I have to admit, I had never tried making sushi, let alone easy sushi burritos at home because the whole rolling thing intimidates me. But when I saw a recipe for them (rolled without a mat) on Goop.com recently, I figured I would give it a go. It’s a very laisser-faire kind of recipe, you can stuff them with whatever you like: raw fish, grilled beef, tofu, caramelized eggplant, guacamole, jalapeno, shredded cabbage, crumbled tortilla chips, tempura flakes, etc. In Dubai, I dare say we might even see chicken tandoori ones 😉 The only ingredients I would always include are the sushi rice and nori sheets.
In any case, I went ahead, roasted some salmon, cooked sushi rice, the kids cut up some veggies and we were good to go. They are quite easy to prepare, and make for a really tasty on-the-go lunch.
Ingredients (4 burritos)
- 8 nori sheets
- 1 cup of white/brown sushi rice (cooked as per instructions)
- Juice of half a lemon
- 1 avocado, sliced
- 400 grams of organic salmon fillet
- 2 cups of alfalfa sprouts
- 2 lebanese cucumbers, seeded and julienned
- 2 cups of baby spinach (or other greens you like)
- 1/4 cup of fresh coconut shavings (optional)
- 1/2 cup good quality mayo
- 1/2 tsp hot smoked paprika
- 1-2 tbsp sriracha sauce
- Salt, pepper
Instructions (video is here)
1. Mix mayo with smoked paprika and sriracha. Keep it in the fridge until ready for use.
2. Place salmon in a baking dish, add salt, pepper and the lemon juice
3. Cook the salmon in a 350 F degree oven for about 15 minutes
4. When cooked, let it cool and break it up with a fork. Discard the skin. Let cool.
5. Take 2 sheets of nori for each roll. Dab some water on 1 inch of one nori sheet and superpose the second one on it so as to make a longer sheet.
6. Put around 3/4 – 1 cup of rice on the half the “long” sheet so that half of it so that it has a 1 cm (no more) coating of rice
7. Place 100 grams of the broken up salmon on one end of the sheet, then add some alfalfa sprouts, avocado, coconut, cucumber and spinach on the rice. Top it off with a 2 tbsp of the spicy mayo.
8. You are now ready to roll the nori sheet. The full half of the sheet should be closer to you. Grab the end closest to you and fold it over all the ingredients, trying to make a tight roll (it is really key to make a tight roll otherwise all the toppings will come out when you eat it – this is why people use sushi mats but you can do fine without it too). To close the roll, ensure you put some water at the edge (around 2-3 cm wide) of the roll so that it sticks.
9. Cut in half and serve
