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Sushi is a Japanese dish consisting of vinegared rice
combined with other ingredients such as raw fish, raw or cooked shellfish,
or vegetables. The basic ingredients of sushi are:
Seafood - Certainly the majority of sushi is made with raw fish and other
seafoods. For both aesthetic and health reasons, fish that are to be eaten
raw must be fresher and of a higher quality than fish that will be cooked. A
professional sushi chef is trained in recognizing good fish, which is
clean-smelling, vivid in color, and free from harmful parasites. Only ocean
fish are used raw in sushi; freshwater fish, which are more likely to harbor
parasites, are cooked. In addition to fish, common seafoods used in sushi
are squid, shrimp, eel, fish roe, sea urchin and various kinds of shellfish.
Sushi Rice - The rice used in making sushi is a short-grained, sweeter
variety rather different in consistency from the long-grain and Indian rice
strains Westerners may be more used to. It is cooked with rice vinegar, or
vinegar may be added after cooking, and is cooled before being used to make
sushi.
Nori - The seaweed wrappers used in maki and temaki are made of a
cultivated sea vegetable known as nori. Originally, this plant was scraped
from dock pilings, rolled out into sheets, and dried in the sun. Today, it
is farmed and industrially produced, and can be bought pre-cut into neat,
ready-to-use squares.
Other ingredients - Not all sushi contains seafood. Many things can
find their way into sushi: pickled daikon radish, fermented soy paste
(natto), avocado, raw quail eggs, tofu, pickled plum, omelet, and more.
Condiments - Sushi is served with soy sauce, wasabi (green horseradish
paste), and sweet pickled ginger (gari). Wasabi is said to be an effective
antidote against fish poisoning. There are a number of different styles of sushi, of which
some of the most common are:
- Makizushi (巻き寿司) which is made by taking a sheet of dried seaweed, putting
on a layer of rice (leaving a couple of centimeters free in one end), and
then adding some vegetables like cucumber. This is rolled up and "glued"
together by wetting the seaweed so that it sticks together. The roll is then
cut up into slices about two centimeters thick.
- Nigirizushi (握り寿司) is made by pressing rice together into a
lump slightly smaller than a hen's egg. On top of this, a piece of fish,
prawn, or something similar is placed, often with some wasabi underneath it.
Sometimes a thin band of seaweed is used to hold the fish in place.
- Temakizushi (手巻き寿司 or handroll) is a large cone formed by a
sheet of dried sea weed filled with rice and other ingredients. A handroll
is eaten with the fingers since it is too big to be held by chopsticks.
- Inarizushi (稲荷寿司) is vinegar rice wrapped into a thin slice of
fried tofu (油揚げ or abura age). The tofu is briefly boiled in a sauce of
sugar, mirin and soy sauce before usage. Inarizushi is either rectangular or
triangular, not unlike an onigiri.
- Chirashizushi (散らし寿司), also referred to as barazushi (ばら寿司), is
vinegar rice mixed with fish, seafood, slightly boiled and sweetened
vegetables and thin slices of fried egg. It is said to be the simplest to
prepare within the sushi family.
- Oshizushi (押し寿司 or pressed sushi) originated in Osaka and is
vinegar rice, marinated fish and other ingredients, such as shiso, layered
and pressed into a mold. The resulting loaf is cut into mouth size pieces
before serving.
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