Dungeness Crab, Avocado, and Cucumber Sushi in Soy Wrappers

Yesterday I promised you crab sushi, and today I deliver!  I guess these are basically a California Roll, or a Spicy California Roll since I add chili sauce.  Eric and I love sushi, so it just seemed right to make it with our leftover crab.  There are two reasons that I don’t make sushi very often.  The first is that sushi is a lot easier for someone inexperienced like me to make when it’s a nori (or seaweed) wrapped roll.  The second is that Eric doesn’t like sushi wrapped in nori.  Fortunately, I learned about soy wrappers, which totally changes the sushi ballgame.

I first heard about these wrappers several months ago, but didn’t really want to spend the money on something that I wasn’t sure I would like.  Then I was offered a $30 coupon to AsianFoodGrocer.com and was so excited to see they had soy wrappers!  I was able to buy a few items that I’ve been wanting to try for a while (I’ll share another with you tomorrow).  I’m glad to finally share this site with all of you because several people have e-mailed me asking where they can get Asian ingredients if there’s not an Asian grocery store nearby.  This is the site I’ve been recommending, and no, I don’t get any perks for referring you to them 🙂

I was pretty impressed with the soy wrappers, they’re still delicate like nori, but have a much milder taste and texture.  Eric was happy with them which was my main goal.  One important thing to keep in mind when rolling sushi is to not try to stuff too much in your sushi roll.  That’s when the wrapper will break.  You also want to make sure to roll it nice and tight, giving it a good squeeze to ensure that it will hold together when you cut it.  The recipe makes 8-10 pieces once you cut the roll, and we had enough crab meat from 3 legs to make one roll.  You can also use canned crab but make sure to get the kind that has the crab wrapped in paper to avoid a metallic taste.  If you’re using crab leftover from Dungeness Crab in Black Pepper Asian Sauce, I suggest drizzling leftover sauce over your sushi, rather than dipping it in soy sauce.

Spicy Dungeness Crab Sushi

Ingredients

1/2 cup cooked short grain rice
2-3 TBS rice vinegar
1/4-1/2 cup cooked crab meat
1 tsp mayonnaise
1/8 tsp sriracha chili sauce
1/8 tsp mirin
1 soy wrapper
1 cucumber spear cut to length of wrapper
1/2 avocado thinly sliced
2 green onions

Instructions

Spread cooked rice out in a jelly roll pan.  Sprinkle it with the rice vinegar and fold around with a spatula, use just enough vinegar to make the rice a little less sticky.  Cover the pan of rice while you prepare the crab.

Mix crab meat, mayonnaise, sriracha and mirin.  Use your fingers to spread rice in a thin layer on the soy wrapper, leaving a 1/2 to 1 inch margin on the long sides of the wrapper.  Spread the crab mixture over the rice, lay cucumber spear down the middle, lay the avocado and green onions on both sides of the cucumber.

Take one long side of the wrapper and begin carefully rolling it tightly toward the other long side.  Once it’s completely rolled, carefully squeeze the length of the roll.  Slice it into 8-10 pieces (a santoku knifeworks best).  Serve with shoyu or black pepper Asian sauce.

Approximate cost/serving: It’s about $2 of crab meat, and though a package of soy wrappers can be a little pricey, there are 20 wrappers so it comes out affordable.  The whole roll is about $2.65 to make, it can serve two with some edamame (soy beans) and miso soup on the side.  So $1.33 a serving (way cheaper than a restaurant!)

Gluten Free: Most people with Celiac Disease are also negatively affected by soy.  Better safe then sorry, go for gluten free nori (seaweed) sheets instead.