Do you want to surprise your loved ones or guests who should come to you soon? Then try making Dragon rolls, and my step-by-step photo recipe will help you a lot! And also at the very end of the article you will see a video recipe for the classic Dragon roll.
The Japanese dragon is a mythological creature with a writhing body, eight heads and three toes on each paw. The most famous legend in Japan is about the dragon Yamata no Orochi, who for seven years in a row ate one daughter of the earthly god Ashinazuchi, living in the country of Izumo. In the eighth year, the god Susanoo no Mikoto appeared, who agreed with the god Ashinazuchi to kill the dragon, asking his last daughter, Kushinada-hime, as a reward for this. So the hero Susanoo no Mikoto gave the dragon sake from eight barrels to drink, and when he got drunk and fell asleep, he cut him into small pieces. According to tradition, with the advent of the Year of the Dragon, it is customary in Japan to pay tribute to this powerful and dangerous creature. The dragon is kind to those who revere him. And you can express your respect for the ancient creation by reproducing it in the form of rolls.
Step-by-step photo recipe for making Dragon rolls
We will need:
- sushi rice (Japanese, round grain) - 350 g
- water - 360 ml
- ready-made sushi seasoning (or rice vinegar, sugar and salt) -80-100 ml
- dried nori seaweed
- smoked eel
- natural crab meat (or crab sticks)
- avocado
- bell pepper
- eel sauce (Unagi)
- sesame
- bamboo mat for making rolls (Makisu)
- cling film
Dragon rolls. Step by step photo recipe
Preparation:
So, we need to cook the rice and prepare all the ingredients for the sushi.
Tip: Since the rice should be warm when preparing sushi and so that it does not cool down while you prepare all the ingredients, I advise you to work on all the ingredients while the rice is preparing.
Cut crab sticks, avocado and bell pepper into strips. It is best, of course, not to take crab sticks, but natural crab meat, it will be more expensive, but the taste of the rolls will only benefit from this! You can use whatever filling you like inside the Dragon rolls. I really like the combination of salmon and cream cheese, and you can also add avocado here. At the restaurant I tried these rolls with the following filling: takuan, cucumber and cream cheese. There are many filling options, it’s your choice) And the most important thing is that the Dragon rolls are always topped with smoked eel.
Prepare smoked eel. In fact, the eel that is used to make rolls is not smoked, but fried!!! Why it is mistakenly called smoked is not clear) So, to prepare Dragon rolls, we need half an eel, and if you are preparing only one “Dragon” roll, and if you no longer prepare sushi and rolls from eel, then, without defrosting, cut off half of the eel and the other put it back in the freezer. Frozen eel can be stored for a long time, from several months to a year. Thaw the eel in advance, remove it from the freezer and let it sit for a while.
When it is not hard to the touch, you can open it and take it out of the package. You will see that the eel is covered in the sauce in which it was cooked. All the sauce must be carefully removed with a paper napkin, and if there is a lot of sauce (as in my photo), then carefully remove the sauce with a spoon, without damaging the eel, since its meat is very tender, and then blot it with a napkin.
Next, the eel needs to be cut into two halves exactly along the back. If you see bones remaining from the fins, be sure to cut them off. And look at what kind of skin the eel has, if it is very hard, then remove the skin from the eel, you can leave the soft one.
For our roll, choose one of the eel halves that is neater and more suitable for the Dragon look)
Prepare nori sheets. Of course, there is no need to cook them)) What I meant is that for our roll we only need half a whole sheet, or 2/3 of a sheet. Personally, I use half.
Take a whole sheet of Nori. And cut it in half.
From one of these halves of a Nori sheet we will prepare Dragon rolls. Wrap the Makisu bamboo mat in cling film. You can buy yourself one single bamboo mat for making Makisu rolls and simply wrap it in regular cling film before each use and use it as much as you like and it will always be clean. And after use you won’t even need to wash it, just remove the film and that’s it!!! I wrap the mat in film 5 times so that it definitely doesn’t unfold)) I didn’t know this before and used a mat without film, after use I washed it thoroughly, but still there were particles of rice, caviar, sesame and I had to buy a new one. But now I always use cling film and I advise you too!!!
So, we have all the ingredients prepared and this is how they should look like)
Let's start preparing the Dragon rolls
Take a Makisu bamboo mat and place half a sheet of Nori on it, smooth side down, on the part of the mat closest to you. To prepare Uramaki rolls (rolls with rice facing out), you need to use half a Nori sheet.
Now we need sushi rice and cold water, it is advisable to put a few slices of lemon in it.
We spread the rice on a Nori sheet in a thin layer (before taking part of the rice, be sure to wet your fingers in water each time, otherwise the rice will stick to your fingers) making an offset of 1-1.5 cm from you (this is necessary so that the finished roll does not there were snails on the cut). That is, do not place rice on the edge of the Nori closest to you (it remains free), but place it on the rest of the Nori and also place 1-1.5 cm of rice on the mat without Nori. Just spread the rice without pressing it with your fingers.
Now we need to turn over the Nori sheet. To do this, cover the Nori with rice with the other half of the mat. Turn the mat over with the Nori and rice, pressing lightly with your palm.
Unroll the mat. Rice should be on the bottom and Nori on top. Then put the filling in the middle of the Nori; in this roll I have crab sticks, avocado and bell pepper (you can use any).
Now we need to roll the roll tightly enough so that when cutting it does not lose its shape. To do this, lift the edge of the mat and at the same time hold the filling towards you with one hand, and with the other hand, wrap the roll so that the empty edges of the Nori are connected to each other, and the filling remains inside.
Next, pressing evenly on the mat, we roll the roll several times to make it evenly dense. And use a mat to give the roll a shape: round or square. But I prefer to make the Dragon rolls square, since the eel pieces stick to the roll better.
This is the Uramaki roll (roll with the rice facing out) that we made) In the same way we roll the “Philadelphia”, “California” rolls, etc., that is, rolls with the rice facing out.
Then place half of the eel on the roll so that both ends of the eel protrude beyond the roll. Wrap the eel roll with a mat and press firmly, but be careful not to damage the eel, as it is very delicate)
Then you need to cut our roll into 8 pieces. To do this, our KNIFE MUST BE VERY SHARP, otherwise, when slicing, the roll will fall apart or lose its beautiful appearance. It is advisable to sharpen the knife before slicing. To prevent the roll from falling apart, before each cutting, be sure to wet the knife in cold water and remove rice particles from the knife!!!
To do this, first cut the roll exactly in half. Place both halves of the eel next to each other. In order to make a large bend in the Dragon’s body when serving, the roll must be cut not into 6, but into 8 parts. And the outer pieces need to be made a little larger than the rest so that the head and tail of the Dragon rest on them better.
Now we put our Dragon roll on a beautiful Japanese plate. It would be better if the plate was larger than in my photo, so that our Dragon could be laid out more beautifully.
To make our “Dragon” roll look like a Dragon, we give it eyes, mustaches and horns. I cut out the eyes from avocados, and the horns and mustache from red bell peppers. I also made his eyes from small shrimp, and the mustache and horns from orange bell peppers. You can also cut out his paws. Experiment with the appearance of the Dragon, you can make it either an evil or a good Dragon) And your children can also take part in this exciting process! My daughter was just happy that she was helping me!)) And of course, me too))
To give our “Dragon” roll a finished look, you need to pour it with a special sauce for eel “Unagi” and sprinkle with sesame seeds (this time I forgot about sesame, of course))
Well, that’s it, finally our “Dragon” rolls are ready, admire what a little Dragon we got!)
And this little dragon turned out to be completely harmless and so sad ((
And here I got Dragons in Love!)) These are my favorite Dragons!!!
Dragon Roll is a luxurious Japanese dish with fried eel. The fish is placed on top of the rolls in such a way that it resembles the back of a dragon. As a rule, the Dragon roll is also decorated with unagi sauce.
| Product | Quantity |
| Short grain rice | 130 g |
| Rice vinegar | 20 ml |
| Nori seaweed | 1 sheet |
| Fried eel | 70 g |
| Crab meat | 40 g |
| Fresh salmon | 30 g |
| Japanese mayonnaise | 15 g |
| Flying fish roe | 40 g |
| Unagi sauce | 25 ml |
Dragon roll recipe
Boil the rice until the water is completely absorbed without opening the lid (before boiling - on high heat, after boiling - about 3 minutes on low). Mix it with wine vinegar and stir with a wooden spatula. Place a sheet of nori on the makisu with the rough surface facing inward. 
“Dragon” is an incredibly popular roll with eel slices. Place the rice and smooth it out with your hands. Separate the crab meat into large fibers. Cut the salmon into strips of medium thickness. Turn the nori sheet over with the rice side down and add crab meat, salmon and flying fish roe. Grease the filling with mayonnaise. Using a mat, roll the roll into a log and press with your hands.
Place a thick slice of eel on the top of the roll. Press into rice. Using a sharp knife dipped in water, cut the roll into portions. Drizzle with unagi sauce. Serve with ginger, soy sauce and wasabi.
In the mysterious Eastern culture, the dragon has long been considered not only a mythical creature about which legends are made, but also a symbol of powerful and divine power. Surprisingly, these creatures, it turns out, can differ in nationality! A distinctive feature of the Japanese dragon is the exact number of “toes” on its paws - there should be exactly three of them.
According to Japanese tradition, it is customary to pay tribute to this dangerous creature, so the image of a dragon can be found in various spheres of Japanese life. Of course, we don’t live in Japan, but sometimes we still want to plunge into this mysterious and unusual oriental atmosphere! So let’s prepare the Dragon roll together, and our recipe with photos will be of significant help in this!
Ingredients: 
- short grain rice - 1 cup;
- water - 1.5 cups;
- seasoning for sushi - 50-80 ml;
- nori - 2-3 sheets;
- fresh cucumber - 1 pc.;
- “Philadelphia” or any cream cheese without additives - 200 g.
For registration:
- smoked eel - about 500 g;
- red bell pepper - ¼ piece;
- fresh cucumber - several slices;
- sesame - 1 tbsp. spoon.
How to prepare rolls with eel
- First of all, to form the dish, prepare the rice. After thoroughly washing the rice grains, add water and boil according to the instructions described. Don’t forget to soak the finished rice in sushi dressing!
- While the base of the Japanese dish is cooling, let's prepare the equipment. Be sure to wrap the bamboo mat in cling film; for better fixation, you can secure the edges with adhesive tape. Cut the nori sheets in half using scissors or a sharp knife blade.
- We place one half of the nori sheet on a bamboo mat so that the rough side is on top. We take a portion of warm, but not hot rice and, tamping it, distribute it in an even thin layer without gaps. At the top we leave a space free from rice grains (about 1 cm), and at the bottom, on the contrary, we step the rice the same distance beyond the border of the nori (it turns out to be like shifting the rice layer over the surface of Japanese algae). Don’t forget to periodically wet your palms with water so that the rice does not stick to your fingers and interfere with your work.
- Turn the nori and rice over to the other side (the layer of rice grains should now be on the bottom). Stepping back 1.5-2 cm from the bottom edge, apply a portion of cream cheese (about 2 tablespoons) to the smooth surface of the seaweed. Place 2-3 thin strips of fresh cucumber nearby.
- Roll up the roll (for more details on how to do this, see the recipe). We place part of the eel on the formed roll so that both ends of the fish carcass protrude beyond the boundaries of our roll. Cut the workpiece into two halves.
- We divide each part into 4 equal-sized pieces. For this purpose, be sure to choose a very sharp knife - a dull blade will simply cause the roll to fall apart and lose its appearance. Periodically wet the knife in cold water and remove any remaining cream cheese and rice particles from it.
How to make a Dragon roll
- We lay out the roll in the shape of a dragon, sprinkle with sesame seeds if desired. The design of the dish can be arbitrary. In our example, the “eyes”, “paws” with three “fingers” and the “tongue” of the dragon are made from pieces of fresh cucumber. For the “pupils” we took black sesame seeds, and the “mustaches” were formed from red bell pepper.
Serve the Dragon roll like any Japanese sushi: with soy sauce, ginger and wasabi. Bon appetit!
Dragon Rolls are loved by many people due to the crispy texture of the shrimp tempura inside the roll. Since this recipe does not require raw fish, small children and pregnant women can also enjoy these rolls.
What are Dragon rolls?
Dragon rolls are rolls turned inside out. This means that the nori seaweed is on the inside and the rice is on the outside. Typically, these rolls have shrimp tempura and cucumber, and thinly sliced avocado is placed on top. , which resembles dragon scales.
There are several options for filling. For example, some restaurants use fried eel (unagi) instead of shrimp tempura.
Don't want to make rolls? Then order ready-made Banzai Sushi and it will be delivered to you as soon as possible.
Today, tempura shrimp is quite popular, and many American grocery stores sell pre-made frozen tempura shrimp. This option has one significant advantage - this tempura shrimp is crispy. This is usually quite difficult to achieve if done at home.
Once you buy pre-made frozen tempura shrimp, all you have to do is pop them in the oven (or microwave) for 20 minutes or so. And while the shrimp tempura is defrosting, you can do most of the prep work.
Of course, you can make your own shrimp tempura, it's not very difficult. In one of the following articles we will tell you how to do this.
Avocado. It may sound funny, but in my opinion, the most difficult part of making Dragon rolls is finding ripe avocados. To select the perfect avocado, look for those with darker skin color. Then gently squeeze the avocado in your palm and if it gives in to pressure (is soft to the touch), then you can buy it. If the avocado is hard, it will ripen only in a couple of days.
Cucumber. It is better to use Japanese cucumbers, which are long and slender. They have few seeds, making them ideal for sushi rolls. Persian cucumbers are very similar to these, so they are a great substitute. If you use other types of cucumbers, make sure to remove all seeds from them.
The word "sushi rice" outside Japan is sometimes used to refer to short grain Japanese rice. But in Japanese cuisine, sushi rice means steamed rice seasoned with sushi vinegar and used only for making sushi.
Perfectly cooked sushi rice is very important. For this you will need short grain Japanese rice. And don't forget about adding special vinegar. We will not dwell in detail on cooking rice, since we have repeatedly paid attention to this in previous articles.
Also, pay special attention to the amount of rice and filling in the rolls, as quite often the rolls end up with too much rice compared to the fillings.
Nori seaweed. I use half a sheet of nori for this recipe. However, if this does not seem enough to you, you can use 2/3 of a sheet of nori. However, keep in mind that you will then need more other ingredients.
Please use Japanese mayonnaise for this recipe. I believe this makes a difference in the final taste.
Although we only need a few tablespoons of unagi sauce, it is worth mentioning. If you can't find a bottle of unagi sauce at your local grocery store, try making your own. This seasoning will also be useful for other Japanese dishes.
Ingredients
You will need to purchase the following products for making rolls:
- Persian/Japanese (any) cucumber - 1 piece;
- avocado - 2 pieces;
- lemon (optional) - half;
- nori seaweed - 2 sheets (cut in half);
- sushi rice - 2 bowls (for one serving you will need half a bowl);
- tempura shrimp - 8 pieces;
- tobiko caviar - 2 teaspoons;
- unagi (eel) (optional).
Filling ingredients:
- spicy mayonnaise;
- unagi sauce;
- black sesame seeds (toasted).
Vinegar water for wetting hands (Tezu):
- 1/4 cup water;
- 2 tsp rice vinegar.
Recipe
1. Prepare all ingredients.
2. Cut the cucumber lengthwise. Remove the seeds from it and then cut it in half lengthwise again.
3. Cut the avocado in half around the core and rotate both halves to separate them from each other. Remove the nucleolus.
4. Peel the peel and cut the avocado into lengths.
5. Gently press down on the avocado slices with your fingers and then press down gently and evenly with a knife until the length of the avocado is equal to the length of the Nori seaweed. If after preparing sushi you will not eat it right away, it is recommended to sprinkle the avocado with lemon juice to prevent the fruit from changing color.
6. Wrap a bamboo mat in cling film and place half a sheet of nori on it, shiny side down. Wet your hands in tezu (vinegar water) and place 1/2 cup of sushi rice on a sheet of nori.
7. Turn it over and place the tempura shrimp, sliced cucumber and tobiko at the bottom of the nori sheet. If you want to add eel, then add that too.
8. From the bottom edge, begin rolling the nori sheet over the bamboo mat until the bottom end reaches the nori sheet. Lift the bamboo mat and turn it over.
9. Place the bamboo mat on top of the roll and compress the roll.
10. Using a knife blade, place the avocado on top of the roll.
11. Place cling film on top of the roll and then wrap it with a bamboo mat. Squeeze the roll tightly until the avocado pieces are wrapped around the sushi. Be careful not to damage the avocado pieces.
12. Cut the roll into 8 pieces with a knife. Clean the knife with a wet towel after each cut. Remove the plastic wrap and transfer the rolls to a serving plate.
13. Place tobiko caviar on each piece of rolls, add spicy mayonnaise and sprinkle black sesame seeds on top. If desired, spread unagi sauce on the plate. Enjoy!
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