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I made mango salsa to go on top of grilled Mahi Mahi the other weekend, and I had some left over. I wasn’t quite in a taco mood yet, so I wanted to try something else with it. One of my friends came over for dinner when I made these. She said these had a great balance of sweet and savory, and the flavors worked well together.
I’ve made tempura batter a few times, but this was by far the best one I’ve made. We ate some tempura Mahi Mahi nuggets as an appetizer, which were delicious tossed in the spicy mayo. I wish I would’ve remembered to take a photo of some of the fried fish tossed in the spicy sauce because that would’ve made a great blog post.
It was a little interesting frying these because I didn’t realize how low I was on canola oil. Oops! I had just enough, but I had to use a small pot to get the oil deep enough – so I was basically frying 3-4 nuggets at a time. I’ve since replenished my canola oil stockpile.
Tempura Mahi Mahi Sushi (Cooked)
Equipment
- Deep fryer or heavy bottomed pot with candy thermometer
Ingredients
- ½ lb Mahi Mahi
- 1 cup sushi rice (uncooked)
- 1 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 package Sushi nori
- Spicy mayo combine mayonnaise and sriracha to taste, or buy pre-made
- Teriyaki sauce
- Mango salsa
- Soy sauce for dipping
- Canola oil
Tempura Batter
- ½ cup all purpose flour
- ½ cup rice flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- ½ tsp kosher salt (kosher salt recommended)
- 1 cup cold seltzer water
- 1 egg beaten
Instructions
Prepare Sushi Rice
- Place sushi rice, 1 cup water, and 1 tbsp rice vinegar into a pot. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally to prevent rice from sticking to the bottom and burning.
- Once the water is boiling, reduce heat to low, cover, and cook for about 15 minutes. Continue to gently stir occasionally with a spatula to prevent burning on the bottom.
- Once the rice is finished cooking, transfer to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and set aside to cool. Don’t cool in the refrigerator.
Prepare Mahi Mahi
- Combine the dry ingredients for the tempura batter in a large bowl. Add wet ingredients and whisk lightly with a fork until everything is incorporated. If the batter seems really dry, add more seltzer. Don’t over-mix the batter.
- Cut the Mahi Mahi into bite-sized pieces.
- Heat oil to 350° in a deep fryer or large heavy bottomed pot. The oil needs to be deep enough for the fish pieces to “swim” and not touch the bottom. You will probably need to fry the fish pieces in batches, too, unless you have a fairly large fryer. The fish pieces should be able to move freely without touching each other. See important deep frying safety information from the USDA. Be very careful, and know how to properly extinguish a grease fire.
- Do these steps for each piece of fish in the batch: Coat with batter. Carefully place in the fryer. Use a metal fork of tongs to poke it free if it sticks to the bottom
- After a couple of minutes, flip the pieces. Cook until both sides are golden brown. I flipped each piece a couple of times through the cooking process.
- Remove from the oil using a spider strainer and set aside onto a plate lined with paper towels.
- Repeat steps for all of the fish.
Assemble Sushi Rolls
- Take the cooled sushi rice and form it into a thin layer on a sushi mat. I’ve found it easiest to use my hands, but the rice will be very sticky, so keep a small bowl of cold water on the counter to wet your fingers to reduce the sticking.
- Place a seaweed sheet on top of the rice. Line up tempura Mahi Mahi pieces in the middle of the roll.
- Use the sushi mat to roll (there are a lot of videos out there on how to do this).
- Use a sharp chef’s knife to cut each roll into pieces. Drizzle with Teriyaki sauce and spicy mayo. Top with and mango salsa. Serve with soy sauce if desired.
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