Hinamatsuri is Girl’s Day in Japan, and one way to celebrate is by eating temari sushi. Temari sushi (or temarizushi) are balls of sushi rice with colorful toppings. They look gorgeous and are surprisingly easy to make! Give it a try and have a happy Girl’s Day!
What is Temari Sushi?
Temari sushi are sushi balls made to look like temari. Temari are round embroidered balls, originally made as a toy often given to girls. Over time, making temari balls became viewed as an art. Nowadays, temari are used decoratively, given as gifts or even as accessories to kimono. I feel like I can remember my grandmother having a temari ball around her house that I used to play with. You can read more about temari here.
In keeping with the “girls” theme, temari sushi is often served during the Japanese holiday of Girl’s Day (Hinamatsuri). As the parent of two girls myself, I’m biased, but Hinamatsuri is possibly my favorite Japanese holiday. If you’re interested, I have a whole blog post about Hinamatsuri, including a free lesson plan to teach kids about the holiday!
I don’t know who decided to make sushi look like temari, but I’m all for it! Temari sushi is one of those rare dishes that look amazing, taste great, and are actually easy to make!
How to Make Temari Sushi
Temari sushi barely takes any cooking, which is why I think it’s so easy. The only thing you really need to cook is your sushi rice. Making temari sushi essentially takes two steps:
- Making sushi rice
- Decorating your sushi rice balls
So, let’s break it down!
What Brand of Sushi Rice to Buy
First thing’s first. Cook your sushi rice however you normally do it. For me, I typically use my rice cooker. If you’ve been following my blog for a while, I’ll just assume you have a rice cooker. I don’t see how you can cook Asian food regularly without one. If you don’t own a rice cooker but you’re ready to make the best cooking investment of your life by getting one, I highly recommend getting a zojirushi, toshiba, or tiger. Those are three solid brands.
Another note about sushi rice: I actually don’t normally use actual sushi rice grains.
Whaaat?
I know. That doesn’t make any sense. Let me explain.
You might have heard that Japanese cooking uses short grain rice. This is compared to Chinese or Thai cooking that uses long grain, jasmine rice. However, typical Japanese cooking actually uses a medium grain rice. If you’ve bought popular Japanese rice brands like Nishiki, that’s probably what you got.
Proper sushi rice is an even shorter grain rice than that. Unfortunately, short grain sushi rice can be much more expensive!
That’s why I usually just use a medium grain Japanese rice.
Making Sushi Rice
Anyway, back to how to actually make sushi rice. Cook your rice, whether you do it stovetop or in a rice cooker, it doesn’t matter.
Actually, one more side note: I recently started cooking rice in my Japanese clay pot, and it is LIFE CHANGING. SO GOOD. I’ll write more about it another day, but I just had to mention it. Alright, I’ll stop getting distracted now.
While your rice is cooking, heat up equal parts rice vinegar and sugar over the stovetop. You just need to heat it up enough to dissolve the sugar.
Now the important part: mixing. When your rice is done cooking, transfer it to a big bowl. Then, IMMEDIATELY, while it’s still really hot, pour the vinegar mixture over the rice. Use a rice paddle to mix the rice together and use your other hand to fan the rice to cool it down. After mixing, make sure to keep your sushi rice covered so it doesn’t dry out.
Assembling Temari Sushi
This is the fun part. Get a piece of plastic cling wrap ready. In the middle of the plastic wrap, place your thinly sliced sushi toppings in whatever decorative pattern you like. Or no pattern. Up to you. Then drop about 2 tbsp of sushi rice on top of the toppings. Bring the cling wrap together and twist it, compacting your rice into a ball. Because the plastic wrap is clear, you should be able to see your toppings centered on your rice. Open up the plastic wrap and voila! You should have a perfect little sushi ball!
I’ll try to include a video so you can see. I always found that watching a video helped me see how easy it was to make temari sushi.
Temari Sushi Toppings
You can choose whatever you want for the toppings, as long as they can be thinly sliced! Some ideas include:
- avocado
- cucumber
- radish
- cheese
- salmon
- tuna
- egg
- seaweed punched into cute shapes
It definitely helps to use colorful toppings for the most dramatic visual effect.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy making temari sushi! If you post pictures, make sure to tag me on Instagram and use the hashtag #mochimommyrecipe! Happy Hinamatsuri!
Easy Temari Sushi (Hinamatsuri Food)
Ingredients
Sushi Rice
- 2 cups Japanese rice
- water to make rice
- 1/4 cup rice vinegar
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 pinch salt
Sushi Toppings
- 1 avocado thinly sliced
- 3 oz salmon sashimi thinly sliced
- 1 slice American cheese cut into decorative shapes
- 2-3 radishes thinly sliced
- other toppings of choice
Instructions
For Sushi Rice
- Cook rice according to rice cooker directions.
- While rice is cooking, heat up vinegar, salt, and sugar over stovetop just until dry ingredients are dissolved. You can prep your other toppings during this time as well.
- When rice is done cooking, transfer to a large bowl.
- Immediately, while rice is still very hot, pour vinegar mixture over rice.
- Mix rice with a rice paddle. Fan the rice to cool it down quicker. Keep rice covered when not using so it doesn't dry out.
Assembling Temari Sushi
- Place 1-3 pieces of sliced toppings on a piece of plastic wrap. You can place them in a decorative pattern, or simply place enough to cover about a 2 inch circle.
- Scoop about 2 tbsp of sushi rice on top of the toppings.
- Bring the ends of your plastic wrap together and twist to compact your sushi into a ball.
- Open up the plastic wrap, and you should have a perfectly shaped temari sushi ball. Repeat with the rest of your rice and toppings until you've used up your ingredients. Temari sushi is best eaten the day it's made.