Battera (Pressed Mackerel and Kelp Sushi)
Quick answer
- Total time
- 80 min
- Level
- Hard
- Servings
- 4 servings
- Ingredients
- 10
About this dish
Thin slices of vinegared mackerel and a sheet of vinegar-softened white kombu wrap a firm block of sushi rice that has been pressed in a wooden mold.
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The Osaka style needs no soy sauce, and sweet pickled ginger is served alongside. Sushi Tsune in Minami-Semba created it in 1891 using konoshiro, and the half-fish shape looked like a small boat, battera in Portuguese. Mackerel and a square mold came later.
Ingredients
Instructions
- 1
Wash the rice, place it in a pot or rice cooker with the measured cooking water and dashi kombu, and soak for 30 minutes.
Cook normally and remove the kombu after the rice has rested.
- 2
Dissolve the sugar and salt completely in the 54 ml rice vinegar.
Transfer the hot rice to a wide bowl, distribute the seasoning over it, and cool quickly while folding with cutting motions so the grains are not crushed.
- 3
Keep the vinegared mackerel refrigerated while removing its skin and every center pin bone.
Separate the back and belly portions and slice them broadly and thinly.
- 4
Cover the bottom of a wooden pressed-sushi mold evenly with the mackerel and fill it with the seasoned rice.
Press straight down with the top board until the grains hold together in a firm rectangle without being crushed into a paste.
- 5
Moisten the white sheet kombu with its tablespoon of rice vinegar until pliable.
Carefully unmold the pressed sushi and wrap its surface completely with the softened kombu.
- 6
Use a clean knife lightly moistened with vinegar to cut the battera into bite-size pieces and divide among four plates.
Serve with the sweet vinegared ginger and do not hold the finished sushi at room temperature for long.
References checked
These references were consulted when this page was prepared or corrected. A source check does not mean the recipe was independently kitchen-tested.
- 일본 농림수산성 うちの郷土料理
『日本の味 なにわの味』（大阪府食生活改善連絡協議会） · Checked: 2026-08-11
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