KO EN ES PT FR Japanese Main course⏱ 80 minEdit history

Kakinoha-zushi (Salted Mackerel Sushi Pressed in Persimmon Leaves)

Name: Kakinoha-zushi (Salted Mackerel Sushi Pressed in Persimmon Leaves)
Prep time: 1 h
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 1 h 20 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Japanese
Ingredients: 360 g short-grain rice; 60 ml rice vinegar; 2 tbsp sugar; 1 tsp salt; 1 fish salted mackerel fillets; 100 ml rice vinegar; 20 persimmon leaves

A sushi from Nara and Wakayama: thin slices of salted mackerel on vinegared rice, wrapped in a persimmon leaf and pressed. The leaf is for aroma and keeping and is not eaten. It began as a way to eat over-salted fish with rice.

Ingredients

4servings

Sushi rice
short-grain rice360 g
rice vinegar60 ml
sugar2 tbsp
salt1 tsp
Fish and leaves
salted mackerel fillets · about 250g, previously frozen1 fish
rice vinegar · for the fish100 ml
persimmon leaves · salt-packed, or fresh in season20

Steps

Use mackerel that has been frozen at −20°C for at least 7 days, thawed in the fridge.
Pick out the pin bones, peel the thin skin from the skin side, and soak the fillets in vinegar for 20 minutes, then drain.
⏲ 20 min
Cook the rice a little firm. While hot, pour over the vinegar, sugar and salt mixed together, fold it through with cutting strokes and let it cool.
Wash the persimmon leaves and pat them dry. If salt-packed, soak them in water to draw out the salt.
⏲ 10 min
Slice the mackerel thinly on the bias. Shape the rice into bite-sized oblongs and lay a slice on each.
Set each on a leaf with its smooth side against the rice, and fold in the sides and ends to wrap.
Pack them tightly into a box or tub, cover and weight the lid. Leave for half a day in a cool place, or in the vegetable drawer of the fridge in warm weather.
Unwrap the leaf to eat. Eat within two days.

Variations

Salmon. In Nara salmon is as common as mackerel; the right-hand piece in the photograph is salmon.
Sea bream, conger eel, shiitake. Other toppings used in Nara and Wakayama.
Ishikawa style. The leaf is laid flat as a base, topped with fish and rice, scattered with sakura shrimp or green laver, and pressed in a tub for a day to several days.
Tottori style. Vinegar-cured trout, seasoned with sansho.

Tips

Because of parasites, use only mackerel that has been frozen. Salt and vinegar do not kill them.
Slice the fish thin. The style exists to eat salty fish with rice.
Smooth side of the leaf against the rice. The leaf is not eaten.
Pack tightly and weight it. Rice and fish press into one piece.
Do not leave it at the back of the fridge. Cold sets the rice hard.
Cook the rice a little firm. Moisture moves through it while it is pressed.
The salt arrives in the fish. Japanese Wikipedia tells how fishermen in Kishu packed salt into mackerel and carried it upriver to sell in inland Yamato (Nara), where it arrived too salty, so it came to be sliced thin and eaten with rice. Where the nigiri in sushi is shaped by hand and eaten at once, this one is wrapped, pressed and kept for days. The leaf passes its aroma to the rice and, according to a study Wikipedia cites, has an antibacterial effect that helps it keep for a few days.
Neither vinegar nor salt kills parasites. Just as the lime in ceviche does nothing to them, salted and vinegared mackerel is no safer for it. Use fish that has been frozen at −20°C for 7 days, the standard poke gives (freezing and thawing).