While everyone is busy planning and making holiday meals and baked goods, I decided to get a head start on Japanese New Year special meals.
I know it sounds crazy since it’s not even Christmas yet! But in Japan we don’t generally get together with family and relatives for Christmas, but instead we get together on New Year’s Day or the first few days of New Years.
I was actually surprised to receive many requests for traditional New Year’s food recipes from the readers because I had never been a big fan of Osechi Ryori (Traditional Japanese New Year’s Meal, お節料理) while growing up in Japan. I only have a few favorite dishes like Sweet Rolled Omelet (Datemaki 伊達巻) and Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Candied Chestnuts (Kurikinton 栗きんとん) but I mostly look forward to my mom’s Saikyo Miso O-zoni (Kyoto-style shiro miso soup for New Years 西京味噌のお雑煮).
Since Christmas or New Year’s Eve is not here yet, I decided to share these Cucumber Wrapped Sushi that could be served as appetizer for your holiday party or any get together. This type of sushi is called Gunkan or Gunkan Maki in Japanese.
Gunkan (軍艦) meas “battleship” in Japanese, and the name comes from its oval shape. Typically, gunkan sushi are wrapped around with nori seaweed and has toppings like salmon roe (ikura), sea urchin (uni), and broiled eel (unagi) on them. But today I used thinly sliced cucumber to wrap around.
Once rice (or sushi rice) is cooked, you can quickly assemble the sushi right before you serve. If you don’t eat raw fish, you can substitute with smoked salmon or simply create your own!
Cucumber Wrapped Sushi
Ingredients
- 2 Japanese or Persian cucumbers (or 1 English cucumber)
- 3–4 cups sushi rice (cooked and seasoned) (see my recipe for How to Make Sushi Rice)
For the Toppings of Your Choice
- 4 oz sashimi-grade tuna (maguro)
- 10 sashimi-grade shrimp (amaebi)
- 4 oz sashimi-grade salmon
- 4 oz sashimi-grade yellowtail (hamachi)
- 4 Tbsp ikura (salmon roe)
For the Garnish
- 10 shiso leaves (perilla/ooba)
- 1 green onion/scallion (chopped)
- 1 lemon (sliced into small triangles)
- 1 bunch kaiware daikon radish sprouts
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients. I also use a 1¾-inch (4.5-cm) round cookie cutter.
To Prepare the Fillings
- Dice 4 oz sashimi-grade tuna (maguro) and lightly marinate the tuna with chopped green onion/scallion, soy sauce, and sesame oil.
- Slice 2 Japanese or Persian cucumbers with a peeler to make long, thin strips.
To Assemble
- Place 10 shiso leaves (perilla/ooba) on a serving platter. Dip a cookie cutter in a bowl of water (so the rice doesn‘t stick) and place it on top of a shiso leaf. With 3–4 cups sushi rice (cooked and seasoned), stuff some sushi rice into the cookie cutter halfway up. Remove the cutter gently. Roll the sushi cylinder with one strip of cucumber to measure the circumference of the circle.
- Make slits at the end of the cucumber strip with a knife as you see below. Now you can interlock the strips around the rice.
- Fill the cucumber-wrapped sushi cups with your favorite toppings. For the 10 sashimi-grade shrimp (amaebi), I place a couple of pieces from the outer edges to the center of each cucumber cup, so it looks like a flower.
- Slice 4 oz sashimi-grade salmon and 4 oz sashimi-grade yellowtail (hamachi) perpendicular to the muscle (the white line you see in the fish) and place a few slices in each cucumber cup.
- Place the tuna mixture in some cucumber cups. Use 4 Tbsp ikura (salmon roe) to fill other cucumber cups. Place on a serving platter. Garnish the Cucumber Sushi as you like with 1 lemon, 1 green onion/scallion (chopped), and a few sprouts from 1 bunch kaiware daikon radish sprouts. Serve immediately.
To Store
- I don‘t recommend keeping sashimi-grade fish and shrimp longer than 24 hours. Keep them refrigerated until serving.
Nutrition
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