baja california roll

Baja California Roll

May 18, 2008 Maki Recipes

I’ve lived in Southern California all my life. So you would think that I might have driven a few hours south to go party it up at Tiajuana or something. Nope. Never ever in my entire life have I crossed an international border! Kind of sad, if you think about it… all the different regional foods I’m missing out on. I rarely even go out of California! 🙁 Time for a road trip!

I have always wanted to travel, but even more so now that I have fallen in love with food! Vietnam, France, Japan, Italy, Mexico… those are just a few of the places I would love to visit! Of course, now that I have found out there is one of these in Baja California, all the more reason to visit! It might be a while before that happens, so meanwhile I’ll just live vicariously through my food. 😀

The California Roll is arguably one of the most popular types of sushi known to man. Both fish-lovers and people who are more than a little “ick” at the thought of eating raw fish love the California Roll. But if that’s the only type of roll you like, eating it all the time can get an itty bit boring. Taking the flavor a little bit south and adding Sriracha sauce to the roll really livens it up, and may just be my new favorite way to eat California Rolls! Or, if you want a different twist to your California Roll, you can try one of the four other types of California Rolls I have on Sushi Day: the New Zealand Roll, the American Roll, the Crazy California Roll and the Super California Roll.

Baja California Roll

Ingredients
  • 6 sheets nori
  • 3 cups sumeshi
  • 1 cup imitation crab
  • 1 avocado
  • 1 cucumber
  • 1/2 cup mayonnaise
  • 2 tsp Sriracha sauce
Cooking Directions
  1. Cook sushi rice.
  2. Cut the avocado in half, discarding the pit.
  3. Cut off the hard skin and discard.
  4. Slice the avocado into thin sticks.
  5. Mix the imitation crab, mayonnaise and Sriracha sauce.
  6. Cut cucumber into sticks.
  7. Roll the sushi, using the imitation crab mix, avocado and cucumber as your fillings.
  8. Enjoy!

14 thoughts on “Baja California Roll”

  1. Brett Legree -

    Allison,

    This sounds like a seriously tasty roll, I think we’ll have to try it out (after the hit that was your mac ‘n cheese, I’m sure all of your recipes will do well with our gang).

    And I hope you really do get a chance to go try the Zorb. I so much want to do it again myself, my own personal angle on it being that I want to do it in New Zealand again 🙂

    -Brett

  5. Friar -

    You last comment on my blog has me craving for sushi and sashimi.

    We actually have some sushi in town (some asians who run the video store make it on the side). Except (typical to this town), you cant’ buy it after 4:15 PM (and everyone gets off work at 4:30).

    I was once on a boat tour in Australia, and the captain landed a small tuna, and we had sashimi on the spot. You cant’ get any fresher than that.

    The best restaurant sushi I ever had was in Vancouver. They have tons of places…all-you-can-eat for 25$. It wasn’t cheap buffet sushi , either..it was the good quality stuff.

    I was in heaven. I ate and ate and ate…the manager was so impressed he kept coming to my table and kept suggesting other dishes I should try. They musta lost a ton of money on me…but it was the best sushi I had in my life.

  6. Yvo -

    I am under the impression that the CA roll is most well known… in the US ;p since my understanding is that it’s not a “real”/authentic sushi item. *shrug* But you are absolutely right… this is one of the few rolls BF will eat. Of course, he pushes out all the avocado, despite my protestations that “that’s the best part!” Hehe 🙂

  7. Melissa Donovan -

    Ever since I started reading your blog, I’ve been wanting to get back into cooking. I was sort of into it a couple of years ago but then started working a lot and had to cut down on my hobbies. Also, I only became a sushi eater a few months ago (before that, strictly California rolls). Now I’m dying to make sushi. Thanks for stirring the chef in this Cali girl;)

  8. Allison -

    Brett – Odd, I thought I responded to your comment a couple of days ago, but I guess not! Oops. Yay! I hope your family likes anything and everything you try from here! 😀 I would love to visit new Zealand and try the Zorb there, but as probably a much cheaper alternative, Mexico is only a few hours away. 🙂

    edamame – Thanks!

    Friar – Gosh, and I thought everything closing at 9 here was bad! Mmm that certainly is extremely fresh, and must have been tasty! Really, all you can eat! Oh man that sounds good! Especially when it’s more than just California rolls!

    Yvo – Yep, at least here in the States, it’s definitely the most well-known. As for being authentic, generally anything rolled isn’t “authentic”, but it still is considered to be sushi because of the presence of sumeshi (sushi rice). Of course, I care more about whether it tastes good or not, more than actual authenticity! If it tastes good and won’t kill me too quickly, then I’ll probably eat it. 😀

    Melissa – That’s good to hear! 🙂 I’m very glad to hear that I’ve moved you to want to cook and make sushi more. 🙂 Let me know if you make any of my recipes, and how you like them!

  11. Ilyishin -

    Great recipe. I will try it at my next party. I can get all the items really cheap and available widely here in Thailand.

  13. Mr. Cabins in California -

    Biggest challenge for me with Sushi isn’t the rolling, it’s getting the rice right. There’s something about the rice you get from Sushi restaurants that is quite unique … I mean it’s got a texture like it’s slightly overcooked and mushy but it just works so well in the context of Sushi style meals (sushi, sushimi, california rolls etc.)

    I can never make the rice quite like that and it’s the last piece of the puzzle for me 🙂

Archives

Copyright ©2006- Sushiday. All Rights Reserved