About the Recipe
Japan was a very different place in 1941. Naming a piece of sushi "gunkan" (which means battleship) was considered a patriotic act back then. The "gunkan maki" is attributed to a famous sushi restaurant in Ginza, Tokyo - the Kyubei. On the other hand, the "gunkan maki" does look a little bit like a battleship and the creation of this roll did breathe some innovation into the making of sushi. For you and I, the great thing about gunkan is that it is probably the easiest type of sushi to create by hand!
Ingredients
300g cooked Japanese rice
1 tbsp sushi vinegar
100g natto
1 spring onion, finely chopped
2 tsp soy sauce
2 sheets of nori
Preparation
put the 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 a 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