Gunkan are sushi from the nigiri family: hand-molded oval-shaped rice, but unlike simple nigiri, an external nori seaweed is added to form a sort of basin in which a soft topping is placed.

Among the main types of Gunkan popular in Italy, I tried to make: salmon, crab, with quail egg, ebi (shrimp with cheese and chives) and shrimp.

Difficulty: Medium
Cost: Medium
Preparation time: 20 Minutes
Portions: 20 Pieces
Cooking methods: Stove, Steaming
Cuisine: Japanese
Seasonality: All seasons

Ingredients

1 cup uruchimai rice (sushi rice)
4 nori seaweed sheets
to taste rice vinegar
7 teaspoons sugar
to taste salt
4 quail eggs
3.5 oz smoked salmon (or fresh thinly sliced raw salmon)
5 raw shrimp
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
2 tablespoons cream cheese
to taste chives
1.75 oz surimi
4 prawns or shrimp

Preparation

First, cook the rice after soaking it in water for about 15 minutes following the gohan recipe.
Then season it with 1 tablespoon of rice vinegar, sugar, and salt.
Moisten your hands with a mix of water and rice vinegar and form 1 oz balls.
Cut the nori seaweed into thin strips about 1.5 inches wide, remembering to place the shiny side outside.
For the salmon gunkan:
Wrap the rice ball in salmon adding a drop of wasabi.
For the quail egg gunkan:
Wrap the rice ball in salmon or nori seaweed, position vertically adding the quail egg yolk and decorating with chives.
For the ebi gunkan:
Mix the raw shrimp with mayonnaise, chives, and cream cheese.
Wrap the rice ball in nori seaweed and decorate with the shrimp mix.
For the crab meat and shrimp gunkan:
Cut the surimi into small pieces and place it on top of the rice ball wrapped in nori seaweed.
Boil the shrimp and place one shrimp on each rice ball wrapped in nori seaweed.
Serve with soy sauce, wasabi, and pickled ginger.