Tempura Prawn Rolls is the 2nd most popular sushi in Australia. The fillings in my Tempura Prawn Rolls are tempura prawns (home-made) and shredded cucumbers, with a small amount of mayonnaise.
- 240g/8.5oz sushi rice (note 1)
- 1 sheet yaki nori (roasted seaweed sheet), halved
- 1-2 tbsp tobiko (seasoned flying fish roe)
- 4 prawn tempura (about 10cm/4" long, 2cm/¾" thick, note 2)
- 3 tbsp cucumber julienned
- Mayonnaise (I like Kewpie mayo)
- A sushi rolling mat (bamboo mat) wrapped in cling wrap (note 3)
- A cup of water mixed with 1 tablespoon of vinegar
- A sharp knife
- A wet kitchen towel to wipe the knife
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Remove the tail of your tempura prawns, but leave two prawns with the tail intact (note 4).
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Place a piece of yaki nori on a sushi rolling mat.
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Wet your hands with the vinegar water in the bowl, take ½ of the sushi rice and make an oval ball.
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Place the rice in the centre of the yaki nori sheet and spread the rice in all directions, covering the entire yaki nori. Ensure that the rice evenly covers the yaki nori sheet, and do not press the rice down too hard.
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Evenly spread tobiko using a spoon all over the rice.
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Turn the rice with yaki nori over, facing the yaki nori up, and place it to the edge of the rolling mat closer to you.
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Thinly spread the julienned cucumber horizontally in the centre of the yaki nori, pipe mayonnaise out along the cucumber.
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Place 1 prawn tempura without tail and 1 with tail horizontally on the mayonnaise. The tail should stick out of the edge of the sushi base (see the photo and video).
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Using the thumb and index finger of both hands, hold the end of the mat and lift it up.
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Keeping the thumbs on the mat, place your fingers on the fillings firmly. While placing these fingers on the fillings, roll the bamboo mat away from you.
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When the edge of the rolling mat is at the top, let go of your fingers on the filling and keep rolling slowly until the edge of the rolling mat reaches the other end of the rice.
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By now, the mat should be completely covering the sushi roll. Don't roll the end of the mat into the rice!
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Press the rolling mat around the sushi roll gently but firmly.
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To completely roll the rest of the rice, hold the roll by placing one hand over the mat, then pull the end of the mat with the other hand a few centimetres away from you so that the sushi inside the mat rolls a further 90 degrees or so.
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Using both hands, gently but firmly press the mat over the sushi, then unroll the mat.
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Place the sushi roll on the plate/cutting board with the overlapping seam line down.
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Wipe a sharp kitchen knife with a wet towel to give moisture to the knife. This will prevent the knife from sticking to the rice, resulting in a clean cut.
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Cut the roll in half, then cut each half-length roll in half, then cut each piece in half again. You should have 8 small pieces.
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Transfer the Tempura Prawn Rolls to a serving plate. For the tail-end of the sushi piece, face the tail up. Serve with soy sauce and wasabi paste (optional).
1. Please refer to Temakizushi (Hand Rolled Sushi) for how to make sushi rice.
2. Please refer to Tempura recipe for how to make prawn tempura.
Prawn tempura needs to be just the right size to go inside the sushi roll, ideally about 10cm long including the tail, and 2cm wide. I used 2 tempura prawns per sushi roll.
If your prawn tempura is much smaller, you can use 3 or 4 small prawns.
You could use store-bought or frozen prawn tempura, but they usually come with a lot of batter around the prawns. You may need to scrape off the coating to cut down to 2cm/¾" wide.
3. This is to prevent the rice grains from sticking to the mat.
4. I wanted one end of the roll to have the tail of a prawn sticking out, only to make it look attractive when the Tempura Prawn Rolls are plated. You can remove all the tails if you prefer.
5. The filling should be placed slightly closer to you.