The spicy crab roll, or kani maki, is crab mixed with mayo and rolled tightly with avocado, cucumbers, and sushi rice in seaweed. Each bite is sweet, tangy and creamy, leaving you wanting another piece.
While sushi can contain raw fish, Kani maki uses cooked crab meat or imitation crab. Here's our spicy crab roll recipe, which you can make at home with or without the chilli.
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Spicy Crab Roll Ingredients
To make a spicy crab roll, you'll need the following ingredients:
- Kani or imitation crab
- Sushi rice
- Nori seaweed sheets
- Mayonnaise
- Sriracha
- Avocado
- Cucumber
Sushi rice
We use sushi-grade short-grain Japanese rice for all our sushi recipes. The rice always comes out nice and sticky. You can also season the rice with gomashio, a natural black sesame seed seasoning. This will add a subtle nutty flavour.
An affordable option is to use regular white rice like Jasmine. It's important to note that when you mix it with vinegar, it will come out wetter and slightly mushy but not sticky.
Kani
You can pick fresh or tinned ones for the crab part to make Kani maki. If you're looking for an affordable option, we suggest using imitation crab sticks. We're using imitation crab sticks for our recipe as they are more accessible and easier to find.
Mayonnaise
The smooth and creamy texture of your sushi comes from the mayonnaise. Kewpie mayonnaise is superb, as it is creamier and richer than regular mayo. However, if Japanese mayonnaise is hard to find, you can also use regular mayonnaise, like in our recipe.
Sriracha
Adding a few drops of sriracha to your mayonnaise will give your crab roll a gentle, spicy sensation. If you're worried about the spice, we recommend skipping it, as your sushi roll will still taste delicious.
Spicy Crab Roll (Kani Maki) Sushi
Ingredients
Sushi Rice
- ½ cup rice Japanese short grain
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- ½ tablespoon sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Sushi Roll
- ⅓ avocado sliced into strips
- ¼ cucumber sliced into strips
- 4 crab sticks shredded
- 1 tablespoon mayonnaise
- 2-3 drop sriracha chilli sauce
- 1 nori seaweed
- masago orange fish roe, optional
- gomashio black sesame seed, optional
Instructions
- Cook the sushi rice then mix in the sushi vinegar. Leave it to cool to room temperature. Mix the sriracha sauce, mayonnaise, and shredded crab meat in a bowl.
- Wrap your sushi bamboo mat in cling film and place it on the table. Place a full sheet of seaweed on the mat and spread a thin layer of rice over it. Gently press down the rice with a spoon to flatten it.
- Now, flip the rice and nori sheet so the seaweed faces up. You can then add half of the spicy Kani mix, along with avocado and cucumber.
- Roll the bamboo mat starting at the edge with both hands, pressing it down firmly. Continue until you reach the end.
- To add an outer topping to your inside-out roll, spread the remaining spicy kani mix on top. Then, cover with cling film and press down with a bamboo mat to secure the topping.
- You can now cut your kani maki into pieces and remove the cling wrap for serving. You can add Masago or black sesame seeds on top if you like.
Notes
Nutrition
Calories have been calculated using an online calculator. Nutritional information offered on Honest Food Talks is for general information purposes and is only a rough estimate.
Tips For Making Spicy Kani Maki
Here are some cooking tips to perfectly prepare your maki.
Rice too sticky
Sushi rice is very sticky and can be challenging to handle. Make a hand-dipping liquid with ¼ cups of water and 1 teaspoon of rice vinegar to avoid this sticky situation. Keeping your hands wet helps the rice stay off your hands.
We also recommend wrapping your bamboo mat in cling film wrap. It makes cleaning it up easier and stops the rice from sticking between the mat when making an inside-out roll.
Making your spicy mayo kani mix
Testing your spice level is a good idea before making a large batch of this. We suggest adding only a few drops of sriracha at a time and adjusting this according to your tolerance.
If you're using canned kani meat, squeeze out any excess water before mixing it with the mayonnaise. The combination of sriracha, mayo and kani is very similar to our Kani salad recipe.
Remove cucumber seeds
We highly recommend removing the cucumber seeds for two reasons. Firstly, reducing the moisture will help you better wrap your rolls tightly.
Secondly, it helps your roll stay firm for longer and improves the overall texture of your sushi roll.
Roll too loose
If your sushi roll is too loose, you may have left some space between your filling or rolled too gently.
When you add the filling, try to pile down the kani mix first. Then add your harder fillings, like avocado and cucumber, either on top or close to the sides. This will minimise the amount of space between the fillings.
When rolling the sushi, use a bamboo sushi mat and press down firmly at each fold. Then, place the mat over the roll and squeeze it again. This keeps your spicy crab roll compact.
Use your fingers to wet the nori sheet with water or diluted vinegar to help keep your spicy crab roll tightly packed. Sushi rolling is a skill, so doing it slowly will improve the presentation.
Falling toppings
You can top your inside-out roll with more shredded kani as we do in our recipe. To do so, we add a thin layer of our kani mayo mix to cover the outer layer of the roll. Then, we lay a cling over this and use the bamboo mat to gently press it down.
The cling film also helps to keep the toppings in place while we cut our sushi roll into 8 pieces. Our dish is best enjoyed fresh and on the same day of cooking.
How did spicy crab roll get so popular?
Japanese hand-pressed sushi (nigirizushi), as we know it now, was created in the 18th century. Raw fish was wrapped with rice and an outer layer of seaweed. However, sushi rolled in an inside-out style in the United States became popular. This method supposedly enticed the dish to Western diners who did not like raw fish. Read on to find out more about the origins of the dish.
The first mention of a spicy crab roll in the United States was in 1979. Chefs noticed Americans plucked the seaweed before eating. This led to the invention of the inside-out method of rolling sushi. Ingredients were wrapped with seaweed and then rolled again with an outer coat of rice.
Food reviewers in the 1970s wrote about Ichiro Mashita, a Los Angeles chef who substituted fatty tuna for avocado with crab leg. He also added cucumber, ginger, and mayonnaise, wrapping them with seaweed and packing them with rice.
Other sources claim spicy Kani maki resulted from the ingenious brainwave of Japanese chef Hidekazu Tojo in Canada, who invented the ''uramaki'' method to hide ingredients such as raw fish and seaweed.
The nickname ''California roll'' may have surfaced as a nod to Americans who loved this sushi. However, it is also said to credit the use of avocado, commonly used in Californian kitchens. Over time, many chefs started experimenting with different ingredients, and the fusion sushi concept was born.
Difference Between California Rolls?
The primary difference between a spicy crab roll and a California roll is just a matter of rice placement and ingredients! For first-time sushi eaters, you might wonder about the differences between spicy crab rolls and California rolls.
A spicy Kani maki is crab meat wrapped in rice and seaweed. Traditionally, it refers to shredded crab meat or Kani sticks, first submerged in a mixture of spices. The sushi master then rolls the bits into rice evenly placed on a seaweed sheet.
However, a spicy Kani maki done in a California roll inside-out style has crab meat, avocado, and cucumber wrapped with seaweed and covered with an outer layer of rice.
As diners become more adventurous, it is not uncommon to see restaurants serving both types of Kani maki. It is also expected to see California roll with different fillings.
A salmon filling is a popular one. In the 19th century, Western diners became less squeamish with raw fish, so the salmon California roll became popular. Instead of avocado, chefs also tried thick, creamy substitutes, such as cream cheese, to appeal to Western tastebuds.
Best Variations
What happens if you're cooking for guests who don't like spicy food? It's perfectly okay to skip the spices for the sushi filling to make a spicy crab roll.
You can add other ingredients to strengthen the flavour. Add more avocado or cream cheese for a creamier filling, and add fatty fish such as tuna or salmon.
Or maybe you prefer a crunchier Kani maki. Adding deep-fried flour batter (tenkatsu) will give it that extra bite. You can even get adventurous by deep frying this filling and making harumaki.
Substitute the Kani sticks with tempura-fried soft-shell crab for a more robust bite. This might be a little more complex, but the salty, oily batter coating juicy, sweet, pliable meat will swoon your guests as they tuck into the sushi pieces. You can also make spicy shrimp rolls using tempura prawns instead of crab.
Do you have a friend who's a fan of spicy crab rolls? Then definitely share our recipe with them and encourage them to get their hands sticky to make you some.
Next, learn how to prepare gunkan maki (battleship sushi) using leftovers in your home kitchen.
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