Dragon Roll Recipe

Learn how to make your all-time favorite Dragon Roll at home! In this recipe, we will talk about the key ingredients and tips & tricks to make the perfect sushi roll.

Many of you asked me what is my favorite sushi roll, and my answer is always Dragon Roll.  I really love the crunchy texture of shrimp tempura inside the dragon roll.  Since raw sashimi-grade fish is not required for this recipe, small children and pregnant women can enjoy this sushi roll at home!

 

What is Dragon Roll?

The dragon roll is an inside-out sushi roll, which means nori wraps around the ingredients inside and the sushi rice is on the outside. Typically, there is shrimp tempura and cucumber inside the roll, and thinly sliced avocado is placed on top of the roll resembling the scales of a dragon.  There are a few versions of this roll, for example some restaurants put grilled eel (unagi) inside the roll instead of shrimp tempura.

Ingredients

·         1 Persian/Japanese cucumbers

·         2 avocados

·         1/2 lemon (optional)

·         2 sheets nori (seaweed) (cut in half crosswise)

·         2 cups sushi rice (Recipe) (each roll needs 1/2 cup sushi rice)

·         8 pieces shrimp tempura (Recipe)

·         2 Tbsp Tobiko (frying fish roe) (2 Tbsp = 20g)

·         unagi (eel) (optional)

For toppings

·         Spicy Mayo (Recipe)

·         Unagi Sauce (Recipe)

·         black sesame seeds (roasted/toasted)

Vinegar water for dipping hands (Tezu)

·         1/4 cup water

·      2 tsp rice vinegar

Instructions

1.    Gather all the ingredients.

2.    Cut cucumber lengthwise into quarter. Remove the seeds and then cut in half lengthwise.

3.    Cut the avocado in half lengthwise around the seed and twist the two halves until they separate. Hack the knife edge into the pit. Hold the skin of the avocado with the other hand and twist in counter directions. The pit will come out smoothly.

4.    Remove the skin and slice the avocado widthwise.

5.    Gently press the avocado slices with your fingers and then keep pressing gently and evenly with the side of knife until the length of avocado is about the length of sushi roll (length of nori seaweed). If you don't serve the sushi roll right away, I recommend squeezing lemon over the avocado to prevent from changing color.

6.    Wrap the bamboo mat with plastic wrap and place half of the nori sheet, shiny side down. Dip your hands in tezu (vinegar water) and spread 1/2 cup sushi rice over the nori sheet.

7.    Turn it over and put the shrimp tempura, cucumber strips, and tobiko at the bottom end of the nori sheet. If you like to put unagi, place inside here as well.

8.    From the bottom end, start rolling nori sheet over the filling tightly and firmly with bamboo mat until the bottom end reaches the nori sheet. Lift the bamboo mat and roll over.

9.    Place the bamboo mat over the roll and tightly squeeze the roll.

10.Using the side of knife, place the avocado on top of the roll.

11.Place plastic wrap over the roll and then put bamboo mat over. Tightly squeeze the roll until the avocado slices wrap around the sushi. Be gentle so you won’t break the avocado slices.

12.Cut the roll into 8 pieces with knife. Clean knife with wet towel after each cut. If the roll got messy while cutting, tightly squeeze the sushi roll again with the bamboo mat. Remove the plastic wrap on top of the sushi and transfer to a serving plate.

13.Put tobiko on each piece of sushi and drizzle spicy mayo and sprinkle black sesame seeds on top. If you like, put some unagi sauce on the plate so you can dip the sushi. Enjoy!

Recipe Notes

Equipment you will need:

·         Bamboo sushi mat

·         Plastic wrap

·         Sharp knife