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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 Years Day or the first few days of New Years.
I was actually surprised to receive many requests for traditional New Years food recipes from the readers because I was never been a big fan of Osechi Ryori (Traditional Japanese New Years 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!
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- 2 Persian/Japanese cucumbers (or English cucumbers)
- 3-4 cups sushi rice (cooked and seasoned) (or regular Japanese steamed rice)
- 4 oz Sashimi grade salmon
- 4 oz Sashimi grade yellowtail
- 4 ozsalmon roe Sashimi grade tuna
- 4 Tbsp Ikura (salmon roe)
- 10 Sashimi grade shrimp (amaebi)
- 10 Shiso leaves (Ooba)
- 1 green onion/scallion
- 1 lemon
- Kaiware radish sprouts (for garnish)
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Gather all the ingredients.
- Slice the cucumber with peeler to make long thin strips.
- Place shiso leaves on a serving platter and put the cookie cutter on top of a shiso leaf. Stuff sushi rice into the cookie cutter about half way and remove the cutter gently. Roll the sushi cylinder with one strip of cucumber slice to measure the circumference of the circle.
- Make slits at the end of cucumber slice with knife as you see below. Now you can interlock the strip around the rice.
- Fill in the cucumber wrapped sushi with your favorite toppings. Here I diced tuna and lightly marinade the tuna with scallion, soy sauce and sesame oil. Place the tuna mixture in the cucumber cup.
- For shrimp (amaebi), I place a couple pieces from outer edges to center in the cucumber cup, so it looks like a flower.
- Slice the sashimi-grade fish perpendicular to the muscle (the white line you see in the fish) and place a few slices in the cucumber cup.
- Garnish with lemon and Daikon radish sprouts. Serve immediately.
Please understand the amount of ingredients are rough estimate.
All the sashimi-grade fish and seafood are from a local Japanese supermarket.
Equipment you will need:
- 1 round cookie cutter (I used one with 1¾ inch (4.5 cm) diameter)
Inspired by my blogger friend Akemi-san of Nippon Nin who recently made cucumber wrapped sushi on her blog.
Recipe by Namiko Chen of Just One Cookbook. All images and content on this site are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without my permission. If you’d like to share this recipe on your site, please re-write the recipe in your own words and link to this post as the original source. Thank you.
Our Recommendations for Buying Sashimi Online
When we have a sudden craving for sashimi we usually buy from our local Japanese supermarkets. If you don't have a reliable shop to purchase quality sashimi nearby, we would recommend buying from Catalina Offshore online.
They've been in business for over forty years and all the sashimi products we've tried from them are outstanding. The products we love are the saku cut tuna, hamachi loin, and all types of salmon. Disclosure: We earn a small percentage commission from your purchase of products linked to Catalina Offshore.
Hey Nami. That looks wonderful. I had some sushi similar to your this summer. It was delightful. You also make it look so easy. I hope it is!
Compared to sushi rolls, this is definitely easy to make, especially we use a cookie cutter. Thank you for your feedback! 🙂
Nami, the sushi looks so yummy and pretty. It’s like food art. =)
Thank you, Candice! I didn’t do much, it’s all from beautiful color of the food! 😉
Beautiful pics! I always wondered how to slice the cucumber so thinly! Thanks for the recipe!
Thanks for the kind words, Kim! 🙂
Those look amazing! After reading your post, I was so thrilled to find one cucumber left in the fridge and ran off to start making them! Surprisingly, they were really easy to make! I didn’t have any fish or meat for toppings, but I used diced mangos topped with caviar! It was delicious! I remember eating something similar at a Japanese restaurant once (mango + salmon) and felt so happy to be able to actually make these! 😀
Hi Emily! I’m SO happy to hear you made the cucumber wrapped sushi right away! Yay! And I LOVE the idea of diced mangoes with caviar… now that’s a nice dish! Thanks for trying this recipe Emily! 🙂
I have a problem consuming sugar and carbohydrates (Rice).
Do you have more Sushi recipes with wraps like Cucumber, Rice Paper, or Seaweed etc.
Hi J Pete! I don’t have sushi recipes that do not use rice for now… Sorry… 🙁
Hi Nami
Thank you for sharing these recipes. I always interested with Japanese cuisine.
I tried some sushi recipes and they worked very well. Now I want to add Gunkan sushi, but I fail with the wrapping technic.
Could you add some guidelines?
Thank you
Hi Valery! I’m happy to hear you’re interested in Japanese food! Which part was difficult? You need to make a good sushi pillow that won’t fall apart. Never squeeze tightly (that’s a big no no for sushi), but it has to be formed enough that it won’t fall apart. And wrapping part should be easy… I just need to know what went wrong so I can give some advice. 🙂
Hi Nami
Thank you for your reply.
I have the following problems:
– What is the proper size of seaweed? I cut it to 3 equal pieces, but I think it’s too much.
– Yes, I squeeze tightly 🙁
– How to glue the seaweed strip? I use the rice, but sometimes I manage to brake the strip.
– What are the possible fillings? I use caviar (ikura) – love it, tried some salads, but not all works well (for instance too wet)
Thank you
Hi Valeriy!
1) I think 1/3 of nori is too wide/tall. 1.5 inch (3.5 cm) will be a good size.
2) Are you using Japanese short grain rice? You can’t make good sushi without Japanese rice. No jasmine, or any long grains. Short grain rice has natural stickiness (but not sticky rice, remember).
3) You can use a rice kernel as a glue. Just put one kernel at the end of nori (where you can’t see).
4) Ikura is my favorite! Other popular toppings in Japan: Uni (Sea urchin), Tobiko, Negi Toro (tuna and green onion chopped), Crab salad, Amaebi (shrimp), scallop…etc.
Hope this helps!
The dishes look beautiful and I really want to try it!!
Thank you Bob! Hope you give it a try! 🙂
Where do you buy your sushi grade fish? I will be ordering your cookbook, LOVE the recipes!
Hi Victoria! I usually get my sushi-grade fish from a local Japanese grocery store. I’ve tried Catalina Offshore and it’s pretty good!