Gunkan Sushi
Very tasty, zesty, with a sweet and spicy sauce. Gunkan sushi are rice boats wrapped with a strip of nori and topped with filling. The filling can be very different: chuka salad, seaweed, roe, fish, and more. Here, the filling is chicken fillet in a savory sauce.
Updated : 27 May, 2026
Easy
About 30 min.
Ingredients
250 grams
Rice
10 grams
Nori
200 grams
Chicken fillet
50 milliliters
Rice vinegar
3 tablespoon
Mayonnaise
1.5 tablespoon
Sauce, paste
10 grams
Vegetable oil
to taste
Salt
Table
Table of volume measurements:
- teaspoon - 5 ml
- dessert spoon - 10 ml
- tablespoon - 20 ml
- glass - 200 ml
Preparation
Step 1
How do you make gunkan sushi? Prepare all the ingredients. Rinse the rice well to remove the starch it contains. Put the rice into a pot and pour in water in a ratio of 1:2. Bring the water to a boil and add a little salt. Cook the rice over low heat with the lid on for 15–20 minutes. Turn off the heat and do not open the lid for another 10 minutes. During this time, the rice will finish cooking to the right consistency. Cool the cooked rice, add rice vinegar, and mix.
Step 2
While the rice is cooking, you can prepare the chicken in the sauce and also preheat the oven on the grill/broil setting for 20 minutes. Mix the mayonnaise with the sweet chili sauce. I use homemade mayonnaise. The amount of chili sauce can be adjusted to your taste.
Step 3
Rinse the chicken fillet, pat it dry, finely chop it, and fry it in a skillet with a small amount of vegetable oil for 3 minutes, stirring from time to time. Transfer the chicken to the prepared sauce and mix everything well.
Step 4
Cut the nori into strips. The width of one strip should be about 3 cm, about 1 1/4 inches. For 2 servings, I needed 10 such strips. Note that the rice should be placed on the rough side of the nori.
Step 5
Wet your hands with water. This is done so the rice does not stick to your hands. Take a portion of rice, about 25 g, roughly 1 oz. Shape it by hand into something like a small oblong block and place it in the center of a strip of nori. Note that the rice should not cover the full width of the strip. You need to leave a little space for the filling. Place 1-2 grains of rice on one edge of the nori.
Step 6
Shape the gunkan and use the rice grains to join the edges of the nori. Use your hands to give them the proper shape. The base is ready. Shape all the gunkan in the same way.
Step 7
Place the filling into each gunkan. Line a baking tray with foil and place the gunkan on it.
Step 8
Put the gunkan in the oven on the grill/broil setting and cook for about 4 minutes. If your oven does not have a grill setting, turn on the top heat at 200–230°C (400–450°F). In the end, the gunkan will have a very beautiful golden top.
Step 9
Serve the gunkan with soy sauce, wasabi, and ginger. Enjoy your meal!
Author note
Share the recipe
