Rice dishes ── Sushi
Nankan-age Makizushi
Nankan-age makizushi — sushi rolled in sweet-simmered fried tofu skin instead of nori
Vinegared rice and fillings are rolled not in nori but in nankan-age, a thin fried tofu skin simmered sweet and salty. Twice-fried to remove moisture for long keeping, nankan-age is also prized for the rich broth it releases in soups.
- Origin: Kumamoto Nankan
- About 900 km west of Tokyo
What it's made of
A rolled sushi that uses 'Nankan-age,' an oversized fried tofu sheet measuring 20 to 30 centimeters across, in place of nori seaweed. The crisp, crackly fried tofu soaks up a sweet-savory simmering liquid and turns plump and chewy, producing a juiciness quite different from a nori-wrapped roll. In Nankan town, it's said to be the rolled sushi people think of first.
How it's made
Tofu is pressed to remove moisture, then fried twice, at low and high temperatures, to make Nankan-age. It's simmered in a sweet-savory mix of dashi, soy sauce and sugar to remove excess oil, then squeezed and opened flat. Sushi rice is spread over it on a rolling mat, and fillings like shiitake, carrot and rolled omelet are rolled inside. The filling sometimes changes with the season, cucumber in summer and spinach in winter.
Why it took this shape
Nankan-age is a long-keeping fried tofu that's been made in Nankan town since the Edo period, said to have been introduced from Matsuyama in Shikoku. Because it can be stored for a long time in a cool, dark place out of the sun, the idea of using it in place of nori is thought to be how this unusual style of rolled sushi took hold. Known also as 'dashi-age' for how much flavor it releases the longer it simmers, it's said to be an essential ingredient in miso soup and simmered dishes too.
Before you go
- How to read a vertical menuIn shops with strips of handwritten menu items on the wall, the top-right spot is often used for recommendations.
- How to use a convenience storeA quick guide to choosing rice balls and hot snacks, buying coffee, paying by cash, IC card, or tap payment, using the eat-in corner, and sorting your trash — the basics for a first visit.
- How to shop at a supermarketHow to choose prepared foods, sashimi, and packaged sushi, when discount stickers tend to appear, region-only specialties, buying by weight, the checkout and bagging flow, and sampling etiquette at a local supermarket.
Dishes in the same style
- Aburi-zushiNigiri with just its surface flash-seared by torch or hot iron. Unlike Edomae's shigoto curing for keeping, the searing here is done purely for the change in aroma and fat it brings — a relatively recent way of eating sushi.
- Aichi HakozushiVinegared rice is packed into a wooden frame, topped with shrimp, eel, shiitake, and egg arranged diagonally, and pressed. Placing toppings on the diagonal so everyone gets a fair share of each is said to be a feature of the Owari and western Mikawa style, made for celebrations.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Also from Kumamoto
- Amakusa DaioA large-bodied meat fowl once kept in Amakusa in the Meiji and Taisho eras, said to have died out in the early Showa period before Kumamoto prefecture spent roughly a decade recreating it; reportedly among the biggest jidori breeds, shipped at 120–150 days.
- Gane-ageSweet potato cut into batons is coated in a ginger-sweetened batter and deep-fried. "Gane" is Amakusa dialect for crab, said to describe the shape of the fried strands, and the dish also serves as a vegetarian offering at Buddhist services.
- Tai SomenSomen noodles are simmered in the broth of sea bream head and bones cooked down whole — a celebratory dish said to reflect the influence of nearby Shimabara's somen tradition. In Yamato's Mamihara, a version called "taimen" simmers the whole fish instead.
- Tako MeshiSun-dried octopus is rehydrated, chopped, and either cooked into rice with burdock and carrot or mixed in afterward — a dish that leans on the concentrated flavor of dried octopus, known for the summer sight of octopus hung out to dry in Amakusa's Ariake.
- Baniku SobaFrom the Aso area of Kumamoto: hot soba topped with horse meat simmered sweet and salty. It's said to carry the history of a region where horse meat took root as a restorative food for the injured and ill.
- ButaaeBoiled octopus and eggplant are stir-fried in a sweet, spicy barley miso — an Amakusa home dish said to have begun as a stand-in for pork, once hard to come by, using the local octopus instead while keeping the old name, "pork mix."