Harumaki (spring rolls) are a fun, tasty, easy-to-make appetizer or side dish. Both the wrappers and the filling can be modified to suit just about any taste. Recipes follow.
So named because they were a traditional part of Chinese New Year and a celebration of the coming spring, originally spring rolls were filled with vegetables and shaped like gold bars; thus they were a symbol of prosperity and good fortune. When Chinese immigrants brought this popular food to Japan, the name was directly translated to haru (spring) maki (roll). These days spring rolls are part of menus the world over, in part because they easily lend themselves to fusion cooking.
Our contribution to a recent dinner party was harumaki filled with sweet Alaskan shrimp, shitake mushrooms and fennel, which we’d recently been presented as a gift. These ingredients were arranged on a piece of nori (dried seaweed) and rolled up in thin squares of one of our favorite pasta doughs. Served hot from the deep fryer along with a lime-infused Ponzu dipping sauce, they were a big hit.
The Alaskan shrimp we use in our recipes are usually pink, coon stripe or side stripe shrimp – species often served in sushi restaurants as ama-ebi (sweet shrimp). The pinks and side stripes in particular have a distinctively sweet flavor.
Alaska Shrimp Harumaki (for eight, two-bite rolls)
Ingredients:
- 2 to 4 shitake mushrooms
- 8Â nori (dried seaweed)Â rectangles approximately 2 1/2″ x 3 “
- 8 wrappers 3″ x 3″ (we used pasta dough). (Ready-made egg roll wrappers are available in most grocery stores.)
- 8 ounces shrimp, shelled and veins removed
- fresh fennel leaves – enough for each roll
- 1 tbsp lime juice
- sea salt
- freshly ground pepper
- olive oil
- water (to help seal the wrappers)
Directions:
- Cut the mushrooms into 1/4 inch slices.
- If shrimp are small, use whole. Otherwise cut into 1 to 2 inch pieces
- In a bowl, toss together the mushrooms, shrimp, lime juice, ground pepper and sea salt.
- Place 1 tbsp olive oil in a frying pan and heat over medium heat till oil sizzles when a drop of water is added. Add the shrimp mixture, stirring frequently for about 90 seconds. Remove from heat and return mixture to bowl to avoid overcooking.
- Place one piece of nori in center of each wrapper. (Prevent nori from breaking by first dipping in water.) Place shrimp mixture and fennel in center of nori.
- To wrap: Position square so that one corner is toward you. Fold this corner over the filling. Next fold the right and left corners over the filling. Then roll wrapper toward top (remaining) corner as you would a burrito.
- Seal by slightly moistening the last corner and gentle pressing closed. Seal well to prevent oil from leaking in during deep frying.
- In a deep fryer or sufficiently large pot: Add enough frying oil (we use light olive oil or canola oil) so that rolls will be completely submersed. Bring oil to 350°F. Place rolls into oil and cook until wraps are golden brown. Do not overcrowd. Remove and drain on a plate covered with paper towel.
- Serve immediately with ponzu dipping sauce.
Lime-Infused Ponzu Dipping Sauce
Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1/2 cup rice vinegar
- 1/4 cup lime juice
- small square (about 3/4 inch) konbu (dried kelp)
Directions:
- Mix the ingredients together in a non-reactive container and let rest for 8 hours.
- Remove konbu.
- Combine the following dried ingredients to make 1 tbsp: onion, garlic, chili pepper, cilantro. Or use fresh ingredients.
Pasta Wrappers
Ingredients:
- 1 cup semolina
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- water
Directions:
- In a bowl, combine the ingredients with a fork.
- Add 1 tbsp water. Continue combining. Consistency of dough should be as dry scrambled eggs. Add more water 1 tbsp at a time as necessary.
- Kneed dough by hand till it forms a ball. Wrap ball in plastic (or cover container tightly) and let rest for 20 minutes.
- Finish processing into squares using a manual pasta machine.
CutterLight 
Looks so good. Sounds like you’re enjoying yourselves. Be well.
Thanks Ann and Jerry! You guys, too. We’ve been taking lots of photos of high school and middle school basketball lately. Having fun doing it, too!
This looks tasty!!
Thanks!
wow, the dish looks fantastic, I can imagine how crunchy the Shrimp Harumaki are ^^
Thanks for reading! Yes, the crunch is a big part of these!
Boy these are lovely! I can’t wait to try them! Love the ponzu. It has such a fresh flavor.
Thanks, Anna!
Hello! Just wanted to say how much I continue to enjoy following your blog! I sent a message last spring/summer from WI as my husband was looking to relocate his teaching career. We ended up moving (kind of in your back yard) to Kotzebue as we expected in July. We have been enjoying the Tom Cod, Sheefish, Caribou etc….since hubby is an avid outdoors man he is in his element 🙂 Your recipes are easy to follow and resemble the foods we have available (or can tweak the recipe as needed). Of course living in the “hub” of the NWAB and having a grocery store does help (when they have what we are looking for and wish to pay the price. We are fortunate to have met some wonderful people here (Alaskan natives and others) that have made this adjustment so much easier. We are on the 12 year plan (fingers crossed with school contract and my position within the Maniilaq Association) until retirement – so you can appreciate our desire to feel a connection in Kotzebue.
We understand the flight situations from the villages and if you are ever in a pinch flying from Point Hope elsewhere and get “stuck” in Kotz (which we all know happens), we would be happy to play hostess/host to you!
Carol Gindt gindtc@yahoo.com Kotzebue, AK
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Hi Carol. Really good to hear from you. We absolutely remember your earlier note and had kind of wondered if things had worked out for your move to Alaska, so thanks for the update.
We do pass through Kotz from time to time, so thanks for the invitation! We are very intrigued by the sheefishing down there, by the way. (A friend gave us a sheefish taken through the ice down there recently. It was really good!)
By any chance, do you know John and Dawn Crabb? He’s an assistant principal at an elementary school in Kotz, and she’s a teacher.
And same to you. If you ever want to come up and check out Point Hope, we have an extra bedroom and three-squares a day!
Thanks again for the note.
Jack & Barbra
My husband personally knows John Crabb (the Crabbs actually live in our apartment complex) and was actually suppose to drive him out on the ice one day to sheefish with other school faculty. John had to cancel so it opened a spot up for me to trek out and witness the fishing. They are HUGE fish. We actually use both salmon and sheefish as a substitute in crab cakes (the perks of access to fish)!
Thanks for the invitation……I hear from our CHAPS it is exciting to be there during whaling season 🙂
My mouth is watering! 🙂
Your harumaki look great and I am always happy to find other fans of ponzu, perhaps one of the greatest undiscovered condiments in cookery.
Thanks, Adam. The people we served this to had never had ponzu and Loved it.