Christmas Temari sushi is perfect for Christmas party food. These cute little sushi balls put a fun little Japanese spin on your Christmas party food. They’re easy to make on the day without much prior preparation and are fun for the whole family to decorate, especially the kids!
Christmas in Japan
Many Japanese enjoy this festive holiday season. Surprisingly they eat KFC chicken for Christmas eve dinner and enjoy Christmas cake for dessert. They traditionally eat strawberry shortcake at Christmas eve.
A lot of people in Japan eat sushi for Christmas dinner. So I made Christmas temari sushi with a festive touch. Remember cute Halloween themed temari sushi? It is fun to make and perfect for Christmas appetizers or finger foods because they are cute bite-sized sushi balls.
How to make Rudolph sushi?
I created Rudolph from my aunt Keiko’s Inari sushi. The inari sushi colour is perfect for Rudolph. Also, I wanted to make it not just look cute but make sure it is delicious. Rodolph’s ears are half a mini pretzel. His nose is a raspberry. I draw eyes with mayonnaise and black sesame seeds.
How to make Santa sushi balls?
The shape of Temari sushi is just perfect for Santa’s big belly. I used smoked salmon for his clothes. Then wrapped with a nori seaweed strip for the belt. And I cut out lemon skin for the belt buckle. Then placed silver cachous for buttons.
Perfect Holiday finger foods
This Christmas party food starts with making perfect sushi rice. Rudolph and Santa are small bite-sized sushi. They are about 5cm (2inch) in diameter. So perfect for holiday appetizers and finger foods.
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Recipe notes
- To alter the serving size click on the serving number and move the slider left or right to adjust the quantity.
- As you move the slider the quantities of the ingredients will adjust accordingly in both imperial and metric measurements.
Christmas Sushi Balls (Temarizushi)
Ingredients
Sushi rice *1
- 200g/1cup Uncooked sushi rice
- 220ml/0.9cup of water
- 1 strip 5 cm (2 inch) Konbu kelp
Sushi vinegar
- 30ml/2tbsp Rice vinegar *2
- 15g/1tbsp caster sugar
- 5g/1tsp salt
Rudolph topping
- 4 Inari age *3
- 2 raspberries *4
- 4 mini pretzels
- 8 drops mayonnaise
- 8 black sesame seeds
Santa belly topping
- 3 slices smoked salmon
- 3 strips nori seaweeds
- 3 lemon skin cutouts
- 9 silver cachous
Instructions
Sushi rice
- Cook the sushi rice as per your rice cooker instructions or see how to cook rice perfectly. *1
Rudolph sushi balls
- Place one inari age in the centre of a piece of cling wrap.
- Place about two tbsp scoops of rice into the inari age pauch, then seal it together with the cling wrap and softly squish and shape it into a ball.
- With a small knife, score the sides of the rice balls and insert the pretzel.
- Place a small piece of raspberry in the centre of the rice balls for the nose.
- Two tiny drop of mayonnaise and place 1 sesame black seeds for both eyes
Santa belly sushi balls
- Cut salmon slices into two and place in the centre of a piece of cling wrap.
- Place about two tbsp scoops of rice on to the smoked salmon, then seal it together with the cling wrap and softly squish and shape it into a ball.
- wrap it with a nori strp.
- Place the lemon cut out buckle over the nori strip.
- Put three silver cachous for buttons of Santa's cloths.
Pablo says
so funny looking and delicious, i like it
Chopstick Chronicles says
Thank you haha it’s a fun recipe
Boastful Food says
Such a creative idea! Love it! Funny about the KFC in Japan for Christmas. I’ve never heard of that before:)
Shihoko | Chopstick Chronicles says
Thank you Boastful Food. Somehow Japanese people think that they have to have some kind of Chicken for Christmas and they choose KFC 😀
Sharon @nutfreewok says
Soooooo super kawaiiiiiiiii! I love these! Pinned!!
Shihoko | Chopstick Chronicles says
Thank you so much Sharon and thank you for pinning too 😀
Iron Chef Shellie says
OMG this is seriously the best Christmas idea EVER!!! And it combines my love of sushi and christmas all together!
Shihoko | Chopstick Chronicles says
Ohhhhh Thank you so much for visiting my blog Iron Chef Shellie <3 I am a big fan of you. I am so excited right now. Thank you so much!! I am glad that you loved my idea 😀
Sara @ Life's Little Sweets says
You make the cutest food!
Shihoko | Chopstick Chronicles says
Thank you Sara 😀
Tracy @ Served From Scratch says
Oh my gosh these are soooo cute!!
Shihoko | Chopstick Chronicles says
Thank you Tracy 😀
Michele says
These are so adorable! ANd what a great way to get little kids to try sushi! THese will surely be a hit!
Shihoko | Chopstick Chronicles says
Thank you Michele, I am sure kids will love the sushi!
Marsha | Marsha's Baking Addiction says
I love sushi balls, and these Christmas ones are so cute!
Shihoko | Chopstick Chronicles says
Thank you Marsha. I am glad that you liked this version 😀
Christine | Vermilion Roots says
These are just so creative and fun. Just looking at them puts a smile on my face. 🙂 Merry Christmas and happy new year to you and your family. Here’s to more great food and recipes!
Shihoko | Chopstick Chronicles says
Merry Christmas and Happy New year Christine:D Thank you for your support to my blog. I really glad that I have found your blog to know you 😀
Kevin | Keviniscooking says
I have never seen such fun, beautiful sushi balls in my life! Amazing and so talented Shihoko! Just amazing. Pinned!
Shihoko | Chopstick Chronicles says
Thank you Kevin 😀 It is fun to make and we definitely had fun to make and eat. Thank you for pinning too.
Amanda@ChewTown says
I saw these yesterday on Instagram and fell in love – what a wonderful idea! Such a fun way to celebrate. Like you, I’m a massive fan of inari so I think the reindeer would be my favourite of the Christmas sushi too!
Shihoko | Chopstick Chronicles says
Happy Christmas Amanda 😀 Thank you, It is a fun family activity, enjoying to make and eating them together 😀
Daniela Apostol says
They look very festive! Great idea!
Shihoko | Chopstick Chronicles says
Thank you Daniela, I just wanted to add some Japanese fusion into this festive season 😀
MyCookingSecrets.com | Krystallia Giamouridou says
Amaaaaazing and sooooo cool idea! Sushi is one of my favorite ”dishes” but the way you presented it, is so clever and I really can’t pick which shushi type is the best. So festive and funny… you nailed it!
Shihoko | Chopstick Chronicles says
Thank you Krystallia, This type of sushi does not require rolling mats nor rolling skill 😀 Super easy to make and eye pleaser too.
MyCookingSecrets.com | Krystallia Giamouridou says
😀 I was so excited the first time I saw these cuties.., yes it looks pretty easy, you are right! I will try and make them.., hopefully before New Years eve…
Shihoko | Chopstick Chronicles says
Look at Halloween version one, there are a step by step photo instruction : )
Lokness @ The Missing Lokness says
These are the most adorable sushi balls ever! The santa suit has to be my favorite one. You are brilliant! I am sure that these will be a huge hit at parties.
Shihoko | Chopstick Chronicles says
Thank you Lockness 😀 Good thing about this Sushi is that you don’t need a sushi rolling mat. It only required your imagination and creativity:D.