Sushi balls

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Sushi Balls are easy to make a all the flavours of sushi you love without the fiddly rolling with a bamboo mat.

Prep Time15

Total Time15

Course: Snack

Cuisine: New Zealand

Keyword: Sushi Balls, Sushi Rice Balls, Japanese Rice Balls

Servings: balls

Calories: 77kcal

Author: Stacey

Prepare your sushi rice, you can use my stove-top sushi rice recipe or make instant pot sushi rice.
Prepare the fillings: Cut the cream cheese into 1cm cubes.
Deseed the cucumber by slicing it in half and then scraping out the seeds with a spoon. You can then Slice the cucumber into long batons and then dice these into small pieces.
Dice the smoked salmon.
Once the sushi rice has cooled, add it to a large mixing bowl along with the diced cucumber and salmon. Gently mix the until the fillings are evenly distributed through the rice.
Take a spoonful of the rice mixture, add a cube of the cream cheese and top with a second spoonful of the rice mixture. Shape into a ball with your hands.
Sprinkle the balls with the sesame seeds then chill them in the fridge until you are ready to serve them
Enjoy!

Preparation is key for these sushi balls, ensure your fillings are very finely diced, if the fillings are too large the sushi balls can be hard to form.
Water, water, water, damp hands and damp utensils makes handling sushi rice much easier. It stops the rice from sticking to everything.
Serve with pickled ginger, soy sauce and wasabi
Sushi Rice: Cooked and seasoned as per your favourite sushi rice recipe (rice vinegar, salt and sugar are usually used). If you don't have sushi rice you will be able to get away with a short grain rice.
Fillings: I like the combination of cucumber, cream cheese, and smoked salmon, but sushi balls can be made with any of your favourite sushi fillings. Avocado works well in the centre of the ball. Finely diced or grated vegetables such as capsicum or carrot can be also be used.
Sesame seeds: The sesame seeds are not essential but they do look lovely sprinkled on the outside of the sushi balls. You can also use a little furikake seasoning, you can find a recipe to make this in my Christmas Sushi post.