Temaki sushi is a popular type of sushi in the Netherlands that was originally invented by the Americans. It resembles a cone filled with rice and other ingredients. It is easy to eat with one hand and is therefore also called hand roll in the western world. Because of the simple way of rolling, the temaki sushi is ideal to make at home. A bamboo mat is not even necessary. There are many variations for the temaki role, from simple to exclusive.
Temaki
Temaki sushi, often called hand roll in Europe, is a different form of maki sushi. Although they are not alike in shape, the main ingredients are the same. Just like the maki, the temaki consists of nori, meshi, and one or more other ingredients to fill the temaki with, such as raw fish, egg or vegetables. Unlike the maki that is rolled straight, the temaki is rolled into the shape of a cone. An average temaki is about 4 inches long. The temaki is then no longer cut, but served whole.
Basic ingredients
The basic ingredients for temaki sushi are:
- Meshi: round-grain and sticky sushi rice.
- Mirin: Rice vinegar to flavor the meshi. This is often mixed with sugar and salt.
- Nori: seaweed. It is grown, dried and sold in thin slices in Japan.
- Other: filling of raw fish, vegetables, egg or something else of your choice.
Temaki can be flavored with the following ingredients:
- Wasabi: green pungent paste made from the rare Japanese green carrot Wasabia japonica. Imitation wasabi is often used based on horseradish, radish, mustard and food coloring.
- Japanese soy sauce: soy-based salty sauce. Sushi is dipped in here.
- Gari: thin slices of pickled ginger, often bright pink or beige in color. Gari is intended to neutralize the taste.
- Daikon: pickled radish.
Eating sushi
In Japan, most people do not eat sushi with chopsticks, but by hand. The small sushi types, such as the maki, they put in their mouths in one go. Temaki sushi is a bit too big for that, so a bite is taken here. Many Dutch people often eat sushi with chopsticks. Due to its size, a temaki is difficult to eat with chopsticks. That is why temaki sushi has been nicknamed handroll here. A temaki sushi is eaten by hand in the Netherlands, just like in Japan.
Process of temaki sushi
The method for temaki sushi is very similar to the method for maki sushi. It is therefore ideal to combine these two types in a sushi dish.
- Wash the rice and soak it in water for half an hour. The rice should be a finger joint under the water. For a roll of Maki sushi you need about 25 grams of cooked sushi rice.
- Boil the rice for 10 minutes and let the rice stand for 10 to 15 minutes.
- Dissolve sugar and salt in mirin and mix it with the rice. Let the rice cool down further.
- Place half a nori sheet on a bamboo mat or board. Lay the sheet with the shiny side down. Temaki sushi is also easy to roll without a bamboo mat. For extra crunchy nori you can briefly bake the sheets in a dry frying pan.
- Spread a thin layer of rice over the left half of the nori and leave the right half empty.
- Place the ingredients in a diagonal line on the rice, from top left to bottom right.
- Roll the temaki sushi in the shape of a cone. Do this by starting to roll from the left side. Wrap the nori sheet diagonally around the ingredient and press it down. Now roll further and make sure that the sushi is rolled nice and tight. If necessary, stick the end with some rice.
- Serve the sushi immediately so that the nori is still crispy.
Maki recipes
Temaki sushi is quite easy to make. The basis for the temaki is always the same, but the content can be varied. Here are a few popular recipes.
California Temaki Sushi
For four temaki
Ingredients
- 100 grams of meshi
- 2 nori sheets
- mirin
- sugar, salt
- 1 avocado
- wasabi
- 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise
- 4 surimi sticks
- 1/4 cucumber
- 1 tablespoon of sesame seeds
Preparation method
- Remove the surimi sticks from the packaging.
- Cut the avocado in half, remove the stone and remove the flesh from the skin with a spoon.
- Cut the halves each into four equal pieces.
- Cut the cucumber lengthwise into four quarters. These should be about as long as half a nori.
- Mix the mayonnaise with a little wasabi.
- Follow the preparation method for temaki sushi. In step six you add the above ingredients. Drizzle the ingredients with sesame seeds and a little wasabi mayonnaise. Make four rolls in total.
- Serve the sushi with wasabi, Japanese soy sauce, gari and daikon.
Healthy whole grain temaki sushi
For four temaki
Ingredients
- 50 grams of meshi
- 50 grams of brown rice
- 2 nori sheets
- mirin
- sugar, salt
- 1 avocado
- wasabi
- 50 grams of salmon
- 1 cucumber
Preparation method
- Cut the fish into four long strips. Preferably, the bars should be the same length as half a nori. If this does not work, you can also place a number of thin strips of equal thickness against each other to achieve the correct length
- Cut the avocado in half, remove the stone and remove the flesh from the skin with a spoon.
- Cut the halves each into four equal pieces.
- Mix mirin with sugar and salt. Heating the mirin resolves this better.
- Cut the cucumber into strips and sprinkle with mirin dressing. Keep some dressing for the rice.
- Follow the preparation method for temaki sushi. At step one, mix the meshi with the brown rice. In step six you add the salmon and avocado. Make four rolls in total.
- Serve the sushi with wasabi, Japanese soy sauce, gari and cucumber salad.
Spicy tuna temaki
For four temaki
Ingredients
- 100 grams of fresh tuna
- Meshi
- 2 nori sheets
- mirin
- sugar, salt
- 1/4 Cucumber
- 1 Green onion
- Sesame seeds
- 2 tablespoons of Mayonnaise
- 2 teaspoons sriracha or other hot chili sauce
Preparation method
- Finely chop the fish and put it in the sriracha.
- Finely chop the onion.
- Cut the cucumber into strips.
- Follow the preparation method for temaki sushi. In step six you add the above ingredients. Make four rolls in total.
- Serve the sushi with wasabi, Japanese soy sauce, gari and daikon.
