Temaki Sushi
手巻き寿司·(te-ma-ki su-shi)
Hare no Hi: Weekend Rituals & Family Tables
In the 1980s, making sushi at home shifted from a rigid, stressful art form into a chaotic, joyful weekend party. Temaki requires no bamboo mats and zero pretension. For first-generation kids growing up in American suburbs, a spread of canned tuna mixed with Kewpie, shredded imitation crab, and sweet omelet strips was the ultimate Friday night feast. The secret isn't sourcing expensive fish on a Wednesday—it's getting the seasoned rice exactly right, keeping the seaweed shatteringly crisp, and letting everyone at the table build their own perfect bite.
Before you start
Draw out the cucumber's moisture before serving.
American cucumbers hold a lot of water. Slice them and let them sit on a paper towel for ten minutes so they don't turn your crisp nori into mush.
Make a quick sweet omelet for the spread.
Whisk the eggs with a teaspoon of sugar, a pinch of salt, and a splash of soy sauce. Cook it into a thick, flat omelet in a small skillet, then slice it into strips. The sweetness perfectly balances the vinegar in the rice.
Mix the tuna and mayonnaise.
Combine the drained canned tuna with the Kewpie mayonnaise and a splash of soy sauce to make the essential, deeply authentic tuna-mayo filling.
Ingredients
- short-grain Japanese rice2 cup
- water2 cup
- kombu1 small
- unseasoned rice vinegar3 tbsp
- granulated sugar2 1/2 tbsp
- kosher salt1 tsp
- yaki-nori10 large
- canned tuna in water1 med
- Kewpie mayonnaise2 tbsp
- imitation crab sticks1 package
- eggs3 large
- English cucumber1 med
- avocado1 med
- soy sauce1/4 cup
- wasabi1 tbsp
Method
- 01
Soak the rinsed rice and kombu for thirty minutes, then cook using a standard rice cooker cycle.
The one-to-one ratio of water to rice is crucial here. Using standard water levels will leave you with a mushy, waterlogged mess once the vinegar is added. Remove and discard the kombu as soon as the rice finishes cooking.
- 02
Whisk the rice vinegar, sugar, and salt together in a small bowl until completely dissolved.
Do not heat the mixture to speed this up, as heat destroys the vinegar's delicate aroma and sharp bite.
- 03
Transfer the piping hot rice to a wide, shallow bowl and slice the vinegar mixture into the grains.
Pour the vinegar over the steaming rice. Using a wooden paddle, use a sharp, angled slicing motion to mix it without mashing the grains. Fan the rice vigorously with your other hand while you mix to evaporate excess moisture and create a brilliant, glossy shine, then cover with a damp towel.
- 04
Arrange the fillings on a large platter and place the warm rice and crisp nori in the center of the table.
The magic of this meal is that the preparation is the event. Let everyone pass plates and build their own hand rolls.
- 05
Form a cone by spreading a small triangle of rice on a half-sheet of nori, adding fillings, and rolling it tight.
Keep the shiny side of the seaweed facing down in your palm. Spread about two tablespoons of rice on the left half in an inverted triangle, lay your fillings diagonally across it, fold the bottom-left corner up, and roll the whole thing to the right into a tight cone. Eat it immediately while the seaweed snaps.
Notes
Revive soggy seaweed with an open flame.
Moisture is the enemy of good hand rolls. If your kitchen is humid and your nori loses its snap, quickly pass the sheets high over an open gas flame for a few seconds to shatteringly re-crisp them before serving.
Embrace the pantry.
Authentic homestyle Japanese sushi does not require fifty dollars of sashimi-grade fish. A spread built entirely on canned tuna mayo, imitation crab, smoked salmon, and leftover teriyaki chicken is exactly what you would find on a Friday night in a Tokyo suburb.
From Cook Japanese in America.