Sushi Burritos: an exercise in making my own dreams come true. Also within the category of being my own dream maker: making short ribs (really any ribs at all), making angel food cake (it as fluffy as dreams), and jelly-filled donuts.
I’ve missed sushi since I left beach life in Southern California. Sure… if you live with me here in Southern Louisiana you might have the spot-on, top-secret sushi spot that I’ve missed. If so, feel free to tell me what’s what. There’s something about the sushi on the west coast… it might have something to do with the sea air and the pretension, but it’s satisfying and I miss it. When that longing kicks in, now I have sushi burritos to turn to… a totally over-the-top / mayonnaise-present alternative… that, or a bowl of jambalaya because it’s New Orleans and we might as well bloom where we’re planted.
Fresh fried shrimp, all sorts of veggies, sweet seasoned sticky rice, and nori paper AND AT HOME! Dream life we’re living, it’s true.
Photos by Jon Melendez.
This was my first sushi rice adventure. It’s essential for these giant rolls. The sticky sweet and sour quality will be our glue.
Sushi rice is made by rinsing short grain (often called sushi) rice. It’s rinsed of starches and then boiled until fluffy.
The rice is left to steam in the cooking pan and rest to room temperature before a vinegar and sugar mixture is poured over the room temperature rice.
The vinegar and sugar is for seasoning and texture. Stir well, almost flapping the rice against the sides of the bowl as the vinegar mixture absorbs. Super official.
With the rice prepared and waiting, bring together the tempura batter. I bought tempura batter mix from the grocery because I’m a grown (lazy?) adult, but tempura batter is basically flour, cornstarch, leavening, and cold water. Choose your own adventure.
Shrimp is seasoned then lightly coated in cornstarch before it’s dipped in the tempura batter and fried to juuuust golden.
With all of our veggies slices and rice seasoned… it’s time IT’S TIME!
Prep is key. Have all your veggies sliced and blanched.
Rice is added to a piece of nori. It’s stick so approach this situation with moistened fingertips.
Use moistened finger tips to spread rice to a thin layer creating a 1/4-inch frame inside the nori sheet.
The key to filling these big ol’ roles is that lesssss is more, which is weird to me.
Two or three avocado slices will do. I went a little overboard here and hindsight is 20/20.
Add the toppings that make you happy.
Carrots and cucumber adds color and crunch.
Blanched asparagus and fresh radishes. Scallions if you’re down. Jalapeños because you’re adventurous.
Mayonnaise combined with spicy sriracha sauce because what’s a burrito without a little bit of saucy sauce? Nada. We need it!
Fried shrimp, sriracha mayonnaise and sprinkles of sesame seeds! This is success.
This is the part we have to remember to breathe. Think of this as a roll and shove manuever. Your index finger and thumb do the rolling while the other are on crowd control. Don’t hesitate… just go for it.
Wrangle.
And press lightly to seal.
Slice the rolls in half and marvel and your success!
I mixed wasabi paste with soy sauce and served the extra sriracha mayonnaise on the side. These are dream come true! So fun to make and incredibly satisfying to make. Call everyone… this is a party move.
Tempura Shrimp Sushi Burritos
- Prep Time: 60
- Total Time: 1 hour
Ingredients
For the Sushi Rice
- 2 cups short-grain sushi rice
- 2 cups water
- 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
- 1/4 cup rice vinegar
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon salt
For the Tempura Shrimp
- 1 cup tempura batter mix
- 3/4 cup cold water
- 1 pound shrimp, deveined and tails removed
- salt and pepper
- 1/2 cup cornstarch
- vegetable or canola oil, for frying
For the Burritos
- 8 sushi nori sheets
- 1 ripe avocado, pitted and thinly sliced
- 10 blanched and cooled asparagus spears
- sliced cucumber
- sliced red pepper
- thinly sliced carrots
- sliced radishes
- thinly sliced jalapeno
- soy sauce
- wasabi paste
- 1/3 cup mayonnaise + 1 1/2 tablespoons sriracha
Instructions
- To make the sushi rice, place rice in a fine mesh strainer and run under cool water for 2 minutes, until the starch rinses away and the water runs clear. Transfer rice to a medium saucepan and top with 2 cups water. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cover, lower heat, and simmer until water is completely absorbed (be sure not to lift the lid off the pan), for about 20 minutes. Remove from heat, keep the rice covered and allow to steam and cool for 15 minutes. Remove the lid, fluff rice and allow to cool completely.
- In a small saucepan, stir together white wine vinegar, rice vinegar, sugar and salt. Heat until the sugar and salt are just dissolved. Remove from the heat and allow to cool to room temperature.
- Transfer rice to a large bowl. Lightly drizzle half of the vinegar mixture over the rice and use a spoon or spatula to stir the seasoning into the rice. Add the remaining seasoning, stirring to combine, creating a slightly sticky rice.
- Allow to rest while you make the tempura shrimp.
- To make the shrimp, in a medium bowl whisk together tempura batter mix, and a big pinch of salt and pepper. Whisk in the cold water until smooth and let sit for 10 minutes. Place shrimp in a bowl and season with salt and pepper.
- In a medium skillet over medium heat, add oil about 2-inches deep. Add a fry thermometer and heat to 350 degrees F.
- To fry the shrimp, toss shrimp very lightly in cornstarch. Shake off excess cornstarch and lightly coat in batter and transfer to hot oil. I added about 8 shrimp to the pan, so cooking in batches is best. Heat until lightly golden brown, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack over a piece of paper towel until ready to assemble.
- To make the burritos, place a sheet of nori on the counter. Spoon about 1/3 cup of rice onto the nori and use clean, damp hands to press the rice to about 1/4-inch to the edges of the nori. Starting on the left side, layer the toppings next to one another adding two slices of avocado, asparagus, cucumber, red peppers, carrots, radishes, and jalapenos.
- Layer across the rice to cover about half of the sushi. Top with three shrimp.
- Drizzle with sriracha mayonnaise (I used a small pastry bag with the tip cut off).
- Carefully (this is the tricky part) roll into one giant roll, using the rice to help the edges stick. Slice in half and continue to make more burritos. Enjoy with soy sauce and wasabi cream!
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 4
