Why BLT sushi rolls?
Years ago, I took a sushi-making class with a friend of mine. After the class, I started practicing my new skills. I bought sushi-grade fish to roll up and experimented with different types of Korean gimbap. Then, I started to think, ‘What else could I put into these rolls?’ So, while rooting in my fridge, I looked down at all of the cut-up prepped food that I had leftover and it dawned on me-BLT sushi rolls with wasabi mayo.
Not the traditional roll, I know
Don’t get wrong-Japanese food is some of the best food in the world and sushi-making is an art form requiring cold hands and extensive knowledge and skills. What I am doing is probably an abomination to more than one sacred tradition but I can’t help it. Salty bacon, crisp lettuce, fresh tomato, plus the tang of sushi rice, and spice of wasabi mayo. I believe that it is good enough for me to be justly punished for my crimes. I plead guilty. Ostracize me from the sushi-making community. I don’t care. BUT please, please, let me keep this one thing.
Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato Sushi Rolls with Wasabi Mayo
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 2-3 sushi rolls 1x
Description
Bacon, lettuce and tomato wrapped up in a nori sheet with sushi rice and peppery wasabi mayo. Try something new with these BLT sushi rolls. #sushi #bacon #appetizer #recipe #BLT #snack
Ingredients
cooked bacon (as much or as little as you like)
6–8 medium-sized lettuce leaves
1 tomato
1 cup cooked short-grain rice
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp sugar
pinch salt
2–3 sheets of sushi nori
1/2 tsp-1 tsp wasabi paste
3 tbsp mayonnaise
Instructions
- Mix together vinegar, sugar and salt in a small mixing bowl and add to cooled rice. Mix well.
- Cut cooked bacon into long strips.
- Cut open tomato, scoop out the pulp inside and cut into strips as best as you can.
- Wash and dry lettuce leaves.
- In a small bowl, mix together mayonnaise and wasabi. Add just enough wasabi to your liking. I start out with 1/4 tsp of wasabi paste and go from there.
- Prepare a small bowl of water with a tsp of vinegar mixed in. Keep nearby. (this is for dipping your fingers in when moistening the nori sheet and spreading rice)
- Lay out a sheet of nori seaweed with the smooth side down and the textured part upon either a cutting board or sushi mat. The stripes in the nori sheet should be horizontal facing.
- Dip your fingers into the water/vinegar mixture and lightly dab the sheet of nori, slightly moistening it but not drenching it with water.
- Wet your fingers, pick up rice and starting from the bottom edge lightly spread it over 2/3 of the nori sheet. Flatten it out with your fingers to make it into an even layer of rice. If rice is sticking to your fingers, simply dip them in the vinegar water bowl.
- In the middle of the rice, add a line of wasabi mayo, followed by strips of bacon and tomato on top.
- Roll up lettuce leaves as tightly as you can and place it alongside the bacon and tomato.
- Starting from the bottom, roll up the nori sheet as tightly and as evenly as you can, applying a little pressure to it as you roll it up.
- Once you get to the opposite end where the nori sheet is uncovered by rice, slightly moisten it with your fingers and continue rolling. The moistened seaweed will help ‘seal’ the sushi roll-up.
- Using a sharp knife, moisten it with a little water and cut the roll into individual bite-size pieces and serve with a fashionable smear of wasabi mayo for extra dipping.
Notes
- Good rice is essential for good sushi rolls. Remember to rinse the rice until the water runs clear, cook it in a 1:1 ratio of water to rice (1 cup rice, 1 cup water) and finally let it rest until it is cool to the touch. DO NOT MAKE sushi rolls with warm or hot rice. Always allow it to cool.
- You might be tempted to put a little extra bacon in there and you are always welcome to but be careful not to overstuff with fillings as it can be difficult to roll it up tightly and evenly. Start out with a little and then build from there. As your skill improves, start adding more and more fillings to the middle.
- If you aren’t very confident in your rolling skills, invest in a sushi bamboo rolling mat. Just be sure not to roll your mat in with everything else.
- Prep Time: 30
- Cook Time: 15
- Category: Appetizer
- Method: sushi
- Cuisine: Japanese / Western
Recipes for those who can’t get enough bacon:
Marsala cream fettuccine w/bacon & mushrooms
