Red Dragon Sushi Recipes

DRAGON ROLLS

Steps:

• Gather all the ingredients.
• Cut the cucumber lengthwise into quarters. Remove the seeds and then again cut in half lengthwise into thin strips. You will have 8 strips.
• Cut an avocado in half lengthwise around the pit and twist the two halves until they separate. Use a spoon to remove the pit. Alternatively, you can remove the pit with your knife, but you must take great care not to use too much force or you could cut your hand. First, hold the avocado half in your palm; it's best to hold it with a folded kitchen towel to protect your hand. Next, very gently tap the heel of your knife into the pit with just enough pressure that the knife embeds in the pit. Then, twist the knife and the pit will come out smoothly. Repeat with the remaining avocado.
• Remove the skin and thinly slice the avocado halves crosswise.
• Gently press the avocado slices with your fingers so the individual slices begin to slide and separate. Keep pressing gently and evenly with the side of the knife until the length of the sliced avocado half is about the length of a sushi roll (or a sheet of nori seaweed.) If you don't serve the sushi roll right away, I recommend squeezing lemon over the avocado to prevent discoloration. Repeat with the other avocado halves.
• Line the bamboo mat with plastic wrap and place half of the nori sheet on top, shiny side down. Dip your hands in the tezu (vinegar water) and spread ½ cup sushi rice over the nori sheet.
• Flip over the nori sheet with the rice on it. Place two pieces of the shrimp tempura, two cucumber strips, and some tobiko at the bottom end of the nori sheet closest to you.
• From the bottom end, start rolling the nori sheet over the filling tightly and firmly with the bamboo mat until the bottom edge reaches the nori sheet. Lift the bamboo mat and roll over the remaining nori.
• Place the bamboo mat over the top and tightly squeeze the roll.
• Remove the bamboo mat and plastic wrap from the sushi roll. Using the side of the knife, lift the avocado slices from one half and place them on top of the roll. If you'd like to use unagi, alternate avocado and unagi slices and layer them to cover the top and sides of the roll.
• Replace the plastic wrap over the roll and put the bamboo mat over the top. Tightly squeeze the roll through the bamboo mat until the avocado slices wrap around the roll. Be gentle so you don't break the avocado slices. Remove the mat.
• Cut the roll through the plastic wrap into 8 pieces with the knife. Clean your knife with a wet towel after each cut. If the roll gets messy while cutting, tightly squeeze the sushi roll again with the bamboo mat. Remove the plastic wrap on top of the sushi and transfer the sushi pieces to a serving plate. Repeat to make the remaining rolls.
• Put some tobiko on each piece of sushi and drizzle spicy mayo and sprinkle black sesame seeds on top. If you'd like, place some unagi sauce on the plate so you can dip the sushi. Enjoy!

CALIFORNIA SUSHI ROLL RECIPE

Steps:

• Wrap the sumaki with plastic wrap. This will prevent rice from sticking on to the surface of the sumaki. Place the half sheet of nori horizontally. Lightly wet your hands, and cover the nori with layer of rice. TIP: It is better to make a narrow rice ball the length of the nori first, and place the rice ball on the bottom edge and spread the rice by pushing the rice towards the upper portion of the nori.
• Sprinkle sesame seeds as desired. After the rice is evenly spread out, flip the nori, so that the rice side is facing the sumaki, and the nori side is facing up. Place your ingredients in the bottom portion of the nori (not too close to the bottom edge). TIP: Mix crab meat with mayo to make a dressing. For imitation crab, dice up the imitation crab into smaller pieces first before making a dressing.
• Using the sumaki, fold the bottom portion inwards so that it covers the ingredients. It is ideal to have about an inch or inch and half of nori left over (you do not want to over stuff the roll).
• Apply pressure on the sumaki so that the roll is tight, and continue to wrap the remaining portion. The inside ingredients should be wrapped about 1.5 times, rather than just once.
• When cutting the roll, place the roll out of the sumaki onto a cutting board. Moisten the knife with a wet towel, and cut it into halves first. Then, line up the two halves and cut it into 3 evenly spaced pieces so that you will get a total of 6 pieces from a single roll. TIP: When cutting a sushi roll, do not attempt to "chop" it by pressing hard. Rather begin with the front edge of the knife, and while pressing down, pull the knife backwards towards you, so that you are "slicing" it. It will prevent the roll of being squashed and give you a cleaner cut.

DRAGON ROLL

Steps:

• Rinse rice in a strainer until water runs clear.
• Combine rice and water in a saucepan; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook until rice is tender and water is absorbed, about 20 minutes.
• Combine rice vinegar, sugar, and salt in a small saucepan over low heat; stir until sugar is dissolved, 1 to 2 minutes. Pour over rice; stir until rice cools and looks dry.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease a baking sheet with cooking spray.
• Arrange shrimp tempura on the baking sheet.
• Bake in the preheated oven until golden and crispy, about 6 minutes per side. Cut tails off 4 of the tempura shrimp.
• Cover a bamboo sushi rolling mat with plastic wrap. Lay 1 sheet of nori, shiny-side down, on the plastic wrap. Spread 1 cup rice on top using moistened fingers, leaving a 1/3-inch border. Flip nori so rice is facing the mat.
• Arrange imitation crabmeat and cucumber along the bottom edge of the nori sheet. Place 2 tail-off shrimp in the center of the nori sheet. Place 2 tail-on shrimp on the end so that the tails extend over the sides of the sheet. Lift the edge of the mat and roll up nori into a tight log around filling.
• Transfer sushi roll to a serving plate. Layer avocado and unagi slices on top to cover the top and sides of the roll. Slice roll into 8 pieces using a moistened knife. Repeat with remaining nori, rice, crabmeat, cucumber, avocado, and unagi to make a second roll.