Gunkan Maki Recipe (Battleship Sushi)

Gunkan maki, or battleship sushi, is Japanese sushi made of rice wrapped with a strip of nori seaweed and topped with seafood or vegetables. The word "gunkan" means "battleship" in Japanese, owing to the dish's boat shape. 

The signature boat shape holds all the soft, loose ingredients that would otherwise be difficult to include in types such as nigirizushi, which require whole ingredient cuts.

We always find that this type of sushi has less rice and more filling, which is perfect for us. The shape and size also give a more satisfying bite than regular sushi.

Here's our gunkan maki recipe to make your own battleship sushi at home.

Jump to:

• Ingredients
• Gunkan Maki Recipe | Battleship Sushi
• Cooking Tips
• Gunkan Maki Toppings
• Can you store it to eat later?
• Popular Sushi Types
• Popularity

Ingredients

The key ingredients for gunkan maki are strips of nori seaweed, sushi rice, and your choice of topping. 

Nori strips

You will need strips of nori seaweed about 3.3 cm thick. The easiest way to prepare this is to get a full or half sheet of nori seaweed and cut along the faint pre-existing lines.

For a slightly roasted flavoured, gently run the nori sheet past an open fire or heat it on a pan for 10 - 15 seconds. We don't recommend any longer as this can cause your nori to become overly crispy and hard to wrap later.

Sushi rice

We're using sushi-grade Japanese short-grain rice to make the sushi rice in our recipe. To save time, you can buy sushi vinegar and use 2 tablespoon for 1 cup of uncooked rice (or 2 cups of cooked rice).

However, for our recipe, we'll mix 2 tablespoon of rice vinegar, 1 tablespoon white sugar and ½ teaspoon of salt with 1 cup of uncooked rice. You can also make this using mirin by using these measurements instead. 1 tablespoon of mirin, ½ tablespoon white sugar and ½ teaspoon of salt. 

Toppings

We'll be using masago for our gunkan maki recipe. The most common toppings are salmon ikura, tobiko, or masago fish roe. Other seafood toppings we often see include chopped tuna chunks, salmon chunks, kani sticks, shellfish, and squid.

However, chopped cucumbers, avocado, and sweetcorn mixed with mayo are great vegetarian options in our recipe. The taste will be different depending on the toppings. However, with every bite, you'll get the umami flavouring of seaweed nori and the freshness of vinegared rice.

We also include instructions on how to make a sweetcorn topping and avocado kani topping after our main recipe.

Cooking Tips

Here are some cooking tips to help beginners make this kind of sushi at home.

Shaping the rice

When you're shaping the sushi rice, make sure you apply enough pressure so it will hold its shape. However, if the shape starts to change or crush, you're using too much pressure.

Applying pressure using your index finger and middle finger rather than your palm is a good way to do this.

You can adjust the general shape slightly with your thumb and index finger. If the rice sticks to your fingers or palms, you can wet your hands with water and continue shaping.

Wrapping the nori sheet

You can use a single grain to close the strip. However, we prefer using a little bit of water or diluted vinegar, as it's easier to close and less messy than grabbing one rice grain.

If you use water or diluted vinegar, ensure this is only a dab on the nori seaweed. Otherwise, the seaweed might become too wet and not hold the shape for the toppings.

How to fill gunkan maki with topping

A trick we like to do after wrapping the rice with nori is gently pushing down the rice with our thumb. It's not traditional, but we find this helps the cooked grains stick to the nori and also lets us add more toppings to the sushi.

We like to add our filling directly to the centre of the sushi first. Then, using the same spoon, we push and spread it to the corners, which helps prevent the filling from overspilling.

Gunkan Maki Toppings

Here's how to prepare some of our favourite toppings for gunkan maki.

Sweetcorn and Mayo

To make sweetcorn and mayo topping for 2 pieces, mix the following ingredients and set aside.

• 2 tablespoon Corn
• 1 tablespoon Mayonaise
• Salt to taste
• Pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon Wasabi optional

Avocado and Kani

• ⅓ avocado cubed
• 1 imitation crab stick
• 1 tablespoon mayonnaise

Cut your avocado into cubes and shred your imitation crab into strips. Add mayonnaise to your crab sticks and mix well. For an added kick, add 1-2 drops of Sriracha. To us, this is like a mini kani salad in a sushi wrap.

Can you store it to eat later?

Gunkan Maki must be prepared fresh and cannot be stored in the fridge. After a short time, the seaweed nori will get soggy, which may ruin your eating experience, as the topping will also fall off. 

Many conventional ingredients used for the toppings are usually best served and eaten fresh. Therefore, we don't recommend storing them for future consumption.

Popular Sushi Types

Sushi is an iconic food whenever you think of Japan. It is versatile, simple, and delicious. The basic dish consists of three essential ingredients: vinegared rice, raw fish or seafood, and nori seaweed. It is usually served and eaten with soy sauce, wasabi paste, and pickled ginger.

There are many variations to this culturally important dish - hosomaki, temaki, nigiri, gunkan maki. 

Hosomaki

• It's a widespread sushi type that is cylinder-shaped. 
• The words "hoso" and "maki" mean "thin roll", which refers to small cylindrical pieces of this dish.
• Suitable for any beginners who want to make homemade sushi.
• Made by rolling seaweed nori, vinegared rice and topping ingredients with a bamboo mat.

Temaki

• It's casual and usually not served in very formal Japanese restaurants. Hence, it is a popular entry at sushi parties. 
• Made by hand-rolling seaweed nori, vinegared rice, and ingredients into a cone-shaped bouquet resembling a flower bouquet.
• The words "te" and "maki" mean "hand roll," which suggests that this treat is usually eaten with hands. Its shape makes it awkward to eat with chopsticks.

Gunkan Maki

• Boat-shaped cube of rice with seaweed nori wrapped at the side and ingredients at the top.
• It is popular in Japanese restaurants and one of the must-haves for soft toppings.
• The vinegared rice is hand-formed as a container, and the seaweed is wrapped at the side. The toppings are spooned in.

Nigiri-Zushi

• It is a very common type that can be found in many Japanese eateries.
• Oval-shaped with a slice of ingredients on top.
• Vinegared rice is moulded by hand, and the topping is pressed by hand on top.
• The word "nigiri" means "to grab, hold or squeeze," which refers to the hand motion of the chef, who moulds the sushi into its shape using his fingers.

Popularity

The legend is that Gunkan maki was invented in Ginza Kyubey restaurant in Japan in 1941. 

In essence, it's a hand-formed clump of rice wrapped in seaweed topped with soft toppings—fish roe, tuna, or even oysters. This allowed the chefs to reduce wastage and use soft toppings that would not be suitable for other sushi dishes.

Aptly translated as "Battleship Sushi", this iconic Japanese dish is not to be missed when eating out.