Vinegar Cured Mackerel Sushi with Shiro-ita Kelp バッテラ

“Battera バッテラ” is a type of molded sushi or “oshizushi 押し寿司” popular in the Osaka 大阪 region. It is made from vinegar cured mackerel or “shime-saba しめ鯖” and specially prepared kelp called “shiro-ita konbu 白板昆布” (more description later). I posted molded sushi using vinegar cured mackerel and smoked salmon but I did not have shiro-ita konbu, at that time. Later I found a product where the shime-saba was covered with shaven kelp. Using this, I made sushi similar to “oshizushi” called “bo-zushi 棒鮨” without using a mold. We were quite satisfied with this version. Then, I found “shiro-ita konbu” listed on the website called “Japanese Taste”. This company sells authentic Japanese items including groceries. So, I bought the konbu to make a more authentic battera but again I did not use the mold.  (I was just a bit lazy. I would have had to find the mold and then soak it in water before I could use it). In the serving picture, you see the mackerel is covered with a thin layer of kelp. On the left most side I included sushi rice wrapped with “shiro-ika konbu”. They were good but I am not sure the konbu made a big difference in taste. I served this with cucumber and nappa cabbage asazuke 浅漬け and vinegar cured lotus root “su-renkon 酢レンコン.

Ingredients:

1 package of vinegar cured mackerel or shime-saba, thawed

One strip of “shiro-ita konbu 白板昆布 (#4)” about the same size as the mackerel

About 1/2 cup (or enough to make one roll of sushi) of sushi rice

Directions:

Season the kelp as per the package instructions (simmer in the mixture of dashi broth, soy sauce, sake and sugar, but the more standard seasoning uses sweet vinegar)

Remove the thin skin from the mackerel (#1)

Place the mackerel, skin side down on a silicon sushi mat (or plastic wrap on the top of a bamboo sushi mat), make a cylinder of sushi rice on the top and form a tight cylinder using the sushi mat (#2)

Place the seasoned kelp and form again (#3)

Wrap it in plastic wrap to let it settle for 5-20 minutes before slicing

A bit about “Shiro-ita konbu (#4)” and “oboro konbu おぼろ昆布 (#5)”.

“Shiro-ita  konbu” is the center part of kelp after the surface has been removed as “oboro-konbu” by shaving off the surface of the kelp making very thin strands. The package shown in #5 states this is hand-shaven showing the illustration of a guy shaving the kelp. This shaven kelp can be added to soup or udon noodles with broth. It does add some umami flavor but the texture is a bit “slimy”. So, I don’t know which is the main product and which is the byproduct “shiro-ikta conbu” or “oboro konbu” or vise versa.

From “Japanese Taste” I also got dried gourd peel or “kanpyo 干瓢” (which I have not been able to get for some time. The only kind available was pre-seasoned and could not be used as a tie for kelp roll). I also got “Hidaka Kelp 日高昆布”.  “Hidaka” is a place in Hokkaido famous for producing a good quality eating (as opposed to broth making) kelp.