Harumaki, or Japanese spring roll, has a mildly savoury filling of minced meat, glass noodles, and vegetables wrapped in a light, crispy fried wrapper using flour, water, and salt.
The crispy snack was initially introduced to Japan by the Chinese and adapted for local tastes. It's extremely versatile; you can make it with any fillings you like. The seasonings of dashi, soy sauce and mirin also make the flavours unique to harumaki.
Here's our harumaki recipe for you to start making this crowd-pleaser at home.
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Harumaki Ingredients
To make Harumaki, you need store-bought wrappers, seasoning sauces, meat, and any vegetables you want in your Japanese spring roll. Here is the essential list of ingredients for our recipe:
- Harumaki wrapper
- Glass noodles
- Meat (ground pork, shredded chicken or minced shrimp)
- Vegetables (Carrots, cabbages, green onions, mushrooms)
- Seasoning (soy sauce, mirin, shiitake dashi and salt and pepper)
- Sesame oil
- Cornstarch or potato starch
- Vegetable oil (for deep frying)
You can make your own wrappers with wheat flour and water. But that can take some time. So, instead, buying spring roll wrappers from an online or grocery store will work.
To get the best results, look for wrappers that are at least 7.5 inches or 19 cm in size. And remember, they're not the same as egg roll wrappers.
You can put anything you want if it snugly fits inside the wrapper. So, get creative. However, we do not recommend using juicy vegetables such as cherry tomatoes. This will make the filling of your vegetable harumaki too wet as potato starch is added to make the gravy inside.
Harumaki Dipping Sauce
We believe the best way to eat your Harumaki roll is with a light dipping sauce. It's super easy to make and elevates the dish.
The Japanese traditionally use mustard and soy sauce, avoiding thick dips like sweet chilli or plum sauce. You'll need:
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- Two tablespoons of hoisin sauce
- One tablespoon water
- One minced clove of garlic
- One teaspoon of chopped green onions
- ½ teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- ¼ teaspoon minced ginger
Once you're ready to make the refreshing dip, follow the simple steps below:
- Combine everything in a mixing bowl.
- Add additional hoisin sauce to thicken the mixture.
- Cover and refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours.
- Before serving, heat the mixture in a small saucepan. Serve warm.
Harumaki Recipe (Japanese Spring Roll)
Ingredients
- 8 sheet spring roll wrappers 19x19cm square
- 200 g ground pork or minced meat
- 50 g glass noodles
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1½ cup vegetable oil for frying
Meat Marinade
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon mirin
- 1 tablespoon potato starch
- ½ teaspoon salt and pepper
Vegetables
- 5 shiitake mushrooms sliced
- 2-3 green onions chopped
- 50 g bean sprouts
- 60 g carrots julienned
- 1 inch ginger grated
Filling seasoning
- ¼ cup shiitake dashi or chicken stock
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon potato starch mixed with 2 tablespoon water
- ½ teaspoon salt and pepper
Cooking Instructions
- Mix the ground meat with the marinade (soy sauce, mirin, potato starch, salt, and pepper) in a bowl. Let it sit and marinate for at least 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, prepare the vegetables and noodles. Slice the mushrooms, chop the green onions, julienne the carrots, and grate the ginger. Soak the bean sprouts in a bowl of water to keep them fresh. Pour hot water over the noodles in a pot and let them soak and expand for 10 minutes, or according to the packaging instructions. Once they're ready, cut them to about 1 inch lengthwise.
- Heat a pan under medium-high heat and add sesame oil to it. Once the oil is hot, add the grated ginger and chopped green onions. Stir fry for about 30 seconds or until fragrant. Then, add the marinated ground meat and fry for about 2 minutes. We want the ground meat to turn golden brown and a bit crispy.
- Add the julienned carrots and stir fry for about 1 minute. Then, add the noodles and bean sprouts to the mix, immediately followed by the filling seasoning mix of shiitake dashi, soy sauce, starch slurry, salt, and pepper. Stir fry for another 1-2 minutes until well combined and all the ingredients are cooked.
- Transfer the harumaki filling to a separate dish and allow it to cool. Once cooled, separate it into equal parts for easier portioning when rolling and folding.
- Prepare the starch mixture and filling. Place one sheet with the corner pointing towards you. Spread the starch mixture thinly on the skin. Place one serving of filling closer to the corner and fold it over. Fold the left and right corners towards the centre. Using your fingertip, apply the starch mix to the final corner to seal. Repeat until you've folded all the harumaki. You can freeze them in an air-tight container to cook for later or cook them immediately.
- When you're ready to fry, pour enough oil into a pot or pan and heat it up under medium heat. Once the oil is hot enough (about 170°C or 340°F), place the harumaki into the oil. Fry each side for about 2 minutes or until golden brown. Once done, remove them from the oil and place them on a kitchen towel-lined dish to remove any excess oil. Serve them while they are hot.
Recipe Notes
- We used chicken stock as a seasoning, but you can substitute it with shiitake dashi. You can use dried shiitake mushrooms to prepare the shiitake dashi. First, rinse them 1-2 times and rub off any dust. Then, soak the mushrooms in a bowl of hot water for at least 1 hour. The umami from the mushrooms will dissipate into the soaking water, and that will become shiitake dashi to use for seasoning.
- While wrapping, cover the rest of the Japanese spring roll skin with plastic wrap or a moist paper towel to prevent it from drying.
- We used about 1.5 cups of oil to fry the harumaki. If you have a smaller pot, you can use less oil. When frying, you want to pour enough oil to submerge at least half of the harumaki.
Nutrition
Calories have been calculated using an online calculator. Nutritional information offered on Honest Food Talks is for general information purposes and is only a rough estimate.
Harumaki Cooking Tips
If you've tried this Japanese snack on a trial basis and it didn't turn out well, don't give up. Here are some cooking tips to help you on your next attempt.
Cooling the filling
First, be sure to prepare the filling beforehand. After the filling is cooked, you'll need to let the mixture cool and dry out before forming the Harumaki roll.
This step prevents holes in the wrappers. You can speed up the cooling process by spreading the filling onto a metal tray and then putting the tray on a bigger tray filled with cold water. But be sure not to let any water get into the mixture.
Not thoroughly cooling the filling can cause the Japanese spring roll to explode.
Cover your wrapper
You must make sure the filling is ready before you wrap them. If you leave the wrapper open, it dries out very quickly, making it stiff and not easy to use.
Wrap tightly
Afterwards, it's time to wrap the filling tightly inside the wrapper. It's best to wrap the roll tightly to prevent air bubbles. This will ensure that the filling does not burst when fried.
Lastly, fry at 170°C (340°C) for 2 minutes on each side. Since the filling is already cooked, we just want to fry the skin.
Why Are My Rolls Not Crispy?
You must let your ingredients dry thoroughly to make the Japanese spring roll crispy. We always aim to fry at 170°C (340°F), but anything between 160-180°C (320-355°F) temperature range would be good.
The harumaki will turn golden yellow at close to 160°C (320°F) and golden brown closer to the higher end of the temperature range.
Anything lower will not turn out crispy and will also be soggy. Anything higher risks burning the wrapper skin.
After frying, space each roll out on a paper towel, drain the grease and let them cool. The towel will absorb excess moisture, helping the snack stay nice and crisp.
Compared to other Japanese spring rolls, the skin tears apart quickly, so you should eat them fresh from the fryer.
Why Does My Roll Burst While Frying?
If your Japanese spring roll bursts, you did not cool the filling enough or roll the wrapper tightly enough. We also use the cornstarch slurry as a glue when wrapping.
As a result, the air left inside will cause the ingredients to heat up, expand and explode. So, the solution is simple: dry the filling and wrap the skin tightly when packing in the elements.
Why Are There Air Bubbles On The Spring Roll Wrapper?
When you immediately start frying the snack without heating it slightly, the water will expand immediately.
This process causes the wrapper to swell and harden, so you'll get air bubbles.
So to prevent this, start at around 100 -120°C and slowly turn the heat up. But be careful that it's not too hot. Once the wrapper looks golden brown, you've got the right temperature.
Can I Freeze The Japanese Spring Roll?
If you want to keep them instead of eating every single one immediately, you can. You can freeze the cooked Japanese spring rolls for up to 3 months.
First, let the filling cool down after cooking. Then wrap them in a spring roll wrapper and place them in an air-tight container and put the container in the freezer.
Vegetarian Harumaki Ingredients
If you prefer to make Harumaki vegetarian, you can try various vegetables. Instead of meat, you can also add tofu as a replacement protein. Include raw, fresh vegetables without seasoning. Here are some ingredients that are typically used in vegetarian Japanese spring rolls:
- Dried shiitake mushrooms
- Yellow onion
- Onions
- Cabbage
- Carrots
- Bean sprouts
If you notice, these are vegetables that usually grow in spring. This Asian snack is traditionally made in Japan for eating in the spring and enjoying the seasonal produce.
They also have crunchy, dry textures and are milder in taste than other vegetables. Therefore, choosing different options does not significantly affect flavour and texture.
Japanese Spring Roll Fillings
There are many different ingredients that you can include in a harumaki roll. Depending on your preference, here's a list of typical ingredients you can use to change our spring roll fillings:
- Cabbage
- spring onions
- Carrots
- Mushroom
- Beansprouts
- Ginger
- Pork
- Chicken
- Shrimps
Gluten-Free Harumaki
Japanese spring rolls are made with wheat flour and are not gluten-free. However, if you have a strict diet, you can use wrappers made of rice flour to make your harumaki gluten-free.
You will need 1 tablespoon rice flour and 1 tablespoon potato starch mixed with 1 ½ tablespoon water. Add salt to taste.
It's easy to make rice paper to use for your Harumaki wrapper. Just follow the steps below:
- Whisk rice flour, potato starch, water and salt together.
- Cover a plate with plastic wrap when it turns into a gluey paste.
- Stretch the paste across until it fits tightly.
Nama Harumaki
Another version of Japanese spring rolls is Nama Harumaki. Nama means raw in Japanese, so the filling usually consists of mostly raw ingredients.
The Harumaki wrapper in this nama version is not deep fried, so it resembles more like rice paper rolls. Instead of meat, cooks use ingredients such as garlic, ginger, coriander, or mint leaves. Usually, the Japanese version does not include carrots or bean sprouts to make it easier to chew.
A light sauce made of Yuzu, sunflower oil, and rice vinegar is drizzled over the snack. The Japanese adapted this version from Vietnam.
Japanese Spring Roll Vs Chinese Spring Roll
The key difference between Japanese and Chinese spring rolls is that traditional Japanese ones tend not to have garlic.
However, most Harumaki roll ingredients are similar to Chinese spring rolls with a combination of vegetables, meat, and glass noodles wrapped in a thin pastry and then fried.
Another way it differs from the Chinese version is because the filling is slightly thick due to the addition of potato starch to make a thick gravy. We adapt this technique to our harumaki recipe, as it enhances the textures of the fillings, making it easier to wrap.
Furthermore, since there are no eggs in the recipe, the spring roll skin is thinner and more elastic than egg rolls.
However, if you cannot find any store-bought versions, you can still use egg roll skins. The taste will be denser and less chewy, but it still works.
Harumaki pronunciation has four syllables, “huh-roo-muh-key”. The word itself means 'spring rolls' and is directly translated from Japanese to English.
Harumaki Calories
Our harumaki recipe has about 180 calories per piece. While it is certainly calorie-dense, you get various nutrients from the range of ingredients in each piece.
Are you looking for more light snacks? Other Japanese dishes such as kappa maki, Kani salad, and battleship sushi are also easy to recreate and delicious. You can enjoy making these finger foods with your guests or family.
If you need more inspiration, follow Honest Food Talks on Instagram @honestfoodtalks. Happy cooking and eating.
Pol11
The recipe works well if frying with air fryer too if anyone wondering! Mine turned out crispy and less oily (I just brushed some oil on the outer wrapper before popping it in the air fryer)