Try this recipe for Real California Roll Salad with Dynamite Dressing soon! You can double or triple the recipe for a platter that serves 3-5.
I love sushi, and wanted to find an easy recipe to enjoy at home without becoming trained as a sushi chef – so I developed this Real California Roll Salad recipe, complete with Dynamite Dressing. It's “real” because I use real crab – most fake crab roll has gluten – and fresh produce. I also use real pickled ginger – not that funky stuff that’s been dyed hot pink.
About the California Roll Bowl ingredients:
Since it's a "California Roll" on a plate, I use Dungeness crab. Most of the nation’s Dungeness crab comes from California, Oregon, and Washington. This makes up almost a quarter of the Pacific region’s fishing industry. That's even though the season only lasts a few months out of the year.
California, Home of the Rice? Yes.
California grows much of the sushi rice and premium sweet rice too. Did you know many top restaurants in Japan serve rice from California? It's true! My favorite is Kokuho Rose rice from Koda Farms.
Making Dynamite Sauce everyone will love, on TV
I shared this dish with Ryan Jacobsen, host of Valley’s Gold on PBS, in the Whole Foods Market kitchen for the rice episode of his show, and he loves it too! Ryan doesn’t like his food quite as spicy as I do. So I used about half of the wasabi powder I normally do. Feel free to play around with the dynamite dressing recipe. You can always use more or less of the wasabi and sriracha to suit your taste.
Dynamite Sauce isn't just for California Roll Bowls: it's good on everything.
The dressing isn’t just great on real California Roll salads and bowls, it’s great for other salads, paired with shrimp, or as a glaze for roasted salmon. In fact, you'll find a similar sauce on my Dynamite Salmon Appetizers. Those should probably be the next recipe you try.
Easy California Roll Bowl or Salad With Dynamite Dressing
Ingredients
for the Salad:
- ½ cup cooked California sushi rice or sweet rice
- 6 oz. fresh crab meat (Dungeness is best)
- ½ medium avocado, sliced
- 3-5 slices cucumber
- 1 sheet dried seaweed, nori, sliced
- 1 tablespoon pickled ginger
- sesame seeds and minced chives, for garnish
- 3-4 tablespoon Dynamite dressing, recipe below
Dynamite Dressing:
- 1 teaspoon wasabi powder
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 2 tablespoon GF tamari soy sauce
- 2 ½ tablespoon sriracha, or less, to taste
- 5-7 chives, minced
- ½ cup mayonnaise
Instructions
- Place the rice on the center of a plate. Top the rice with the crab meat, and arrange avocado, cucumber, seaweed and ginger around the rice. Top the salad with sesame seeds and chives, serve with Dynamite dressing. Enjoy.
- Whisk all ingredients together in a medium bowl until smooth. Add more sriracha or wasabi if you prefer a spicier dressing.
Notes
Nutrition
Photos by James Collier
California Roll Salad with Dynamite Dressing. It can be your new favorite too.
Frequently Asked Questions about California Rolls:
No, California Roll does not have raw fish, it contains cooked crab meat (or fake crab/crabstick), avocado, cucumber, and is wrapped in seaweed and rice. The outside may be covered in toasted sesame seeds or roe.
Variations of the California Roll may have raw fish, such as the poplar Rainbow Roll, which is a California Roll topped with several forms of cooked and raw seafood as well as avocado, making a "rainbow" pattern on the outside.
Yes, the ingredients in a California Roll are cooked. The roll contains cooked crab meat (or fake crab/crabstick) and cooked rice, along with avocado and cucumber, and a seaweed wrap. The outside may be covered in toasted sesame seeds or roe.
Juanita says
These are so delicious I have fell in love with them
K.C. Cornwell says
I'm so glad! I love this recipe too. You might love the Dynamite Salmon appetizer recipe just as much: https://gfreefoodie.com/dynamite-salmon-appetizers/