Natto Battleship Rolls

Natto Battleship Rolls

Here's another recipe using the Japanese superfood - Natto. In this recipe, I use natto in a popular Japanese sushi dish - Gunkan Maki / Natto Battlship Rolls.

So, first things first, what does Gunkan Maki mean? You probably know that maki = roll.

Next, gunkan = battleship. So, gunkan-maki = battleship roll. Why? Because these sushi rolls are said to resemble the shape of a battleship. I know what you're thinking....I don't think they do either but these rolls were first created nearly 100 years ago, so maybe they did look like battleships then!

Basically, a battleship roll is a base of formed sushi rice, wrapped in a larger piece of nori that creates room for a filling to be spooned on top of the rice. The great thing about battleship rolls is you can use fillings like natto (or fish roe for another example) that would otherwise just fall off the rice. As I recently made a large batch of natto, I used some in this recipe along with some spring onions and soy sauce.

You can find the written recipe as below and the Youtube video tutorial by clicking Natto Battleship Rolls or scroll to the bottom of the page.

If you need a reminder about how to make Natto, you can find the recipe for that by clicking Make your own Natto and the Youtube video tutorial Make your own Natto as well.

Happy cooking! Kurumi XXXX.

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Ingredients: 2 servings

300g cooked Japanese rice

1 tbsp sushi vinegar

100g natto

1 spring onion, finely chopped

2 tsp soy sauce

2 sheets of nori

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how to:

put the cooked rice in a bowl & add the sushi vinegar. gently mix the vinegar into the rice using a spatula or large spoon in a slicing motion (you want to avoid mashing the rice)

mix the natto in a small bowl, then add spring onion & soy sauce and mix again

cut 1 sheet of nori into 5 strips ( about 3 cm / 1.5 inch width)

take 1 tbsp of sushi rice and form in your hand into an elongated oval shape

now, wrap the nori strip around the rice. use a grain or two of rice to seal the nori ends together

spoon in the natto mixture

repeat to create 10 gunkan rolls

serve with individual dishes of soy sauce and wasabi

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Natto Battleship Rolls