What Is a Kani Roll?
Kani Tempura Roll or simply, Kani Roll is a type of sushi roll that can be found in most typical Japanese sushi restaurants.
What makes this style of roll a little different from other sushis is the taste of the imitation crab meat that is used.
What Does Kani Roll Mean
Kani(カニ) is a Japanese word that means crab, since it’s a sushi that originated from Japan around the 14th century.
The strangest thing that I only recently discovered from research is that the chefs in these Japanese restaurants actually don’t even use real crab meat!
Instead the restaurants uses a type of imitation crab meat called Kani Surimi(すり身). The crab sticks that are sold in some stores are actually just minced fish that is then made into a type of paste.
According to this article MSGs and other artificial flavors are added in the process to make the crab stick taste more like actual crab meat.
There’s really nothing wrong with that in the business sense, due to the fact that it would be relatively expensive for an all-you-can-eat conveyor belt sushi bar to provide real crab meat for only a cheap dollar.
What’s in a Kani Tempura Roll
Besides the crab meat that is frequently used to make Kani Tempura Roll there are also some obvious ingredients that are necessary to create this stylish sushi:
- Cooked sushi rice(Japanese sushi rice +vinegar)
- Nori(Japanese seaweed) sheets-depends on the amount you want to roll
- Crab sticks: When you buy them at a store they are usually pretty frozen so it’s best that you microwave them for 2–3 minutes.
- Some recommended dipping sauce:
- Tonkatsu Sauce
- Ponzu Sauce
- Tamari Sauce
- Soy Sauce
You can usually buy crab sticks to make the rolls near the aisles where you find sushi rice and seaweed.
If it’s not convenient to go to a local store another easier way I discovered is to simply buy them online. Here are some good crab meat sticks you can use for your cooking(note:this is an affiliate link):
If you don’t like buying crab sticks and want real crab meat for its authenticity, you can still make Kani Tempura Roll from canned crab meat.
I prefer making the Kani Tempura Roll through using crab sticks because it’s a much more efficient process.
When using the crab meat from the can it is still just putting it lined up on the mat of rice but you would have to first chop up the crap sticks before placing them.
Here’s a helpful video that I found to explain the process of making the Kani Rolls:
If you prefer a Kani salad using crab fillings, this tutorial would be more useful:
Amount of Calories
Kani Tempura Rolls have less calories, because it uses less materials in the rolling process.
Moreover, from the information I found crab sticks are also a source of selenium and with lower cholesterol than real crab meats. In reflection, real Alaska King crab meats are a better source of omega-3 in comparison.
Additionally, from this article it points out that “imitation crabs have only 81 calories and less than 1 gram of fat” in a 3 ounce of serving. And 3 ounces is about the size of the palm of your hand.
Meanwhile, the general Kani Tempura Roll is only packed with 15–40 calories per roll. Though small calorically it can really add up to over 350 calories when the average person eats more than 15 pieces of sushi in restaurants.
Are the Kani Rolls Cooked?
The ingredients for this style of tempura roll is really easy to make, due to the fact that everything is cooked including the imitation crab meat.
This makes the sushi making process more streamlined, since you can easily defrost them in a few minutes in the microwave.
Additionally, this is great for anyone who doesn’t really fancy eating sushi made from raw fish sashimi, sea urchin sushi, and other sushis that use raw meat.
Meanwhile, if you have any additional crab sticks leftover from making sushi you can also try making a delicious sushi salad.
Taste and Health Concerns of Surimi
Surimi crab sticks when warmed have a very soft texture when you bite into them.
Moreover, it’s like biting into a bit chewy fish meat that has a low sweetness to it.
Although, due to the meat made from whitefish like pollack it has more fish taste than the taste of crab meat.
The crab sticks for Kani Tempura Rolls should be best used within half a year when frozen in the fridge.
Or else when they are microwaved, they might give off a disgusting fish odor.
Though they generally have a very long shelf life it is my recommendation that any individual crab sticks that are once opened laying around the kitchen should be quickly used at the max of 1–2 days.
Especially at really warm temperatures which may cause bacterial growth that is bad for your health.
How to Make Kani Roll Sauce
And for those of you who like something spicy on the side to dip your sushi I recommend the easy to follow Spicy Sushi Sauce recipe. A tasty sauce for sushi can make it taste so much more delicious to eat with your family.
The ingredients to make the spicy sushi sauce is very simple and the basic ingredients are some:
- Spicy Mayonnaise
- Sriracha
- Lime Juice
If you like to put in less work you can just dip the sushi with some soy sauce, mirin, or a savory eel sauce.
There’s so many choices to choose from beyond these recommendations. The most important thing is to make the sushi rolls delicious to you personally.
Kani Roll vs. California Roll
The biggest noticeable difference between California Roll and Kani Tempura Roll is the way they are styled.
California Roll is an “inside-out” sushi that’s not wrapped with seaweed on the outside. Instead, the outside is a coat of sushi rice that is mixed with sesame and Japanese fish eggs.
Meanwhile a Kani Roll is made more like the ancient style with a simple ingredient, and wrapped with seaweed on the outside.
Additionally, California Roll is made using multiple other ingredients for the inside such as avocado and cucumber.
Nonetheless, both the California Roll and the Kani Roll use surimi sticks as an ingredient. Hence, creating the confusion that many people have between the two different sushi types.
