sushi mat, moistened your hands with water and gently distribute the rice over the bottom 3/4 of the nori. Flip the nori over so the rice is on the bottom and align your ingredients (all except the thin sliced avocado) on the non-rice part of the nori along the length of the sheet. Stack them neatly on top of one another. Roll the un-riced part of the nori over the ingredients, taking care to keep it tight and contained. When the nori has encased all of the ingredients, use the bamboo mat/plastic to help you continue rolling up the maki until it is cylindrical and the rice encases the entire outer layer of the maki. Set the maki aside and arrange the avocado slices across the plastic wrap long enough to cover the length of the maki. Place the roll on top of the avocado and use the plastic and bamboo mat to roll the maki, this time pressing the avocado onto the roll. Gently shape it to round out any corners. Squeeze from the ends inward a tad to keep fillings from falling out. Lay the plastic over the roll and with a sharp knife that has been dipped in water, slice the roll into 8 equal segments. It helps to clean the knife between cuttings. Remove the plastic and serve.

November 14th, 2009: 9:55 am
filed under asian, daring cooks, dinner, grains, recipes, savory, seafood, spicy, sushi, vegetables