rayrayisHAPPY
GalleryOriginalsrayraytoonsStoriesMerchAboutContact
Commissions
Recipe

Deep-Fried Crab and Avocado Roll

it's sushi time again! everyone invited

The entire roll goes in the fryer. Not pieces of it, not a filling — the roll, made, rolled, chilled, and then dropped whole into hot oil.

Two rules make it work and both are about temperature. The roll goes in cold, straight from the fridge, and the oil is hot, 375°F. Ninety seconds. The outside crisps before the inside has time to warm up, and the avocado inside is still cool when you cut it.

Cut it with a wet serrated knife and cut it thick. Thin pieces fall apart.

Makes
2 rolls
Hands-on
45 minutes
Chill
30 minutes before frying
Fry
90 seconds at 375°F

Roll them, chill them hard, fry at the last minute. They are at their best about two minutes after they come out.

Tempura crab roll with two plates behind
Shot the night it was made. Open the picture for the full photograph.

What you need

The roll

  • 3 cups seasoned sushi rice, cooled
  • 4 sheets nori
  • 8 oz crab meat or surimi, mixed with 3 tbsp mayonnaise
  • 1 avocado, sliced
  • 1 cucumber, in batons (from my garden)

The batter

  • 1 cup flour
  • 1 cup ice-cold sparkling water
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1/2 cup cornflour, for dusting the roll
  • Oil for deep frying

To finish

  • Eel sauce
  • Sriracha mayonnaise
  • Sesame seeds
  • Sliced spring onion

How it goes

  1. 1 — Roll them tight, rice inside the nori

    For a fried roll the rice goes INSIDE, nori outside. The nori is the skin that holds everything together in the oil; rice on the outside falls off into the fryer.

  2. 2 — Seal the edge with a wet finger

    A damp fingertip along the far edge of the nori before the last turn. Any gap is where oil gets in.

  3. 3 — Chill the whole rolls for thirty minutes

    Wrapped in plastic, in the fridge, firm. A room-temperature roll goes soft in the oil and bursts. This is the step that decides whether it works.

  4. 4 — Dust in cornflour, then batter

    Unwrapped, rolled in cornflour so the batter clings, then turned in the cold lumpy batter until covered.

  5. 5 — 375°F, ninety seconds, turned once

    Hot and fast. The outside sets gold and the middle stays cool. Longer and the avocado turns to warm paste.

    pro tip — Fry one roll at a time. Two will drop the oil temperature forty degrees and you will get a soggy, oil-logged roll instead of a crisp one.

  6. 6 — Rest two minutes on a rack, then cut thick

    Wet serrated knife, six thick pieces per roll, sawing rather than pressing. Wipe and re-wet the blade between cuts.

  7. 7 — Zigzag the sauces across the plate

    Eel sauce in one direction, sriracha mayonnaise in the other, sesame and spring onion over the top.

Sushi time again. Everyone invited, even if I forgot to shout you out. LFG.

More of what comes out of this kitchen on the food wall.

Every picture on this page is one of mine. I paint for a living the rest of the time — that is the gallery, and the originals are for sale.