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What Is Sushi?

Sushi is a Japanese food which is mainly a boiled rice rolled up in nori,raw fish,tofu,vegetables,eggs,and other ingredients with a touch of sweet rice vinegar. Sushi is served with soy sauce with wasabi paste or ponzu,shiso,grated fresh ginger and shredded daikon radish.Common dimension of sushi piece is 2.5 cm (1″) wide by 4 cm (1.5″) long by 0.5 cm (0.2″) thick.

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Types of Sushi

Chirashi Zushi(Scattered Sushi)

Chirashi sushi is a bowl of vinegared sushi rice topped with a bunch raw fish,vegetables,mushrooms, carrots, egg, sugar peas and red ginger(mostly 9 ingredients in common).Toppings vary regionally.

chirashi sushi

There are various types of Chirashi Sushi.Few common chirashi sushi are

  • Edomae chirashi zushi also known as Tokyo style scattered sushi topped with uncooked ingredients.
  • Gomoku zushi (Kansai style sushi)  is served with cooked and uncooked ingredients,sushi consisting of five pieces.
  • Sake zushi (Kyushu style sushi) is from the Kagoshima Prefecture and combines vegetables and fish with sake.Sake is a Japanese alcoholic drink made of fermented rice, koji and water.

Inari zushi

Inari is a sushi rice stuffed with seasoned Aburaage tofu pouches.Aburaage is tofu skin that is deep fried.

Inari

 

Makizushi(Rolled Sushi)

Maki sushi is a classic style sushi roll with nori on the outside.Rolls are formed into pieces in a cylindrical form with bamboo mat known as a makisu.Maki sushi wrapped in nori(seaweed) are cut into six or eight pieces.

maki shusi

Below are some common types of makisushi

  • Ehōmaki is more elaborated than its counterparts and is composed of up to seven different ingredients such as egg, eel, shiitake mushrooms and Kanpyo egg. Ehōmaki is also eaten during the Setsubun Festival in Japan.
  • Futomaki is a thick sushi roll filled with many ingredients.Futomaki sushi rolls usually filled with different colored vegetables like cucumber,gourd,bamboo shoots and lotus root.A typical futomaki is minimum 3.81 cms (1.5 in) in diameter.Futomaki also known as date-maki.
  • Hosomaki is a thin sushi rolls usually containing one ingredient with very little rice.It is about 1 inch in diameter.There are different types of hosomaki like Kanpyomaki,Kappamaki,Negitoromaki and Takuan Hosomaki.
  • Temaki also known as cone sushi or hand roll sushi is rolled by hand in the form of cone.Temaki is about ten centimeters (4 in) long and eaten with the hands rather than chopsticks and sushi mats.

Narezushi

Naresushi is a fermented sushi.Fish is preserved in fermented rice with some salt in a wooden pot.After six months sushi can be eaten, remaining edible for another six months or more.Modern varieties of naresushi are delicacies that are made by lactate fermentation of fish and rice together.

funazushi

Nigirizushi

Nigirizushi  is made with sushi rice and fresh fish or shell fish on the top.The topping is also known as neta a type of sea food such as tuna, eel, haddock, shad, snapper, octopus and shrimp.There are countless varieties of nigirizushi, some of the most common ones are Gunkanmaki  and Temarizushi.

nigri

Oshizushi

Oshizushi also known as pressed or box sushi,is made by pressing blocks of rice and sushi toppings in a special mould (called as oshibako) to create perfect rectangles.Rice, nori, smoked salmon are used with other ingredients for toppings.Sometimes it is sprinkled with seasoning.

ohisushi