Temari Sushi Recipe (手まり寿司)

Temari sushi is a ball-shaped sushi that is fun to make and eat! This particular type of sushi is characterized by its round shape and colourful toppings. The fun part about making temari sushi is coming up with the topping and garnish combinations. If you’ve never made this type of sushi before, read on and impress your guests with these pretty sushi balls!

Ingredients for Temari Sushi

Temari sushi has two components – sushi rice and toppings.

Sushi Rice – I use short grain rice and season it with rice vinegar, salt and sugar. You can also buy premixed “sushi seasoning” to season your rice. If you’ve never made sushi rice before, check out this recipe from Just One Cookbook.

Toppings – Basically you can use whatever you like as toppings. If you’re not a fan of raw fish, you can use cooked ingredients. Here are some ideas: eggs, shrimps, smoked salmon, roast beef, ham, tofu, bean curd, avocado, cucumbers, green beans, snow peas, carrots, lotus roots, red radish, mushrooms, and bamboo shoot.

To make temari sushi prettier, you can add garnishes to give it additional colours and flavour. Here are some ideas on garnishes: diced eggs, corn, herbs (such as cilantro), green onion, toasted sesame seeds, toasted nori, cheers, mayo, and mustard. You could also use condiments such as mayo or mustard as well.

How to Make Temari Sushi

Regardless of the topping you choose, here are the basic instructions for making temari sushi:

1. On a piece of plastic wrap, place your topping right side down in the order that you want them to appear. So whatever is on top goes down first.
2. Place a rice ball on top of the toppings.
3. Gather the plastic wrap and gently shape the ingredients into a ball.
4. Unwrap and decorate the sushi with garnish or condiment.

Temari Sushi Ideas

I like to make temari sushi with cooked ingredients because I’m not comfortable handling with raw fish at home. Here are some temari sushi and bento that I’ve made:

Sakura with green onion, green beans with nori, shrimp with diced eggs, shredded eggs with carrot flower.

Prosciutto with toasted sesame seeds, green beans with nori and miso sauce, roast beef with yuzu mustard, inari sushi with carrot flower.

Tips for Making Temari Sushi

• Try to use contrasting colours between the toppings and garnish to make the temari sushi prettier.
• The size of the sushi depends on the size of the rice ball and the amount of topping. I use about 1.5-2 tbsp of rice per rice ball for adults.
• To save time, shape all the rice balls first and have all your toppings cooked, cut and ready to assemble.
• The easiest way to prepare the cooked ingredients such as veggies and shrimp is to blanch or poach them in salted water.
• For condiments, I use a miso sauce as garnish and to add flavour. I also used a yuzu mustard that I bought from Japan for the roast beef. You can use dijon mustard as a substitute.
• Like other sushi and rice balls, these are best consumed the same day as they will harden if you leave them in the fridge overnight.

Temari Sushi Recipe

The ingredients listed in this recipe can make about 12 temari sushi balls or 2 servings. If you make smaller rice balls, you will have more sushi. Need some reference for forming the sushi balls? Take a look at the step-by-step photos on how to shape the temari sushi from JOC.

Print Recipe

Temari Sushi Recipe (手まり寿司食譜)

Temari sushi are ball-shaped sushi that is fun to make and eat! This recipe is a basic one to get you started. Feel free to use your favourite ingredients for toppings. 

Course: Main

Cuisine: Japanese

Keyword: sushi

Servings: 2

Author: Jan Chan

Ingredients

Sushi & Toppings Ingredients:

• Sushi Rice (from 2 rice cooker cups)
• 50 g prosciutto (thinly sliced)
• 50 g roast beef (thinly sliced)
• 2 pcs shrimp, cooked and sliced in half
• 6 pcs green beans, cooked and cut to the same width as the rice ball
• 4 strips toasted nori
• 1 egg, cooked into egg crepe and cut into thin strips

Garnish & Condiments Items:

• carrot slices
• toasted sesame seeds
• green onion
• freshly grounded pepper
• mustard or miso sauce

Instructions

Basic Instructions (for Shrimp and Green Bean Temari Sushi):

• On a piece of plastic wrap about, place your topping right side down in the order that you want them to appear. For example, if you are making the green bean temari sushi, place the nori on the plastic wrap first, then the green beans.
• Place a rice ball on top of the toppings. 
• Gather the plastic wrap and gently shape the ingredients into a ball. 
• Upwrap and decorate the temari sushi with garnish or condiments.

Instructions for Prosciutto & Roast Beef Temari Sushi:

• For the prosciutto temari sushi, wrap the prosciutto around the rice ball and curl the top edges back to form a flower shape. Garnish the sushi with toasted sesame seeds or sweet corn.
• For the roast beef temari sushi, wrap the roast beef around the rice ball. Garnish the with freshly ground pepper and a bit of mustard.

Instructions for the Shredded Egg Temari Sushi:

• Put a small mound of shredded eggs on the plastic wrap then place a rice ball on top. Gather the plastic wrap and gently shape the sushi into a ball. Garnish the sushi with carrots or green onion.