Baked Scallops with Creamy Spicy Sauce

Last night I was craving the Scallop Dynamite Roll from Sushi Mac, an uber cheap sushi joint back in LA. I knew I had to do laundry and pack for my trip back to my parents house for Thanksgiving, so I didn't want to spend too much time trying to find a sushi place near my house that may or may not even have what I was craving. So I did a Google search for "spicy scallop" and found this recipe. I really love how the sauce incorporates both chili sauce and sugar, making this dish the epitome of "Piccante Dolce".


Baked Scallops with Creamy Spicy Sauce
From Rasa Malaysia
Adapted from Nobu: The Cookbook
Make 4 servings

Creamy Spicy Sauce
6 tablespoons of mayonnaise (1 1/2 scallops were perfect for me)
1/2 teaspoon of lime juice
1/2 teaspoon of sugar
1 teaspoon of chili garlic sauce (passed through sieve)

Mix the ingredients in the creamy spicy sauce and blend well.

6 sea scallops
1 pack of enoki mushrooms
6 tablespoons of creamy spicy sauce

1. Preheat the oven to 475 degree Fahrenheit.
2. Clean the scallops and cut each scallops into 4 pieces of equal size (slice horizontally). Chop off the roots of the enoki mushrooms and divide them into 4 equal portions.
4. Spread the mushrooms on a plate and layer the scallop pieces over the mushrooms and bake for 3 to 4 minutes.
5. Remove the scallops from the oven and top with creamy spicy sauce. Put the scallops back into the oven and baked until the surface turns golden brown. Sprinkle some paprika powder on top of each serving and serve hot.

This was quite tasty and satisfied my craving for a scallop dynamite roll, while being lower carb than a sushi roll. I admittedly loaded the spicy sauce onto my scallops because I love that stuff, it may be more to most people's liking to use a bit less than is in the photo. I also thought the sauce could be a bit more spicy, which could be attributed to the type of garlic chili sauce I bought. I would try making it a again with a straight Sriracha sauce to add some more heat and also leave it in the oven a minute or so longer to get some nice brown color on top.

This is a very elegant appetizer for a dinner party or if paired with a nice seaweed salad and some steamed rice, a great dinner. I'm always intimidated by all types of Asian cooking, but am learning that if I just find straight forward recipes and experiment a bit it will pay off and make me a more well-rounded cook. Enjoy!