How to make crispy sushi rice cakes–it’s the foundation of a great appetizer! They are easy to make and freezer-friendly.
If you ever wanted an appetizer that is easy to plan ahead AND gorgeous to serve, we have it.
Also, we need to mention, these are delicious.
Because delicious is always important–but so is practicality. This is something you can prepare today and serve on Yom Tov. We know you love those recipes. We know we do too.
Use this method here to prepare the sushi rice, it’s the simplest. You can just throw together the ingredients, and forget your rice in the oven. Make 1 ½ times the recipe as listed.
Once the rice is cool, spread it out on a sheet pan.
Use another sheet of parchment paper and smooth it out!
You want it to be tightly packed and even!
Take another baking sheet and put it on top of the parchment paper.
Press down! This will help you pack it in even more. Put it in the fridge like this overnight to firm up the rice.
Now we’re ready to make the rice cakes! You can use a glass or a deep cookie cutter. Remove the rice cakes and place in a separate pan.
Dipping the cup or cookie cutter into water between uses will help with the stickiness.
No cookie cutter? Any glass will really work.
Now the rice cakes go back into the freezer.
Now we’re ready to bread the rice cakes. Set up three stations–the flour, egg, and panko crumbs.
First they go into the flour, then the egg…
And finally the panko.
Fry them now, or freeze and fry fresh!
If you will be freezing after frying, make sure to warm them thoroughly!
These will be the most delicious foundation
for so many different toppings and will make your dish!
Here, we shredded the Pastrami we featured in this post for the topping.
Then drizzle on some creamy dressing
and spicy mayo. Sweet sauce is another good option.
Even though any pulled beef would work like you see here, it doesn’t have to be pulled!
Here’s more topping ideas:
- Crispy Chicken from Dinner Done page 112
- Crispy Beef
- Mongolian Beef
- Entree’s BBQ Braised Beef. This recipe was the original inspiration for this method, but we find that this technique for making the rice cakes to be much easier and more foolproof!
Crispy Sushi Rice Cakes
Ingredients
- 6 cups cooked and seasoned sushi rice (prepared according to the method in this post here. Use 3 cups of raw rice and 6 cups of water.)
- 1 cup flour
- 5 eggs
- 2 cups plain panko crumbs
- ½ tsp salt
- oil for frying
Instructions
- If rice is fresh from the oven, let it cool a bit then spread evenly over a lined half size sheet pan. It should fill the pan evenly end to end. Cover the pan with another layer of parchment paper and press down to create an even layer, of equal thickness. It should be tightly packed.
- Top with another sheet pan and press down. Refrigerate like this (two pans together) until cool and firm, a few hours or even overnight.
- Once refrigerated and firm, use a round ring mold/cookie cutter or a glass to cut out circles. Dipping the cup or cookie cutter into water between uses will help with the stickiness.
- Once the rice cakes are cut out, place in the freezer and freeze until firm, for a few hours or overnight.
- Set up 3 stations: In one container place the flour, in the second container the eggs and the salt, in the third the panko. Whisk the eggs together until combined.
- One by one, dip the rice cakes first into the flour, then egg, and lastly into the panko.
- At this point your sushi rice cakes are ready to fry. You can return them to the freezer and fry them fresh, before the meal, or, fry them now and freeze them fried. If doing that, rewarm in oven thoroughly before serving.
- Top your crispy rice with your topping of choice (see above), sauces, and serve.
Any option for those that don’t like frying? Possible to “oven fry”???
Yea, I also want to know…
We never tried baking it…
Maybe in an air fryer, if you own one.
I think I will grill some salmon and shred it on top! I’m serving so much meat already with the other courses anyway!
Yea, I also want to know…
Sounds delicious! Great appetizer
Can this be done with Basmati or Jasmine rice?
We never tried, but it’s probably not recommended. Sushi rice is sticky therefore it holds the shape well. Also, once fried, the inside becomes gooey and mushy, really delicious!
Can I freeze these?
Just saw I can! Can’t wait to make these!
Absolutely !
How can I make this gluten free?
And do you think I can make it egg free too by using vegan mayonnaise instead of egg?
Just substitute with any flour and crumbs that you usually use. And the mayonnaise should work just fine, great idea!
What brand panko crumbs did you use?
I dont recall… honestly dont have a favorite. Whatever was on sale that week 😉
How many does this yield per cookie sheet?
12
Such a good recipe. Was easy to make. Was a huge hit liked by both adults and kids. Will definitely be making it again.
Here’s what I did to cut down time and work:
Bake in a real 9×13, line the pan with an extra wide parchment paper and leave enough of it to cover the rice with a single sheet of parchment paper. After rinsing rice, add to pan and boiling water, cover with foil on top of the parchment (the parchment paper absorbs the excess water during baking). Bake 35 min. Remove the entire block of rice with the parchment to a sheet pan and proceed as above. There’s no need to refrigerate before cutting out the circles of rice.