Sushi is delicious, but it can get expensive eating out all the time, especially for the fresh and mouth-watering kind of sushi that makes my tummy very happy. I occasionally eat at the Sushi House in Alameda and often get the Lion King roll (baked salmon roll). Every bite is savored as each morsel of the Lion King roll is just pure heavenly goodness.
The Lion King roll is essentially the California roll (sushi rice with imitation crab, avocado, and cucumber) wrapped with salmon and baked, and topped off with a special house sauce. I was surprised that the house sauce had only three ingredients, and aside from trying to thinly slice the salmon, making the Lion King at home was quite simple and budget-friendly:
Recipe for the Secret House Sauce:
Whisk together:
- 1/2 cup mayo – I used regular American mayonnaise such as Hellmann’s. I think if you use the Kewpie Japanese brand mayo, it might be tastier and more authentic.
- 1-2 tablespoon of Sambal Oelek brand chili sauce. Sriracha brand is just as good.
- 1 tablespoon of roe (Masago)
Recipe for the Sushi Rice:
- 3 cups sushi rice (Kokuho Rose brand)
- 3 1/4 cups water
Rice Mixture. Heat together on stovetop until sugar dissolves:
- 1/2 cup rice vinegar (Marukan brand)
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
Cook the rice and toss the mixture in once the rice is done. Fold the mixture into the rice slowly so that you don’t break the grains. It took us a few times to get the sushi rice right. We screwed up because we did not label our seasoning and mistaken our salt for our sugar. We thought it was odd that the sugar never melted with the vinegar. But our knuckle brains (My sister and I) decided to proceed anyways and poured the salty mixture into our freshly cooked sushi rice! Our rumbling tummies weren’t happy that we had to wait another hour to cook up another pot.
Prepare your cucumber, imitation crab, and avocado by cutting them into strips.
Spread a thin layer of sushi rice onto some green seasoned seaweed, add a strip of cumber, imitation crab and avocado. Roll up your sushi rice with a bamboo sheet.
Prepare your salmon by cutting them thin and lay them on top of the roll. Spread a generous amount of the house sauce on top of the roll and bake until the salmon is nearly cooked. Top it off with a bit more masago and some decorative baby greens.
Slice that sucker up, grab the soy sauce, wasabi, and pickled ginger and enjoy! Great homemade Lion King roll that costs a fraction of what you would pay at a restaurant.
The only expensive thing for my meal was obviously the salmon but I bought a generous fresh slab at Costco and made quite a feast out of it. To eat the amount that we did, I’m sure we would have rung up a $70+ bill at Sushi House. And there is still a generous slab of salmon left over for another tasty treat next weekend! W00t w00t!
To end this post, here’s a recent picture of my son. Look at that face, just look at that face.
This is simply fabulous! A lot of sushi restaurants close to home went out of business. I have a passion for eating sushi, so why not make it? Bought my first roller over the weekend. Can’t wait to try your recipe out. p.s. As if Sushi wasn’t enough to make one hungry, your sons cheeks makes me even more hungrier.
Crystalina
January 21st, 2009
Omg! Thanks for the recipe of the Lion King Roll! That is my fav. as well and I always order it when I have time to go to Smile Sushi near campus.
Anonymous
January 21st, 2009
Great sushi recipe!
Your son is sooooooo cute!
I save $ by taking my lunches and by doing the bulk of my cooking one day a week.
Kelly
February 17th, 2009
did you bake or broil this?? YUM!!!
cindy
November 7th, 2009
Cindy,
I broiled the lion king roll on high so that the top layer quickly gets golden brown, without overcooking the salmon.
vicky
November 23rd, 2009
I’m just curious. How did you get this recipe??
Lisa
May 4th, 2010
I got some ideas through various people and through my own trial and error.
vicky
May 5th, 2010
how long does it have to be in the oven?
Winnie
July 16th, 2010
Winnie, it only has to be in the oven for 1-2 minutes, just enough so that top layers turn golden brown.
vicky
July 17th, 2010
i would say that Lion King is one of the best animated films that i have ever watched .:~
Polyethylene %0A
November 16th, 2010
Where do you buy imitation crab?
Joy
November 26th, 2010
Joy, I believe you can imitation crab anywhere now. Try the freezer section in your typical American store. If not, all Asian grocery stores will definitely have them.
vicky
November 27th, 2010
Just made one but didn’t come out like the lion king in sushi house, alameda. Little bit disappointed.
What can you replace the chili sauce? Because I don’t eat spicy food.
Joy
November 27th, 2010
Can I get all those ingredients at a korean market or does it have to be japanese market?
And about the rice, so after the rice is done cooking you throw in all those ingredients?
Janie
December 16th, 2010
I dunno when you last posted a comment or checked this, but the “Lion King” I had at the sushi house has UNAGI and TEMPURA included, I am UNSURE ABOUT the imitation crab, but I’ll double check with the chef there. And by the way, if anyone of you gets lost in the Reno, nevada area… There is a great sushi made to order buffet, I guarantee you are goin to love it!
Anyways, thanks for the recipe Ms chef!
Joe
May 25th, 2011
Thank you so much for posting this. The rolls came out great! Can’t wait to make more! Nom nom nom lols
Patrick
June 16th, 2011
I believed about this idea extremely interesting.
langlang33
September 9th, 2011
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Cyril
September 13th, 2011
ooooh, im gonna try it
Anonymous
December 15th, 2011
This sushi was soooooo good. My hubby loved it so much and invited some of his friends and they all loved it. Thx for the recipe
Salina
January 14th, 2012
I’m glad you enjoyed it
vicky
January 14th, 2012