Caterpillar Roll with Broiled Eel and Draped Avocado

By Sprig Originals ✓ · cooked up in Sprig

An inside-out sushi roll built around warm packaged broiled unagi and crisp cucumber, then sheathed in overlapping avocado slices that are shaped with a sheet of plastic wrap into a glossy green caterpillar. Frozen kabayaki eel does the hard work for you, so the only real skill is the drape — and the plastic-wrap trick makes that almost foolproof. Finished with sweet eel glaze, toasted sesame and a couple of chive 'antennae'.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups Japanese short-grain sushi rice
• 1 3/4 cups cold water
• 3 tbsp unseasoned rice vinegar
• 1 1/2 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1 tsp fine sea salt

• 1 package (about 6 oz) frozen broiled unagi (eel kabayaki), thawed
• 2 sheets toasted nori
• 1/2 medium English cucumber
• 2 tbsp Japanese mayonnaise
• 2 large ripe but firm Hass avocados
• 1 tsp fresh lemon juice

• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup mirin
• 2 tbsp sake
• 3 tbsp granulated sugar
• 2 tsp toasted white sesame seeds
• 4 pieces chives, cut into 2-inch lengths
• to serve pickled ginger and wasabi

• 1 bamboo rolling mat
• as needed plastic wrap
• 1 cup water mixed with 1 tsp rice vinegar, for hands and knife

Instructions

1. Rinse the rice in a bowl of cold water, swirling with your hand and pouring off the cloudy water, 4 to 5 times until the water runs nearly clear. Drain in a sieve for 10 minutes, then combine with 1 3/4 cups cold water in a saucepan. Cover, bring to a boil over medium-high heat, drop to low and cook 12 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand, covered, 10 minutes.
2. While the rice cooks, warm 3 tbsp rice vinegar, 1 1/2 tbsp sugar and 1 tsp salt in a small pan over low heat, stirring just until dissolved (do not boil). Set aside.
3. Turn the hot rice into a wide non-metal bowl or sheet pan. Drizzle the vinegar mixture over it and fold with a rice paddle in slicing, lifting motions — never stirring — until glossy and evenly seasoned. Fan or let it sit uncovered until barely warm, about body temperature, 15 to 20 minutes. Cover with a damp towel; never refrigerate.
4. Make the glaze: simmer the soy sauce, mirin, sake and 3 tbsp sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring, until it reduces by about a third and coats a spoon, 6 to 8 minutes. It will thicken more as it cools. Set aside.
5. Heat the oven to 375°F. Blot the thawed unagi dry, place it skin-side down on a foil-lined sheet pan, and bake 8 minutes. Brush with a little glaze and bake 2 minutes more, until the sauce bubbles and the edges sizzle. Let cool 5 minutes, then cut lengthwise into strips about 1/2 inch wide.
6. Peel the cucumber if you like, quarter it lengthwise, scrape out the seeds and cut into long 1/4-inch batons. Pat dry.
7. Lay a sheet of plastic wrap over the bamboo mat, smoothing out wrinkles, and cut a nori sheet in half crosswise if you want shorter rolls (leave whole for two large ones). Place the nori shiny-side down on the wrap. With hands dipped in the vinegar water, spread half the rice over the nori in a thin, even layer, leaving a bare 1/2-inch strip along the far edge. Press gently — you want grains intact, not paste.
8. Sprinkle 1 tsp sesame seeds over the rice, then flip the whole sheet over so the nori faces up and the rice sits on the plastic wrap. Spread a thin line of Japanese mayonnaise across the nori about one-third from the near edge. Lay a row of unagi strips and cucumber batons along it.
9. Lift the near edge of the mat and roll forward, tucking the filling in firmly with your fingertips, then continue rolling into a snug cylinder. Squeeze along the length of the mat once to compact, and set the roll aside on the counter, seam down. Repeat with the second sheet.
10. Now the caterpillar shell: halve, pit and peel the avocados. Place each half cut-side down and slice crosswise into 1/8-inch slices with a very sharp knife, keeping the half intact. Fan the slices out with the flat of the knife into an overlapping shingled row slightly longer than the roll, and brush lightly with lemon juice.
11. Slide a bench scraper or long knife under the fanned avocado and lay it over the top of a roll, centered. Drape a fresh sheet of plastic wrap over the avocado, then set the bamboo mat on top and press gently and evenly, shaping the avocado down around the sides of the roll until it hugs the rice in a smooth dome. Leave the plastic wrap in place.
12. With the plastic wrap still on, cut the roll through the wrap: wet a long sharp knife, slice the roll in half, then each half into 4 pieces, wiping and re-wetting the blade between cuts. Peel the wrap away and transfer the pieces to a plate, nudging them into a curved caterpillar line.
13. Drizzle generously with the eel glaze, scatter the remaining sesame seeds over the top, and stick two chive lengths into the front piece as antennae. Serve immediately with pickled ginger and wasabi.

Chef's tips

Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

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