Ingredients: Rice, seaweed, spicy sauce, scallops, cucumber, avocado, asparagus, daikon

Preparation: Hand roll, occasionally inside-out or ship roll.

Popularity: Moderate

A Spicy Scallop Roll is basically a California Roll with scallops in place of the crab, which makes it a nice compliment to the Cali if you’re a fan of seafood in sushi… or a nice alternative if you’re kind of over the basic roll, but not looking to get too adventurous. 

The strength of the Spicy Scallop Roll comes almost entirely from the quality of the scallops. Here’s a hint: frozen does not equal ’sushi quality’.

But that same ingredient also causes the greatest amount of pain for sushi chefs, as the squishy nature of the scallop means it often falls out of regular inside-out rolls. This means a Spicy Scallop Roll will usually be made in a cone, or ‘hand roll’ style. You might also find it prepared in a ’ship style’ roll, in which the bottom of the roll is pulled tighter than the top, thereby giving it a ship shape, and making it easier to hold when eaten.

Ingredients: Rice, seaweed, yellowfin tuna (Ahi), cucumber, daikon, avocado

Preparation: Standard roll

Popularity: Moderate

A relatively simple sushi roll recipe, this is one of those menu items that confuses North Americans because many sushi restaurants prefer to call it by the Japanese name for Yellowfin – Ahi – which requires a little translation to non-Japanese speakers.

In essence, this is just a tuna roll with a little veg thrown in, but if the yellowfin is of high quality, that can be more than enough to make it a great dish for sushi fans.  With some roe (tobiko) on top and wasabi on the side, it beats a freakin’ cheeseburger, that’s for darn sure.

There is some variation on this recipe from chef to chef, with some preferring to use Bigeye Tuna (Thunnus Obesus) instead of Yellowfin (Thunnus Albacares). You can usually spot the difference because Bigeye has a much richer pink/red color than Yellowfin, though if the fish is large and old enough, a Yellowfin will eventually find its meat of a similar deep red color.

You may also find crab used in some ahi rolls, or even tempura, but put those down to the usual variations from sushi restaurant to sushi restaurant and assume you’re dealing with tuna and veges, and you can’t go wrong. 

Ingredients: Rice, seaweed, barbecued eel, avocado, tempura shrimp, burdock root, cucumber, flying fish roe

Preparation: Inside-out

Popularity: Moderate in the US

Another in the long line of sushi rolls in which decoration on a theme is almost as important as taste, the Dragon Roll tends to come with a slightly higher price tag, but if it’s done right, it’s worth every penny.

The avocado is usually draped across the top of the roll to give a ‘dragon scales’ effect, with the bright orange roe going on top of that to give contrast.

Inside, it’s all good stuff – BBQ eel, crunchy tempura shrimp, and the burdock root/cucumber combo to fill things out.

The Dragon Roll is a bit of a fatty dish, due to the deep-fried tempura, and while some variations might include hot sauce, or chili, to give it a fire-kick, generally at most sushi houses it’s a very mild menu item.

Ingredients: Rice, seaweed, sweet egg, burdock root, avocado, asparagus, crab meat, cucumber, shitake mushrooms, daikon

Preparation: Standard

Popularity: Low in US, high in Japan

Not a sushi dish for rookies, the Futomaki Roll is a Japanese specialty that combines a whole load of flavors in one tight package.

Even the names of the ingredients tend to get Americans a little fearful, with tamago (egg), yamagobo (burdock root), radish pickle (daikon) not exactly being staples of the Starbucks crowd.

But hey, you only live once – take a chance on a flavor you haven’t tasted before and mark the Futomaki down as something to try on your next visit to your favorite sushi chef.

Ingredients: Rice, seaweed, crab meat, avocado, cucumber, daikon sprouts, mayonnaise

Prepared: Inside-out

Popularity: Huge

The spider roll, though not exactly named for those with a queazy stomach, is essentially a california roll with the addition of daikon sprouts (sometimes) and with the crab meat deep-fried before preparation.

The crab, cucumber, avocado, mayonnaise combo goes down well with a Western tongue that is perhaps unfamiliar with more exotic types of sushi, but the crunchiness of the fried crab makes for a more ’substantial’ meal for those who feel rice and a piece of crab isn’t a ‘real’ menu item.

Because it involves frying, a spider roll has about 15% more calories than a Cali Roll, but so be it – we love it!