Recipe

Creole Crab Gunkan

Name: Creole Crab Gunkan
Prep time: 55 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 80 min
Ingredients: 200 g short-grain Japanese rice, uncooked; 260 ml water for cooking the rice; 35 ml unseasoned rice vinegar; 10 g sugar; 3 g fine salt; 250 g real cooked jaiba crab meat, cleaned and well drained; 50 g onion, very finely chopped; 40 g green pepper, very finely chopped; 1 small garlic clove, finely chopped; 40 g crushed tomato; 10 ml olive oil; 15 ml sour orange juice; ¼ teaspoon ground cumin; ¼ teaspoon dried oregano; Fine salt, only if needed after tasting the filling; 4 large sheets of nori seaweed for sushi, about 19 × 21 cm

Sushi bites with vinegared rice, nori and real cooked jaiba crab meat in a reduced Creole sofrito with pepper, tomato and sour orange.

CiberCubaNovember 7, 2026

AI-generated image.CiberCuba

Preparation55 min
Cooking25 min
Total time1 h 20 min
Servings20 gunkan; 5 pieces per appetizer serving
DifficultyMedium

Gunkan lets you serve a flaked filling on a small base of rice, wrapped in a strip of nori seaweed. In this Cuban-Japanese fusion dish, jaiba crab is combined with a quick sofrito of onion, pepper and tomato, and a touch of sour orange.

The recipe starts with jaiba crab meat that is already cooked, cleaned and well drained. The filling should be juicy but without free liquid, so the pieces keep their shape when brought to the table.

Method

Rinse and soak the rice

Put the rice in a bowl, cover it with cold water, stir gently and drain. Repeat 3 or 4 times, until the water runs less cloudy. Let it drain for 5 minutes.
Transfer the rice to a small heavy-bottomed pot. Add the 260 ml of water and let it soak for 20 minutes. This same water will be used to cook it; do not add any more afterward.

Prepare the Creole jaiba crab

While the rice is soaking, check the jaiba crab meat with your fingers and remove any fragment of shell or cartilage. Flake only the large pieces and keep the meat cold while you prepare the sofrito.
Heat the 10 ml of oil in a small skillet over medium-low heat. Add the onion and pepper and cook for 5 minutes, stirring, until softened. Add the garlic, cumin and oregano and stir for 30 seconds.
AI-generated image.CiberCuba
Add the crushed tomato and cook for 4 minutes. Add the sour orange juice and let it reduce for 1 more minute. It should be a thick sofrito, with no pools of liquid. Add the cooked jaiba crab and mix gently for 1 minute, just to combine. Taste before adding salt.
AI-generated image.CiberCuba
Spread the filling in a wide, shallow container. When it stops giving off steam, refrigerate it until assembly. Do not add to the filling any liquid it may release.

Cook and season the rice

Cover the rice pot and heat over medium heat until it starts to boil. Lower to the minimum and cook for 12-14 minutes, without lifting the lid, until the water is absorbed. Remove from the heat and let it rest for 10 minutes with the lid on.
Dissolve the 10 g of sugar and 3 g of salt in the rice vinegar; if needed, warm it slightly, without boiling. Transfer the hot rice to a wide, shallow dish and distribute the seasoning. Mix with cutting and folding motions, without crushing the grains. Fan or spread gently until it reaches room temperature, about 10 minutes.
AI-generated image.CiberCuba

Shape the gunkan

With dry scissors, cut 20 strips of nori about 3.5 cm high and 15-16 cm long. There may be some seaweed left over. Have the rice and crab ready before you start; the nori must stay dry.
Lightly moisten your hands and divide all the rice into 20 similar portions. Shape small ovals about 4-5 cm long, pressing just enough for them to hold together.
Wrap each oval with a strip of nori, leaving the top edge of the seaweed above the rice to form a small cup. Overlap the ends and fix them with one or two grains of rice; trim if the strip is too long.
AI-generated image.CiberCuba
Divide the crab among the 20 pieces, about one level tablespoon per gunkan, without pressing down or overfilling. Serve immediately, five pieces per person as an appetizer.
AI-generated image.CiberCuba

Tips and variations

The amount of jaiba crab given is the weight of the cooked meat, without shell or cartilage. Surimi is not used. If you buy raw jaiba crabs, you must cook them completely before starting, let them cool enough to handle, and extract 250 g of clean meat; that cooking, the extraction and any thawing are not included in the times given in this recipe.

The approximate 80 minutes include the soaking, resting and brief cooling of the rice. Prepare the sofrito while the rice is soaking. If the rice manufacturer recommends a different water ratio for sushi, follow that instruction; the rice should hold together, with recognizable grains, without turning into a paste.

Use unseasoned rice vinegar. If you only have prepared sushi vinegar, adjust the amount according to the package and do not automatically add the sugar and salt from this formula.

If you cannot find sour orange, replace its 15 ml with 10 ml of orange juice and 5 ml of lime juice. The citrus goes into the sofrito and does not replace cooking the crab.

Keep the jaiba crab meat refrigerated until you use it. You can prepare the filling ahead and store it covered in the refrigerator; assemble the gunkan just before eating, because the filling softens the nori.