Lion King roll, even though catchy as the name may sound, is actually the baked salmon wrap around California inside-out roll (Uramaki). This roll, as the name implied, is rather invented from the West coast.
California roll is popular among the cook-sushi eaters, where consuming raw fish/seafood is a no question ask. It often contains Kani (crab meat bar), cucumber, and avocado. Some restaurants might add pickled daikon, carrot, or fruits like mango, banana to differentiate the flavor. There are many creations that used this roll [California], often in uramaki styles as the base, and then add on cooked seafood (unagi, salmon, tuna, etc.) to develop variations. To name a few, this Lion King roll is where thinly slice Salmon sashimi wrap around, soaked in spicy mayo, and then bake. Another is the infamous dragon roll, with added avocado and kabayaki eel.
The Lion King roll is not that hard to make, easy if you’re used to rolling the uramaki way. In this recipe, I just make it a bit creamier by mixing extra Kewpie with shredded kani, instead of the usually whole surimi bar. The whole thing, after roll and pressed with Salmon is then bake within a folded foil container (to prevent sauce spilling over to my oven). Serve hot with a touch of tobiko, scallion, roasted sesame, and pickle garnishment.
If you’re new to rolling sushi, don’t worry, just follow the following step-by-step guide on rolling this deliciously creamy treat. Don’t forget to read How to cook sushi rice and another guide on rolling uramaki dragon roll if you need more information.
Enjoy
Recipe for Lion King sushi roll
Ingredients
- 8 Oz Salmon
- 5 Tbsp Spicy Mayo
- 1 Tbsp Kewpie Mayo
- 2 Tbsp Unagi sauce
- 2 Tbsp tobiko/masago fish roe
- 2 Tbsp scallion – chop
- 2 sheets nori
- 1/4 medium avocado
- 1/2 mini/baby cucumber
- 2 -4 pieces kani/surimi or 4 oz cooked crab meat
- 1 cup cooked & seasoned sushi rice
- 1-2 Tbsp Vinegar to wet your hand
- Pickled ginger as garnishment
Tools
- Bamboo rolling mat
- Plastic wrapper
- Foil
Instructions
Prep
- Avocado – slice along its length
- Cucumber – remove seed, thinly slice along its length
- Scallion – Finely chop
- Salmon – thinly slice in a slant 45 degree angle (if possible)
- Nori – fold and tear/cut if desire smaller bite-size roll
- Crab – shred into thin long strip and mix with 1 Tbsp mayonnaise
Roll
- If you’re new to making sushi roll, read this post on how to roll inside out.
- Start out by wrapping the bamboo rolling mat with plastic wrapper.
- Prepare a small bowl fill with 2 Tbsp of vinegar and water so that you could wet your hand with to avoid stickiness.
- Place the nori, smooth side down, onto the covered bamboo mat.
- Wet your hand with the vinegar solution then pluck some rice balls onto the nori.
- Gently knead and spread the rice out to the entire nori surface, do not mush.
- Turn the nori upside down(i.e. rice covered side now facing down against the plastic).
- Swoop a spoonful of the mayo-crab onto the nori along its length, then add cucumber and avocado.
- Now roll with the rolling mat, this will make a spicy inside out California roll.
- Arrange salmon sashimi on the California roll so that they will cover the entire length.
- Gently roll the plastic wrap to shape them in place.
- Let stand for 2 minutes before proceeding.
Bake
- Preheat oven to 400F
- With the plastic still on, use a sharp knife to cut your rolls into even pieces.
- Carefully unwrap each piece and arrange them on a prepare foil wrap, salmon side up.
- Mix up spicy mayo, unagi sauce and 1 Tbsp tobiko.
- Pour enough spicy mayo and unagi sauce to cover the roll.
- Fold the foil 4 sides up around the roll to avoid sauce leaking out.
- Broil/bake for about 5 minutes then pour remaining sauce.
- Bake for another 3 minutes until mayo start bubbling again.
- Top with some tobiko, scallion and serve immediately with garnishment.
Amazingly delicious. Thank you!!
Just made three of these for dinner with my boyfriend! We didn’t have any unagi sauce, cucumber, or pickled ginger on hand, but they still turned out DELICIOUS! We used Vegenaise instead of regular mayo and it still tasted great. Thank you for the wonderful recipe!
Thanks for sharing your experience with us. That’s might be a great idea using Vegenaise for full vegetarian rolls.
Yes!!! This was sooooooo good. Just like the restaurant. One of my favorites. Perfect recipe. Thank you 😊
Thank you, Jennifer
I’m so glad you liked the recipe.
This looks sooo good! Planning to make this this evening 👩🍳🤤
I don’t have sushi-grade salmon though – is the total bake time of 8 minutes enough to fully cook the fish?
Thanks so much for sharing this recipe!
Maria
Yes, it should be cooked just fine. You can always add 5 minutes extra in case of under-heating
Well I’ll be… this tasted just as good and looked almost as good as my favorite sushi place!!! And that sauce!! I did use kewpie so that probably helped, but I finally have a sauce that lives up to how a sushi sauce should be!!! Thank you so much!!! Minds blown!
Lydia,
Thank you!
This recipe is a winner. Taste exactly like the restaurant. I made this twice once with topiko and the other time I didn’t have it but both time was amazing. I will definitely consider making more sushi at home. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe
You’re welcome, glad you like it.
You can use masago in place of tobiko, they often sell them in big batch frozen.
Thanks for sharing your method and I appreciate the demo, however, it’s not necessary to use plastic wrap. Recently, scientists are finding evidence that micro plastics may lead to cancer.
Instead, get a small bowl of water on the side and make sure when handling the sushi your hands and the bamboo roller have a slight dampness to them. I’ve been doing that for years and it works fine. Just thought I’d share a helpful tip.
Thanks for your tip
Any substitutions for nori?