Neighborhood Eats: What happens when Dominican food meets sushi?

INWOOD, Manhattan (WABC) -- The owners of 'Mamasushi' say the restaurant in Inwood needed a Japanese restaurant, with a focus on sushi, but they wanted to make it approachable to the large Dominican and Latin American residents in the area. The result? Mamasushi, located at 237 Dyckman Street in Inwood.

It's called a 'Hot Mama Roll' - a little bit Dominican, a little bit Japanese.

Susana Osorio is actually pretty petite, but she packs a punch with her restaurants. She is about to open up her ninth, a follow up to Mamasushi.

"A lot of people are afraid to eat fish, so we said 'what can we do so they're not afraid to eat sushi?', so let's try something different," said Osorio.

The difference is that her sushi rolls often feature Spanish ingredients that appeal to her customers. From roast pork to yucca fries, to another roll with a rice and beans approach.

"We use a lot of plantain, the sweet of the plantain, with the salty, it gives you a different flavor with the sushi," Osorio adds.

Take the 'Hot Mama' roll, for instance. Florentino Xalamighua layers seaweed and rice with tuna and cucumber, that is topped with the fried plantain, salmon, avocado, more tuna, chopped jalapeno, and pickled ginger. Eel sauce and spicy mayo finish it off.

There are other dishes at the hands of chef David Nunez, from popcorn chicharon, to beef and lobster medallions.

RECIPE:

Hot Mama Roll from Mama Sushi

Ingredients:

1 cup cooked Sushi rice

1 tsp sesame seeds

1 long slice of cucumber

1 large sheet of seaweed for the roll

3 pieces sushi grade tuna (sliced thin)

1 piece sushi grade salmon (sliced thin)

avocado thinly slices

1 long slice of plantain (deep fried ahead of time)

1 TBS Eel sauce

1 TBS Spicy mayo

*2 tsp of pickled ginger

*1 tsp jalapenos (fine chop ginger and jalapenos)

Lay out seaweed sheet (measured to fit)

Place and spread rice out on sheet

Sprinkle with sesame seeds

Flip over so rice is now facing down

Place one slice of cucumber and two slices of tuna in middle of seaweed sheet

Roll rice around and shape

Top the roll with slice of fried plantain

Top left portion of roll with salmon

Top middle portion of roll with sliced avocado

Top right portion of roll with remaining tuna

Slice into appropriate sized pieces but don't separate them

Top the roll with finely chopped ginger/jalapeno mix

Drizzle eel sauce and mayo across the top

This makes one large roll